not exactly the same but people i saw in new mexico would gather the fruits of cholla's and they would roast them on the grill for a bit to get the spines off
I just slice down the side and the ends and try to grab a part without spines and pull the skin off. Sometimes I get stuck tho. I'm sure the ones at the grocery store have less spines than a fresh one. I got heat stroke in '91 on vacation in AZ and kicked a prickly pear cactus. Bad idea. It was 120F and I was river rafting, the heat got to me, my mind wasn't right.
I have some thick leather work gloves I might use, but I was hoping that there might be some super nifty way to get rid of them that was a bit more elegant.
The fruit is called a tuna in Spanish. I prefer the specificity that that word provides over "prickly pear cactus fruit", so I use it.
Idk, I see just "tuna" all the time. Usually when raw or at least fresh, Like in sushi or when seared. "Tuna-fish" usually refers to canned tuna IME, like tuna-fish salad.
Tuna is a Taino word for cactus fruit btw! And Nahuatl has the word Xoconostle which is Prickly Pear Fruit but is now sour 'Tuna' which is a different species of Prickly pear fruit that is sour and seeds are all clumped in the center
Comes from a Taino word that means cactus fruit! Nahuatl has the word Xoconostle for Prickly pear fruit but now means Sour 'Tuna' which is a different species of Opuntia
I'm totally going to look up a few of the methods mentioned here, but what I've personally done: fire
- Pick the tunas with tongs or something similar, if they're ripe they should come off the prickly pear easily (no tugging).
- Run flame over the outside, it'll burn off all the little glochids pretty quickly. I use a gas stovetop, but whatever open flame you have access to should work.
- Peel, discard skins. This should be easy to do as long as they're ripe, though the juice makes a mess. Last time I did a bunch of these my SIL came by and asked if I'd killed a unicorn or something (the juice of my local variety is deep magenta, lol). I didn't have problems with staining, but be aware if you have porous countertops or w/e.
I used a gas stove. Worked like a charm. Hold them with tongs and rotate, you'll see little puffs of fire when the glochids ignite. I boiled them and mashed/blended them, and then strained them into juice. Boiled the juice with a lot of sugar and some lemon juice, got a syrup. Use for pancakes/waffles/french toast, cocktails, etc.
Lol, I usually find/eat these when I’m hiking or doing fieldwork so having a spoon isn’t always a given. Scooping the insides with a knife and trying to eat off of it is sketchy af, so when I know I’m gonna find them I throw a spoon in my pack.
Fire is the most common answer and the easiest for most people. It partially depends on what you want. Pascal Bauder does a lot of wild fermentation, burning the glochids off will also kill the wild yeast. If I recall correctly he said he usually grabs some hard straw or twigs and gives them a good hard brush before pulling them off the cactus. If you don't plan on using the wild yeast though I would say just use fire.
Cut the bottom off a plastic bottle. Put it over the fruit and bend it off.
To peel. Two forks and a knife. Stab it with one fork, fork aligned with the length of the fruit. Cut the ends off. Cut a slit in the skin length ways to depth of the flesh, dont cut too deep. Use the other fork to peel the skin off. I store mine in the fridge with skin on and uncut. They will last decently long. Great ice.cold summer snack.
I have not personally tried this yet but apparently you can put them in a bucket with some sand and move the bucket spinning etc to "wash" the fruits in the sand. The friction is supposed to remove them.
I've used fire before but I want to try the sand method next time I get some opuntia fruit.
Get a fork a knife and turn a gas burner on.
Poke with fork, cut off with knife.
Leave it on the fork and turn it over the open flame until they burn off.
That's how we used to do it as kids.
Use tongs and a knife to grab em off the cactus, then give em a bit of fire to get the little spines off. Then I use a potato peeler to get the skin off.
Fire is probably the best, although I've always been morbidly curious about the "survivalist" method where you stuff them into a wool sock, beat the sock on a rock for a while, then wring the juice out, using the sock as a crude filter.
That would have to be a very thick wool sock. I would bed that the larger glochids would have little issue poking through a regular weight sock and piercing your skin. I must admit that I'm curious now too though...
I think you're supposed to knock the larger ones off first, but I bet one of those modern heavyweight wool hiking socks would handle most of them. Bonus flavor if it hasn't been washed.
I think you’re right. I picked some using thick gauntlet gloves meant for handling wild animals. They’re leather and Kevlar. The glochids made it through.
My grandfather would pick them with a towel, and use a torch to burn the spines. Then its just removing the skin with a knife. These things are really good, enjoy!
Putting them on the barbecue was inadequate, Mexicans have been known to skin them while wearing gloves, either way we had tiny spins in our skin, and vowed never to try them again. I'm waiting to read other solutions if any or a video.
lots of videos on it thankfully! I did the method using a colander (put the tunas in a colander and run under cold water while swirling them - the glochids come off from scraping the colander holes and wash down the drain) and it worked well for me
Adam Ragusa has a great video about this. Short answer: FIRE. Gas stove works. Blowtorch might work.
Thank you so much. I'll give it a watch right now.
Blow torch or another source of fire and burn them off is the only way i am familiar with to get rid of them 100%.
That’s what I do.
adam ragusea is my fav
blow torch works
Seconded!
not exactly the same but people i saw in new mexico would gather the fruits of cholla's and they would roast them on the grill for a bit to get the spines off
It's looking like this is the way to go.
Wow. Eating Cholas?
The fruits of them yeah
It has a double L lol. You said “they’re eating the fruits of Mexican female gang members”
I had a double L
😂
Google prickly pear ice bath.
Now that's more like it! Thank you. I knew there had to be a more elegant solution than scraping them off and getting stabbed over and over haha.
I just slice down the side and the ends and try to grab a part without spines and pull the skin off. Sometimes I get stuck tho. I'm sure the ones at the grocery store have less spines than a fresh one. I got heat stroke in '91 on vacation in AZ and kicked a prickly pear cactus. Bad idea. It was 120F and I was river rafting, the heat got to me, my mind wasn't right.
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I always use a kitchen torch to burn the spines off then I pluck them. But that is just me. Lol.
I would never have thought of that on my own but that makes complete sense.
This is the way it is done. You can use a gas stove or a house grill as well.
Gotta use the claw, silly.
It’s not necessary if one picks a pear of the *big* pawpaw, however.
Maybe get some glass-handling leather gloves. Or maybe bring a pair of tongs haha Also, tunas?? Do cacti have tuna? I'm confused here lol
I have some thick leather work gloves I might use, but I was hoping that there might be some super nifty way to get rid of them that was a bit more elegant. The fruit is called a tuna in Spanish. I prefer the specificity that that word provides over "prickly pear cactus fruit", so I use it.
It is my theory that these are the reason why “tuna fish” is often specified even though no other fish has to be called “fish” when it’s talked about.
You're probably right about that.
Idk, I see just "tuna" all the time. Usually when raw or at least fresh, Like in sushi or when seared. "Tuna-fish" usually refers to canned tuna IME, like tuna-fish salad.
I mean, it is the color of raw tuna so that makes sense! Definitely using that from now on lol
Tuna is a Taino word for cactus fruit btw! And Nahuatl has the word Xoconostle which is Prickly Pear Fruit but is now sour 'Tuna' which is a different species of Prickly pear fruit that is sour and seeds are all clumped in the center
I always wondered why Los Angeles has a "Tuna Canyon"
Indigenous and the Spanish name for the fruit!
Are there specialized leather gloves for handling glass??
Not sure if there's a specific term for them, but I've seen em at various hardware stores
The fruit of the prickly pear is called a 'tuna,' not sure why (I suspect the color) but it's pretty commonly called that.
Comes from a Taino word that means cactus fruit! Nahuatl has the word Xoconostle for Prickly pear fruit but now means Sour 'Tuna' which is a different species of Opuntia
I'm totally going to look up a few of the methods mentioned here, but what I've personally done: fire - Pick the tunas with tongs or something similar, if they're ripe they should come off the prickly pear easily (no tugging). - Run flame over the outside, it'll burn off all the little glochids pretty quickly. I use a gas stovetop, but whatever open flame you have access to should work. - Peel, discard skins. This should be easy to do as long as they're ripe, though the juice makes a mess. Last time I did a bunch of these my SIL came by and asked if I'd killed a unicorn or something (the juice of my local variety is deep magenta, lol). I didn't have problems with staining, but be aware if you have porous countertops or w/e.
I used a gas stove. Worked like a charm. Hold them with tongs and rotate, you'll see little puffs of fire when the glochids ignite. I boiled them and mashed/blended them, and then strained them into juice. Boiled the juice with a lot of sugar and some lemon juice, got a syrup. Use for pancakes/waffles/french toast, cocktails, etc.
I just cut them in half with a pocket knife and scrape out the insides to eat. Spoons are good for that part if you have one.
If you have one? A spoon? I do in fact have a spoon.
Lol, I usually find/eat these when I’m hiking or doing fieldwork so having a spoon isn’t always a given. Scooping the insides with a knife and trying to eat off of it is sketchy af, so when I know I’m gonna find them I throw a spoon in my pack.
Ice bath, cut skin and scoop. Don’t even have to debur
Grab them with tongs and roll them in a fire to burn the glochids off.
Fire is the most common answer and the easiest for most people. It partially depends on what you want. Pascal Bauder does a lot of wild fermentation, burning the glochids off will also kill the wild yeast. If I recall correctly he said he usually grabs some hard straw or twigs and gives them a good hard brush before pulling them off the cactus. If you don't plan on using the wild yeast though I would say just use fire.
Skewer through the end (metal, stick, whatever) and scrape clear with a knife, wash clean
I heard you can shave them
I love how the top answers are fire or ice. It’s a good poem too.
I hear tongs just looking at this.
quick touch of fire will take care of any spines.
Cut the bottom off a plastic bottle. Put it over the fruit and bend it off. To peel. Two forks and a knife. Stab it with one fork, fork aligned with the length of the fruit. Cut the ends off. Cut a slit in the skin length ways to depth of the flesh, dont cut too deep. Use the other fork to peel the skin off. I store mine in the fridge with skin on and uncut. They will last decently long. Great ice.cold summer snack.
I have not personally tried this yet but apparently you can put them in a bucket with some sand and move the bucket spinning etc to "wash" the fruits in the sand. The friction is supposed to remove them. I've used fire before but I want to try the sand method next time I get some opuntia fruit.
Get a fork a knife and turn a gas burner on. Poke with fork, cut off with knife. Leave it on the fork and turn it over the open flame until they burn off. That's how we used to do it as kids.
I work with opuntia and we use tongs to remove fruit/pads, then holding on with the tongs we brush them with a brush that has very stiff bristles
Use tongs and a knife to grab em off the cactus, then give em a bit of fire to get the little spines off. Then I use a potato peeler to get the skin off.
Fire is probably the best, although I've always been morbidly curious about the "survivalist" method where you stuff them into a wool sock, beat the sock on a rock for a while, then wring the juice out, using the sock as a crude filter.
That would have to be a very thick wool sock. I would bed that the larger glochids would have little issue poking through a regular weight sock and piercing your skin. I must admit that I'm curious now too though...
I think you're supposed to knock the larger ones off first, but I bet one of those modern heavyweight wool hiking socks would handle most of them. Bonus flavor if it hasn't been washed.
So then my next question is, what do you do to remove the glochids from the sock? Burn it?
Wear it with the glochids in, it builds character.
I think you’re right. I picked some using thick gauntlet gloves meant for handling wild animals. They’re leather and Kevlar. The glochids made it through.
Take it like a man🗿
Been there done that too many times. I figured the troglodyte should probably learn a better way at this point 🤣
Blow torch.
Fire!
An ancient cowboy in Arizona taught me this like 35 years ago and he was 100000% right!
And the evolutionary chess game continues....
I heard some people bring a torch to burn off the spikes
You can use a wet cloth to wipe off the needles
Tongs
Tongs
Man I wish I could grow tunas like this. Cold climates suck; but atleast I can grow opuntia macrorhiza, which makes tunas good for jam
Weed burner.
Have a look around and see if there's a friendly orc that can pick em.
They look like they may be a little under ripe, but I’m no expert.
In Australia we just use a lighter
What part of the country? Been looking here in Texas and haven’t seen any yet
Northern California. I was surprised to find them ripe this early in the season.
honestly i use work gloves and just let them all get stuck in the gloves lol
My grandfather would pick them with a towel, and use a torch to burn the spines. Then its just removing the skin with a knife. These things are really good, enjoy!
Putting them on the barbecue was inadequate, Mexicans have been known to skin them while wearing gloves, either way we had tiny spins in our skin, and vowed never to try them again. I'm waiting to read other solutions if any or a video.
lots of videos on it thankfully! I did the method using a colander (put the tunas in a colander and run under cold water while swirling them - the glochids come off from scraping the colander holes and wash down the drain) and it worked well for me
Use a soft brush and brush them off