Prickly-Pear Cactus Fruit Salad

Now there's something I never had in New York.  Prickly-pear cactus fruit.  It made a gorgeous and very delicious Sunday brunch fruit salad, when combined with some other fresh produce from the farmers at a stand within 20 minutes' drive.  California rocks:  it's November 11 and today I bought fresh strawberries that are still nearly as good or better than what I used to get during peak summer season in New York.  Oh, and we ate outside on our deck in 70-degree weather.  Yes.  On November 11.

As the most devoted of Scrumptious readers know, the last three months of my life have been fraught with change, rest, and misery.  It has taken a very, very long time to transport our lives cross-country and I have spared you the gory details, because, well, this is a cooking blog.  And, I have been so ensconced in turmoil and loss that I haven't done much cooking. There have been good moments, and a spectacular vacation, but for the most part moving has been a huge detriment to my cooking, for many reasons.  Well, dear readers, we are nearing the end of my hiatus.  This weekend, Mr. and Mrs. Scrumptious moved into a super-fantabulous-house with a to-die-for-kitchen and (GASP, ARE YOU READY?) A HOME-PROFESSIONAL STOVE.  The real deal.  The six-burner Viking with warming shelf and double-wide oven with three racks.  No, not the double-oven...that will only come when we move into a house in which I designed the kitchen! But, for a rental house, this is pretty friggin spectacular.

We only moved in this weekend, so I'm not really cooking on full burners yet as the house is still mostly in some state of unpacked and nicely organized.  Mr. Scrumptious did point out that the kitchen was the first to get attention.  Alas, he is right.  I claim it's due to wanting the movers to unpack everything and check for breakage and well, I needed to put things away as they unpacked to make room for the bazillion other boxes, right?!

So I apologize for not cooking and shooting and blogging some real cooking.  But, I'm not settled quite yet.  Only another few days and I should be rearing to go.  You have all been so patient, thank you! We're almost there.

Until then, the fruit salad was like this:

Ingredients
Serves 2

1 Prickly-pear cactus fruit, pink/magenta variety (I confess I have no idea what KIND of cactus)
8 ripe fresh strawberries
8 fresh green grapes
1 fresh Valencia orange, segmented
1 tsp. Bee Raw Star Thistle honey (this is still my favorite)
1/4 tsp. freshly ground cinnamon

Method:
1. Wash and clean all the fruit.  Peel the prickly-pear cactus fruit.  Chop into pieces but leave grapes whole.  Peel the orange with a knife and segment the supreme.  Remove all the pith. 

2. Place all the fruit in a bowl.  Squeeze the juice from the orange left-overs over the fruit.  Mix gently with your very clean hands.

3. Drizzle the honey over the fruit.  Sprinkle the cinnamon over the fruit and toss gently with a spoon.

4. Serve immediately and enjoy but beware the seeds of the prickly-pear.  They're quite robust.

Comments

[Flo]

Let me be the first to comment about the Prickly-Pear Cactus Fruit Salad.

Quite simply, I love prickly pears and usually when they are in season in NYC I can eat about 4 in one sitting! Yes, prickly pears and fresh figs (from my garden)make for a great breakfast, brunch or lunch....

Thank you, welcome back Mrs. & Mr. Scrumptious...

[Stephanie Beack]

Flo, you're lucky to have them in your garden! What variety do you have? Do the green ones have different flavor than the purple ones? I'm a cactus-newbie! Since you have fresh figs in your garden, did you ever see this sandwich I posted? DIVINE and decadent... http://scrumptious.typepad.com/srbeack/2006/10/a_little_sweet_.html

[John Dicus]

Yes, there is a difference in the taste of the fruits. You can taste a half differnt ones in one day, and get essences of mangos, apricots, melons etc. Each variety will be different. Most cactus fruits are of the genus 'Opuntia', often called Prickly Pear. Some people also can find the fruit of Hylocereus and others called 'Pitaya' generically.. and for a short season the Saguaro cactus has fruits.

[Stephanie Beack]

John, welcome to Scrumptious Street and thank you so much for educating us! I appreciate you letting us know about the different varieties and tastes.

[Ulrike]

Hi from Namibia - somewhere in Africa
We also have prickly per cacti in Namibia. There are basically two types. The dark red smaller type ripens in our winter time - June and July the green-yellow thicker type in Summer. The winter type is very sour and ideally suited for juices which I get with the steam juicer. The summer type is sweet and delicious as a dessert fruit. Your recipe is delicious.
Blissings
Ulrike

[Stephanie Beack]

Welcome, Ulrike! I have yet to try the sour, greener variation. I hear they're also unique and interesting. So glad you like my recipe, what are some of your favorite ways to use prickly pear? Care to share local ideas or recipes?

[Karyn Rasor]

You can also use the new(young,small) pads of the prickly pear in cooking. They are very tasty mixed with scrambled eggs, or you can boil them. This way they favor a green bean flavor. They sell them in some grocery stores, but they are usually packed in brine. They are called nopalitos.

[Stephanie Beack]

Karyn, this sounds terrific and I'll have to try both scrambling and boiling. Thanks for the tips!

[Ben Roberts]

I just stopped in for a minute, finding the older post here and was happy to see that prickly pear has made it to NY. I wanted to share with you, that prickly pear makes a fantastic jelly, as well. When the fruit are ripe, around late Sept. to mid-October, I scour the older neighborhoods here in Las Vegas, finding enough fruit to make about 100+ 1/2 pint jars of jelly. I usually trade a jar of jelly for the privilege of picking fruit from someone's yard. The fruit are called 'Tuna' in Spanish and the pads(which are edible in the spring when they are young and tender and about 6" to 10" in length) are called 'Nopalitos'...found in the grocery store, either in brine, pickled, or fresh.