The Truth is, cacti can be the best of times and the worst of times. It can represent the age of wisdom or the age of foolishness. *forgive me, Charles Dickens*
The Best of Times/Age of Wisdom
Cacti for Food
Nopales, a fancy name for young cactus pads of the prickly pear cactus (Opuntia) are a food marvel and have been a staple in Latin countries for centuries. Use them in scrambled eggs and jalapenos. Grill them and use in tacos, enchiladas or quesadillas. Use them in salads, or as a side dish.
How do they taste? Sort of green-bean-ish with a hint of lemon.
Almost any fleshy cactus fruit is edible, but the prickly pear fruit wins the popularity contest, hands down. Also known as cactus fruit, cactus figs, Indian figs, Barbary figs, and tunas, this little fruit is dynamic! It grows two to four inches long and is shaped similar to an avocado.
The immature fruit is green and matures to orange, red, pink or magenta. It can be eaten raw, or made into jelly, syrup, candy or even margaritas.
Cacti for Health
Nopales are being added to smoothies. Why?
Because the humble little Opuntia cactus pad is receiving high marks for its low glycemic rating and ability to control blood sugar naturally. What’s more, research suggests the imbiber’s blood sugar continues to drop for two hours after ingesting it.
Cacti for Drink
Who hasn’t seen one of the vintage Westerns depicting a poor soul with sun-blistered skin and shredded clothing crawling, scratching, grunting to get to a lone cactus in the torrid desert? He has only the strength to reach the cactus and carve a hole in the side or top. He reaches in with both of his filthy, shaking hands and brings the lifesaving liquid to his peeling lips.
Ahhhhhh. Man is saved. Cactus is the hero.
But hold on!
Although the large saguaro with its arm-like branches can store as much as 200 gallons of water, the liquid can be toxic to humans.
What is a dying desert crawler to do?
Aim for the prickly pear and barrel cacti, and don’t expect a lot. Forget clear bottled water. The inside walls of the cactus will be tough. The drinkable fluid inside is a moist, spongy pulp and will most likely be bitter.
The best way to get nutrition or water from a cactus *in an emergency* is to peel and eat the prickly pear or barrel cactus fruits. Or, you can eat the raw pads of a prickly pear. Be careful of those spines! Ouch!
Cacti for Ranchers
Native prickly pear growth has been used for over a century to feed cattle. The pads of the Opuntia are low in dry matter and crude protein but will suffice in emergency conditions. The pads also contain a sufficient amount of moisture. Recently, the Southwest cattle industry has begun to cultivate prickly pear cacti as a fresh source of feed and water for cows. The spines can be burned off to reduce mouth injury.
Since cattle tend to avoid the sharp spines, prickly pear cacti can actually be used as a fence to keep cattle in a certain boundary.
Cacti as Art
No explanation needed!
The Worst of Times/Age of Foolishness
Cacti as Tormentor
A childhood story . . .
After a long afternoon of walking in and out of washes, climbing rocks and scouring the red dirt of our Arizona ranch looking for pottery shards, my brother and I wound up back at the pickup truck thirsty and tired. The grownups had all the canteens with them, so we were out of luck. My brother got a bright idea – why not eat some of the prickly pear fruit decorating the cacti all around us?
Great idea.
He sliced off a couple and tossed one in my direction. I picked one up and took a big bite. Tears started immediately at the realization that my mouth and tongue were covered in little hairy spikes from the skin of the fruit.
I’ll never forget how hopeless I felt with a mouth full of stickers (glochids). My brother scrounged a pair of pliers out of the glove box and went to work pulling them out of my tongue and the flesh of my inside jaws.
For that one day . . . my brother was my superhero.
Let me ask you . . . do you love or hate cacti?
Have you ever had a cactus houseplant?
Did you ever step in the middle of those spikes?
Fallen into them?
Eaten any of the fruit or pads?
What’s your favorite cactus recipe?
I love to hear from you!
Jodi Lea Stewart was born in Texas to an "Okie" mom and a Texan dad. Her younger years were spent in Texas and Oklahoma; hence, she knows all about biscuits and gravy, blackberry picking, chiggers, and snipe hunting. At the age of eight, she moved to a vast cattle ranch in the White Mountains of Arizona. As a teen, she left her studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson to move to San Francisco, where she learned about peace, love, and exactly what she DIDN'T want to do with her life. Since then, Jodi graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Business Management, raised three children, worked as an electro-mechanical drafter, penned humor columns for a college periodical, wrote regional Western articles, and served as managing editor of a Fortune 500 corporate newsletter.
She is the author of a contemporary trilogy set in the Navajo Nation, as well as two historical novels. Her current novel, Blackberry Road, is available on Amazon. Her next historical novel, The Accidental Road, debuts in September 2019. She currently resides in Arizona with her husband, her delightful 90+-year-old mother, a crazy Standard poodle named Jazz, one rescue cat, and numerous gigantic, bossy houseplants.
Blackberry Road is published by Sundown Press and is available on Amazon.
Trouble sneaks in one Oklahoma afternoon in 1934 like an oily twister. A beloved neighbor is murdered, and a single piece of evidence sends the sheriff to arrest a black man that Biddy *a sharecropper’s daughter* knows is innocent. Hauntingly terrifying sounds seeping from the woods lead Biddy into even deeper mysteries and despair and finally into the shocking truths of that fateful summer.
The Accidental Road debuts September 2019
A teen and her mother escaping an abusive husband tumble into the epicenter of crime peddlers invading Arizona and Nevada in the 1950s. Stranded hundreds of miles from their planned destination of Las Vegas, they land in a dusty town full of ghosts and tales, treachery and corruption. Avoiding disaster is tricky, especially as it leads Kat into a fevered quest for things as simple as home and trust. Danger lurks everywhere, leading her to wonder if she and her mother really did take The Accidental Road of life, or if it's the exact right road to all they ever hoped for.
