my wife went and picked a bunch of prickly pears and juiced them to make jelly, this is on of my seasonal favorites.

 

What do you mean fall?????? I was on the freeway this evening around 6pm and it was 108* outside.

Never had prickly pear jelly, heck I dont think I have anything pickly pear.....

 

It is Fall the weather just hasn't been told yet. We are about 10 degrees above normal @ 88 degrees today.

 

This weekend we're making sauerkraut with cabbages from our garden. Also doing salsa and chili sauce from our own tomatoes.

Vicki

 

We tried the prickly pear jelly a few years ago, But it never set up very well.... not enough pectin i guess.

 

i had prickly pear candies once...was good

had too...not bad

5 pm 106 degrees in Tempe!

 

It smelled, looked, felt like fall Saturday around here . . . Gives me a longing for the woods . . .

I was lookin' at those prickly pears and remembered that you can eat them, but, when are they ripe? When they are red like now? How do you prepare it? I'm into trying new stuff, especially if it's wild.

Rich

 

What do I mean fall? there are leaves turning yellow up here!

 

leaves dont turn yellow in the valley....they turn brown and fall off one weekend

 

Sure thing Rich, Just pick them when they are nice and red, Very carefuly (of Corse) it's best to use tongs or something like it, Use a sharp knife and peel them, Not to many people like the seeds so after you boil them you can strain them, use only enough water to cover them, after that just add sugar and Pectin, Double the Pectin amount to make sure it sets up, You can find a Recipe for it on line.
Just Google how to make Prickly pear cactus jelly, Its real easy and very good! also you can just peel and eat! the fruit and the Patties

 

The trees are starting to turn here also but we are still in the 90s. Suppose to start cooling to the 80s this week.

 

I had a sandwich a few weeks ago with prickly pear sauce. Great stuff! So is it safe to assume that we're allowed to just "harvest" a few of them from a plant growing in the wild?

When my wife and I were in Sedona for our anniversary a few weeks back, we grabbed lunch at the airport cafe. I had the buffalo burger with fried cactus strips. Pretty darn good.

 

Of Corse! as long as you are not on someones personal property. You can take as much as you like, We went out with 5 gallon buckets a few years back. 10 gallons made about 25 qt jars if i remember right....

 

harvest away on state or federal property, we use small buckets to pick into than dump them into an ice chest if it is in the back of your truck fill it with water and about 2/3 of pears and the sloshing will remove a lot of the pricleys.
ok I know prickleys ain't a word but I used it anyhow.

I will post our recipe when I feel like typing that much.

 

3 C juice
6 C sugar
1/2 C lemon juice
1/2 C water IF (juice was extracted in a juicer)
1 pack sure jell
1/2 t butter


bring juice, sure jell, lemon, butter and water (if needed) to a hard boil. add sugar bring back to a hard boil for 5 minutes.
pour in to sterilized, hot canning jars and seal with rings and lids (have lids and rings in boiling water) set upside down for 10 minutes.