The cactus pear is also commonly known as the prickly pear. Of all the fruit I have tried, this was the one I had the most difficult time deciding what to do with. Cactus pears are typically used for their juice (or syrup), which is used to make jam, candy or drinks. Most of the recipes that I found online were for drinks that only used the syrup, so I decided just to try it on its’ own to see what it would be like!
What it is:
The prickly pear cactus is native to the desert southwest of North America, particularly Mexico. The pear itself is the fruit portion of a cactus that grows to be about four meters in height, and if picked directly from the cactus, a lot of extra care must be taken to remove the cactus spines. However, if you’re just buying it from a grocery store, you likely won’t need to worry about this!
What it was like:
The cactus pear has a very sweet taste to it, but I found the texture of it made it seem a little strange to be eating. One of the websites that I found described the taste as being a mixture between natural bubblegum and watermelon. When I tried it, I found it had a taste similar to watermelon, but I could definitely not taste bubblegum! Personally, I found it tasted sweet but bitter at the same time.
In retrospect , I wish I had bought another cactus pear so I could taste what the syrup is like compared to the fruit itself, because I feel the syrup likely tastes better. So if any of you adventurous eaters out there decide to do this, let me know what you think of the taste!
How to Cut a Prickly Pear:
- Slice both ends of the cactus pear off and discard them.
- Cut one long slice on the body of the pear.
- Slip your finger into the slice and grab hold of the outer peel.
- Begin to peel back the thick skin away from the flesh of the cactus pear, once completely removed, discard the skin.
- You are now left with the edible portion of the cactus pear. You may cut it and enjoy it as is (the seeds are edible too!), or blend it to create a juice!
I simply just tasted the fruit, but if you wanted to try using the syrup in a drink, I found this recipe for iced tea lemonade that sounds delicious!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups unsweetened iced tea
- 1 cup fresh lemonade
- ½ cup of Cactus pear syrup*
- Lemon slices, for garnish
How to make it:
- Combine iced tea, lemonade, prickly pear syrup in a pitcher with ice
- Strain into glasses filled with ice
- Garnish with lemon wedge
*To get the juice, place the peeled pears into a blender and pulse until liquefied. Pour the juice into a fine mesh strainer, pushing the juice into a bowl. Discard the remaning seeds and pulp. It will take about 2 cactus pears to get ½ a cup of syrup.
What is that?! 
This is such a great idea for a blog! I constantly find myself walking through the grocery store with an interest in trying out these weird looking fruits and vegetables. I always chicken out at last minute! The recipes you provide are very helpful, it gives me more confidence to purchase these fruits so I can incorporate them into different meals…hopefully I come across a new favorite fruit!
Interesting blog. I like the instructions on how to prepare the fruit and what to look for as I like trying new foods. I did try starfruit in Australia and actually enjoyed it, but have yet to try the others. I also like the nice simple recipes.
I have seen these cactus plants in Arizona before but never knew they grew fruit. Thanks for this awesome informative post!
I love prickly pears! I agree with you that the bubblegum flavour isn’t really present, however a very sweet watermelon is a decent description!
Alexandra Mayhew
This is awesome! Whenever I’m in the grocery store I always think “What in the world do you do with that!” Thank you for answering that question! Great idea, I look forward to trying the other fruits as well 🙂
Kristine, when I was on exchange in Malta these fruits were EVERYWHERE! For the longest time none of the exchange students had any idea what these large bushes were. We really should’ve looked into it more as they really were the only vegetation on that wonderful island! 🙂 Then, one of the exchange students realized that these bushes made the “prickly pear liquor” that we had been drinking. Until I just read your blog I thought prickly pears were only cultivated to make a sweet sweet drink! Now I have to try this out! 🙂 Thanks for the info!
Victoria Holla
vholla@uoguelph.ca