My last batch for the year. Prickly Pear, Indian fig, probably lots of names. Very labor intensive trying to keep those invisible little thorns out of you, but I have a system now. Lots of peeling and straining. This is just the juice of around 30 of them with six serrano peppers in those two jars. Pretty good stuff. Might be good with vodka but we don't have any.

Nopales?

Just curious, but is that supposed to be Nogales? As in the town in AZ or Mexico?

thats alot of work, but that sure is a nice picture of that S&W

No, Nopales is the Mexican term for cactus that is consumed.

Wyatt, bet that drink is pretty hot with the peppers, do you drink it straight or mix it with beer like a michelada?

I never heard of that but will try it in a little while. It's pretty hot, the first jar being the hottest. Those peppers made a world of difference to it. I put peppers in everything, but I wimp out beyond habanaros.

WB: That sounds like an interesting drink. Do you add anything besides the fruit and peppers? Some lemon or lime juice or sugar?

I sometimes make prickly pear limeade that is really refreshing. The natural hot pink color looks really pretty in a glass and it is nice to serve in the summer when you have guests. I have made prickly pear margaritas before too. I used to have access to a large Nopales cactus so they were easy to get. I sometimes find them in Mexican markets and farmers markets. You do have to be really careful because those fine hairlike spikes will really get you if you're not careful. I learned the hard way.

Can you make it from the canned nopalitos I find at Big 8 grocery stores?

I didn't add anything (just the pears and peppers) but what you said sounds pretty good. I'm probably missing out on some great options.We also make salsa out of the nopales "pedals" themselves. I strip the thorns off, dice up, and my wife takes it from there with the recipe. It's a fantastic green salsa. Real hot with habaneros. We used to do it with store bought tomatillos.
Cyrano, I don't know. Are those the prickly pears themselves or diced up cactus themselves like I use for the salsa mentioned?

WB: They're not the pears, but the leaves, minus the thorns. they taste a lot like French style green beans.

Several years ago on a trip to the Southwest we bought some prickly pear jelly and it was super good. Larry