Prickly Pear Cactus

Parts Usually Used

The edible parts are the leaves, flowers, stems and fruit. Prickly pear cactus is eaten whole (boiled or grilled) or made into juice and jams.

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Prickly pear cacti grow in large, jumbled clumps of fleshy leaves called ‘pads’, ‘platyclades’ or ‘nopales’. These nopales are flat, oblong shaped structures that are generally deep green in color. They are covered with needle-like spines or prickly, hair-like spines depending on the variety. The flowers are typically large, axillary, solitary, bisexual, and epiperigynous, with a perianth consisting of distinct, spirally arranged tepals and a hypanthium.

Prickly pear fruit emerge from cactus nopales in the hottest, driest months of the year. They are small and oval in shape, with the largest fruits reaching 5” in length. Color ranges from yellowish-green to a deep-red or purple. Most fruits ripen to a deep-red color in late summer. These reddish fruits are generally regarded as the best for eating. Like the nopales, prickly pear fruits are covered with needle-like spines.

American Indians removed these spines by rubbing the fruit in the sand. This was made easier in the early mornings when the cacti were covered with dew. Today, spines are commonly removed by scrubbing each fruit with a vegetable brush under running water. The fruit is edible, although it must be peeled carefully to remove the small spines on the outer skin before consumption.

Where Found

Like most true cactus species, prickly pears are native only to the Americas, but humans now cultivate them all over the world. Prickly pear species are abundant in Mexico, especially in the central and western regions, and in the Caribbean islands. In the United States, prickly pears are native to many areas of the arid, semiarid, and drought-prone Western and South Central United States, including the lower elevations of the Rocky Mountains and southern Great Plains.

Opuntia species are the most cold-tolerant of the lowland cacti, extending into western and southern Canada.

Medicinal Properties

Prickly Pear Cactus is high in fiber, antioxidants and carotenoids. It also possesses strong anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anti-hyperglycemic and anti-diabetic effects. Some preliminary evidence shows that prickly pear cactus can decrease blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. Some research also suggests that prickly pear cactus extract may lessen the unpleasant effects of a hangover, possibly due to its anti-inflammatory effects.

Some research suggests that prickly pear may also help control cholesterol levels.

Biochemical Information

Opuntia contains a range of phytochemicals, such as polyphenols, dietary minerals and betalains. Other compounds include gallic acid, vanillic acid and catechins. The fruits are especially high in betalains.

Legends, Myths and Stories

Prickly Pear is part of the diet in Mexican and Mexican-American cultures. Only the young plant is eaten; older plants are too tough. In foods, the prickly pear juice is used in jellies and candies. The most common culinary species is the Indian fig opuntia (O. ficus-indica). Charles Darwin was the first to note that these cacti have thigmotactic anthers; when the anthers are touched, they curl over, depositing their pollen.

This movement can be seen by gently poking the anthers of an open Opuntia flower. If the outer layer of the fruit is not properly removed, glochids can be ingested, causing discomfort of the throat, lips, and tongue, as the small spines are easily lodged in the skin. Native Americans like the Tequesta would roll the fruit around in a gritty medium to “sand” off the glochids. Alternatively, rotating the fruit in the flame of a campfire or torch has been used to remove the glochids.

Today, seedless types are also available. The coat of arms of Mexico depicts a Mexican golden eagle, perched upon an Opuntia cactus, holding a rattlesnake. The prickly pear cactus has been used for centuries as a natural fence that keeps in livestock and marks the boundaries of family lands. They are resilient and often grow back following removal. Spines from prickly pear pads were commonly used as needles by many Native American tribes.

The deep reds and purples of the tunas were used by Indians to dye textiles.

Uses

Herbalists and traditional practitioners utilized prickly pear cactus for conditions such as elevated blood sugar, high cholesterol, obesity, alcohol hangovers, colitis, diarrhea, and benign prostatic hypertrophy. The fruit was traditionally consumed for diarrhea and asthma. In Mexican folk tradition, it was ingested to address high blood pressure, gastric acidity, ulcers, fatigue, shortness of breath, glaucoma, and liver complaints, while the pulp and juice were employed for digestive and urinary tract inflammation.

Various Native American tribes utilized the fruit and nopales for physical ailments; split pads were bound over open wounds, roasted nopales were placed near the neck or chin for rheumatism, and tribes in New Mexico and Baja California applied warmed pads externally to address swelling. Beyond medicinal applications, indigenous peoples and Mexican culinary traditions utilized the fruit and young stem segments as food, consuming them raw, dried, boiled into syrups and jellies, or incorporated into dishes such as soups, breads, and egg preparations.

The plant was also historically maintained as livestock fodder in arid regions and explored as a resource for bioethanol and bioplastics.

How Sold

Prickly pear is sold as food, in capsules, as a gel or powder, or as a pulp-rich juice.

Bibliography

The Prickly Pear Cookbook , by Carolyn Niethammer (Author), Robin Stancliff (Photographer) The Oxford Companion to Food , Davidson, Alan, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Native American Cooking – Foods of the Soutwest Indians Nations , Frank, Lois Ellen, New York: Clarkson Potter Publishers, 1991. , 1974. A Treasury of American Indian Herbs – Their Lore and Their Use for Food, Drugs, and Medicine , Scully, Virginia, New York: Crown Publishers, Inc.

1970.