Prickly Pear Blossoms are quite pretty. My hubby loves the fruit. It takes some doing to pick them (work gloves) and to remove the spikes-they can be removed by holding them over a gas flame with tongs! They are tasty.
Our farm in Texas had many clusters of prickly pear growing among the grasses in the pastures. The pods can be sliced and freed of their spines to be chopped and added to a soup or stew. The fruit can be sliced thin or grated to toss with a salad. For early settlers, prickly pear was a staple.
Interesting question! The genus containing the Iowa prickly pear, Opuntia, is about 10–20 million years old. Which means that dinos, who disappeared 65 million years ago, never stepped on prickly pear cactus spines!
Thanks for everything you shared in this Prickly Pear post! Never having been to Iowa, it is hard to picture this beach like sandy area being there. But, I love knowing about how it was created and even more how it was saved from the highway!!! Hope you get to take more trips to tell us about the other wildlife that is found there, like the box turtle! My only experience with Prickly Pear is of the variety that John King speaks of in his post below. It occasionally is available fresh here in the produce aisle. I am speaking of the flat pads with the thorns removed. I have also seen them pickled in jars. Sorry to say I have never tasted them. Lovely sharing this adventure with you Diane!
I've made jelly from our tunas; friends make wine. We also like the pads (nopales) but get them (spineless) from a local grocery. Our wild species is *dangerous*!
I grew up with cactuses in Arizona. Prickly pear are a favorite. I was excited to hear about their eastern history.
I had prickly pear in my garden in WNY. The flowers were always visited by beautiful little metallic green bees.
Mine have bloomed in Florida for the first time. Waiting for the fruit to develop. Thanks for the info.
A triangular bite taken out of a cacti pad is a sign that an ornate box turtle has been snacking. Thanks for this wonderful post.
Did you see a triangular bite out of a cactus pad when we were at Eddyville last weekend? That would be neat to witness.
No, I didn't have time to look, but I have in the past.
Prickly Pear Blossoms are quite pretty. My hubby loves the fruit. It takes some doing to pick them (work gloves) and to remove the spikes-they can be removed by holding them over a gas flame with tongs! They are tasty.
Lovely photos and wonderful narrative. Wouldn’t it be delightful if there was a verb describing buds ogetting ready to open. ❤️
You are right. We need that word! Something for the time between swell and unfurl.
Absolutely fascinating!
Our farm in Texas had many clusters of prickly pear growing among the grasses in the pastures. The pods can be sliced and freed of their spines to be chopped and added to a soup or stew. The fruit can be sliced thin or grated to toss with a salad. For early settlers, prickly pear was a staple.
Yum
great photos and ecological explanation of a special site!
Thanks Larry!
Wonder if there's a Hadrosaur beside those Prickly Pears!? Cretaceous era Iowa...
Interesting question! The genus containing the Iowa prickly pear, Opuntia, is about 10–20 million years old. Which means that dinos, who disappeared 65 million years ago, never stepped on prickly pear cactus spines!
Thanks for everything you shared in this Prickly Pear post! Never having been to Iowa, it is hard to picture this beach like sandy area being there. But, I love knowing about how it was created and even more how it was saved from the highway!!! Hope you get to take more trips to tell us about the other wildlife that is found there, like the box turtle! My only experience with Prickly Pear is of the variety that John King speaks of in his post below. It occasionally is available fresh here in the produce aisle. I am speaking of the flat pads with the thorns removed. I have also seen them pickled in jars. Sorry to say I have never tasted them. Lovely sharing this adventure with you Diane!
Thank you Sandy. I had a long part about the Ornate Box Turtle in the story but it made the post too long. I'll post it another time.
I've made jelly from our tunas; friends make wine. We also like the pads (nopales) but get them (spineless) from a local grocery. Our wild species is *dangerous*!
They aren't doing so well in Southern Cali:
Prickly Pears
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The genus Opuntia is well-adapted to arid regions
Their flattened-out pads display long thorns or
tiny hair-like glochids – both act as strong deterrents
The Mexicans strip both from the pads and cook them
In a food that tastes like green peas called “nopalitas”
________________________________________
The pads shrink and swell
with the presence or absence of water
To the attuned they reveal how long it has been
since the chaparral has received any significant rain
And, nowadays what they reveal is discouraging
______________________________________
All the pads of my prickly pears are thin and shriveled
Because California is desperate for water
Some of the prickly pears are so weak that they display
a blanketing white fluff from the cochineal scale insect
And are dying because of this parasite
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But this is the plight of the parasite, for
what does it do when the host finally dies?
And this is the broader plight of the chaparral
Because we are the parasites stealing the water
And what will we do when it’s finally gone?
________________________________________
Healthy prickly pears have neon bright,
magenta colored, uplifting cup-like flowers
Followed by their plump fruits called “tunas’
The cooking of which yields
the sweet candy of the chaparral
__________________________________________
I haven’t eaten any of that candy lately
It was nice walking the dunes with you! I’ll have to try a prickly pear fruit this year.
When I tasted one, I thought it was OK but bland. On the whole I prefer cookies.
I look forward to your posts. Thank you for the beauty and restorative sanity.