Neighbor had a large prickly pear in his cactus garden loaded with pears....he was going to pick and toss them....

SpitFire had other plans.....




Got four gallons of pears off one cactus....

Burned the stickers, cut off the ends and cooked them down...





Add lime juice, sugar, boil and jar.....





We got about two gallons of jelly from four gallons of pears.....made a couple batches with cayenne pepper! AMAZING!

Good stuff and that is a lot of pears from one plant.

That’s awesome!
Bet that is gonna be some good eating, spread on a hot buttered biscuit!

Good to see you back brother.

I wonder if they would make good wine?

Looks great. I never had anything to do with them, just see them eaten by deer and bears in AZ all the time. When you pick them, do they just twist off or do you have to cut them at the base??? Is there a pit, or seeds in the center. Very interesting!!

Nice! I bet that's awesome!

You can twist them off or cut, the inside looks a lot like a pomegranate, the membrane around the hard seeds is filled with sweet juice and the meat is also juicy and sweet.. Picked a couple corn bags full one year while filling feeders, took them to a friend that likes them and got back a couple pints of jelly for my part. Didn't take long to get them with lots like this on the lease.

My baby girl Madi is 7 yrs old and one of her favorite things to do is pick prickly pears. A pair of gloves, tongs, & a bowl.

The rule is grab the pear and give it a little twist. If it is dark purple and twists right off then it's ready - ripe. If you grab one, twist a little bit and it doesn't release....not quite ready. Come back in a week or two.

Nice, I never would have known. We are only down on the leases in the winter, long after they're gone.

If you're interested, we can send you a box of fresh picked pears.

Just say the word. My kids will pick, I will ship.

Good stuff Snake!!

I remember eating them as a kid right off the cactus. The cactus itself is also pretty awesome,never had any jelly though.

SW: Thanks, but probably too expensive to ship. I will certainly keep my eyes open for any of the processed jelly when we are back down there, and give it a try tho. I'm sure my friends in Matagorda and Bay City can find me some, and hold it. Is it a regional thing, or just all over TX where there's pears??

They make an incredible steak marinade.

I haven't tried prickly pear jelly before. There is a place that sells prickly pear pequin jelly that I want to give a try.

Found this on-line, looks like plain jelly. Made in Garland TX. Should be what you prepared, correct?

Man that looks good Jes. Never had it but bet its good

Yup....just grab with tongs twist and pull. I prefer to burn them with a pear burner to remove the stickers before picking. It’s a whole lot easier that way but didn’t think my neighbor would appreciate me torching his in his cactus garden.

Looks like it.....

I ordered a couple to try. Can't wait to see what it tastes like. I'm sure there are recipes with it also!!

X2

As soon as I saw your post I ran out to my Cactus garden to see if my sort of spineless Cactus had any, they are smaller & green in color then turn yellow and fall off. I do not recall if they have ever turned that purple color?

That looks great Guessing it has its own unique flavor/taste is there anything you can compare it with?

Similar to a berry jelly....