{"id":1794,"date":"2019-09-18T23:21:36","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T23:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/?p=1794"},"modified":"2019-09-18T23:22:35","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T23:22:35","slug":"prickly-pear-cactus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/18\/prickly-pear-cactus\/","title":{"rendered":"Prickly Pear Cactus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Opuntia <\/em>species<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost throughout                                            Cactaceae<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Opuntias<\/em> are the weeds of\nthe Cactus family. Unlike most of their cousins, they are relatively fast\ngrowing, opportunistic and short-lived (though they may still live for twenty\nyears). They are undoubtedly the most useful Cactus species for foragers, as\nthey are widely distributed, common, rugged, easily recognized and provide a\nvariety of foods. We usually think of cacti as being desert dwellers, but there\nare Opuntia<\/em> species growing in almost all of the lower 48 states and\neven parts of Canada. They are becoming increasingly common on overgrazed land\nin many areas, and are often considered to be problematic weeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History: These species are native to the\nAmericas, but have traveled widely around the world and are naturalized in\nAustralia, Africa, the Mediterranean and elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of their introduction to\nAustralia is one of the classic examples of a human ecological blunder. The\nfirst Prickly Pears were introduced into Australia in the 18th century, with\nothers following in the 19th. Free of the predators that constrained them in\ntheir native land, they began to spread uncontrollably and by 1925 they covered\nas much as 60 million acres of land. Much of which was well watered and\npotentially valuable for other purposes. On half of this land they were practically\nthe only plants and in some areas an acre might contain 800 tons of vegetable\nmatter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This situation was eventually\nbrought under control by the introduction of the Argentine Moth borer (Cactoblastis\ncactorum<\/em>). The larvae of this moth eats into the pads and almost totally\ndestroys them. These and other Cactus eating insects, eventually reduced the\ndensely packed stands by up to 95%. The plants are still common in Australia,\nbut not out of control, so the story has a happy ending. This episode is often\ncited as an example of successful biological control of a serious plant pest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caution: Like most Cacti, the Opuntias<\/em>\nare well armed, often with both simple spines and the more insidious glochids.\nGlochids are tufts of tiny barbed bristles that embed themselves in anything\nthey touch, causing irritation and pain. You don’t even need to touch the plant\ndirectly to be impaled, a shoe or bag brushed against the plant will become\ncovered in these bristles and when you touch the object they are transferred to\nyou. The larger spines are easier to avoid, but can be pretty nasty. If left in\nthe skin they may work themselves in deeper, like Porcupine quills, and can\ncause infection. Obviously humans can remove them fairly easily, but animals\ncan be crippled, or even die from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nyou get the glochids in your skin, scrape them off with a razor or knife; the\nsmall amounts remaining in your skin will go away on their own. The best way to\nremove the spines from your flesh is said to be pulling them out with pliers!\nIf a whole Cholla joint (pad) gets stuck to you try inserting a comb between\nskin and joint to pull it off, or cut it off with scissors and pull out the\nspines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food: No Opuntia<\/em> species is poisonous,\nthough the quality of the food produced by these plants varies considerably,\naccording to species, growing conditions and other factors, so you must\nexperiment to find the best. The plants were an important food for some Native\nAmericans because they give a variety of foods over a long period and start producing\nfood in early spring when few other green foods are available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gathering pads: The young pads are best\neaten when from 2 \u2011 3 inches in diameter. They are known as nopalitos<\/em> in\nMexico and are actually cultivated there. They are becoming increasingly common\nin food markets across this country, as people become more adventurous in their\neating habits. Native Americans gathered the pods in early morning when still\nwet with dew, as this apparently made the glochids less troublesome. If you\ndon’t have any gloves, gather them (or the fruit) with tongs improvised from\nsticks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One must disarm the pads before use,\na task most easily accomplished by scraping or skinning them. Sometimes the\nglochids can be removed by brushing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using pads: The cleaned pads can be eaten raw\nin salads, boiled (this makes them easier to peel), pickled or dried. A simple\ncooking method is to put the whole pads on the coals of a fire for about twenty\nminutes (turn them over half way through). This burns off the spines and cooks\nthem at the same time (trial and error is needed to cook them just right). When\nprepared in the ways mentioned above the pads tend to be rather slimy and not\nto everyone\u2019s taste. If you find them too slimy, try cutting the peeled pads\ninto strips and frying them in breadcrumbs or batter, with Garlic or Onion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flower buds: Native Americans removed the\nspines by stirring them in baskets with stones (its simpler to use a stiff\nbrush). The cleaned buds can be boiled for about 15 minutes and eaten as a\nvegetable. Often they are added to greens such as Saltbush (Atriplex<\/em>).\nThey sometimes baked the cleaned flower buds, pads and fruits in a fire pit\novernight. They also dried and ground them to flour for gruel, baking or\nstorage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparing fruit: The succulent fruits,\nknown as tunas, are commonly eaten, though their quality varies a lot with\nspecies. It is best to brush the glochids from the fruit when gathering and\ndisarm them later, in the same way as the pads (some types are almost\nspineless). Skinning is usually the easiest method, simply impale the fruit on\na fork, slice off the top and bottom, make a slit from top to bottom and roll\noff the skin. Make sure no glochids are stuck to the skinned flesh (immersion\nin boiling water makes skinning easier). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using fruit: These are often good raw, but\ncontain a lot of hard seeds. These can be removed by cutting the fruit in half\nand scooping them out, or you can eat them whole and spit out or swallow the\nseed.  The cleaned flesh can be used to\nmake preserves, syrup, juice, wine and candy. Native Americans baked the fruit\nin a fire pit and dried it for later use. They used to say that eating too many\nof the fruits could make a person sick, so use in moderation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeds: Native Americans ground the seeds to\nmeal for baking and gruel. See Saguaro (Cereus<\/em>) for more on the uses of\nCactus seed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drink: As with other Cacti, the fruit and\npads have been used as a source of water (or more properly moisture), by\ndesperate people in time of need. The fruits have also been fermented like\nthose of the Saguaro to make wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medicine: The split pads were used as a\npoultice for wounds. The fruits are laxative and diuretic and may occasionally\ncolor the urine red (an apparently harmless, if somewhat alarming phenomenon).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Animal food: The juicy pads are very\nattractive to thirsty herbivores, which is why they have spines of course. The\npads of some species have been used as livestock feed in time of drought, after\ntheir spines were singed off. I have read that animals have relied on such\nplants as their sole source of food and drink for months at a time. I don\u2019t\nknow whether to believe it however, as it would seem difficult to remove all\nthe spines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfruit is often eaten by desert animals and the seeds are dispersed in their\ndroppings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alcohol: Some Opuntia<\/em>\nvarieties are extremely productive sources of fruit, producing up to 30 tons\nper acre. These contain about 15% sugar and could be fermented to produce\nalcohol. The pads might also be used in the same way.  This could make the plant a useful source of\nfuel alcohol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mucilage: Native Americans soaked the pads in\nwater and used the mucilaginous juice as size for painting (or they simply\nrubbed a cut pad onto the paint). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waterproofing: In Mexico this juice has been\nused for making whitewash, paint and waterproofing, especially for adobe walls.\nIt is now being used experimentally to coat cob (earth) walls, as it appears to\nallow them to breathe while at the same time shedding rainwater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paper: Old woody pads and stems\nhave been used to make high quality paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tattoos: Native Americans used the larger\nspines for tattooing, with charcoal as the pigment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horticultural uses: Opuntias<\/em> have\nbeautiful flowers and fruits, an attractive and striking form and are extremely\nheat and drought resistant. These features make them popular ornamentals in\ndesert areas. Hardier species can be used to add an exotic touch to northern\ngardens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some\nspecies are grown as a crop for pads, fresh or dried fruit, or for making\npreserves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Opuntias<\/em> are very\nindependent and need little attention once established. They are sometimes\nplanted as barriers to keep out animals (both human and non-human) and their\nspines are a very effective deterrent. They have also been planted as\nwindbreaks or fire retardant ground cover, as the fleshy pads don’t burn\nreadily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cultivation: These species have almost\nmagical powers of vegetative propagation. Break off a pad, throw it on the\nground and it is able to take root. You can quickly get as many plants as you\nneed by rooting them in light sandy soil. They can also be grown from seed\n(nick with a file or scarify to break through the tough seed coat), though as\nwith all Cacti this is quite slow. They may take 3 \u2011 5 years to bear fruit from\nseed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New crops: Luther Burbank apparently spent 15\nyears growing several million Opuntia<\/em> seedlings in a quest for spineless\nplants with perfectly smooth pads. He said this was the most difficult and\npainful (literally) project he ever undertook. He claimed an acre of his fast\ngrowing spineless hybrids could produce up to 300 tons of vegetable matter\nwithin three years and 30 tons of fruit annually. He intended this spineless\nplant to be used as a perennial livestock food for arid areas, as they grow\nvigorously where few other plants can survive. He also proposed that such\nplants be cultivated in areas subject to periodic famine, as a reserve of food\nfor emergencies. He was rather over\u2011enthusiastic in his promotion of the plant\nand it never became very popular. One reason was that the plants have low value\nas feed for livestock. Another problem was that seedlings from the plants\naren’t spineless and have the potential to become a pest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Useful\nspecies include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opuntia<\/em> species hybridize\nreadily, which can make identification difficult, but this isn’t important as\nno species is poisonous and any with palatable parts can be eaten. The genus is\ndivided into two distinct types, the Prickly Pears with flat pads and the Chollas\nwith cylindrical ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prickly Pears:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O. basilaris<\/em> -Beavertail Cactus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O. phaeacantha<\/em> \u2011 Prickly Pear Cactus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O. ficus indica<\/em> \u2011 Indian Fig <\/p>\n\n\n\n

O. leptocaulis<\/em> \u2011 Desert Christmas\nCactus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\nspecies all produce good fruit. The last two species have been cultivated as\nfruit crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chollas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These species are now usually given\ntheir own genus Cylindropuntia<\/em>, but I am including them\nhere for convenience sake. Generally they are less useful as food, though they\nprovide edible flower buds and fruits (sometimes the pads were eaten in times\nof scarcity).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O. acanthocarpa<\/em> \u2011 Buckthorn Cholla   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

O. bigelovii<\/em> \u2011 Teddy Bear Cholla<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nflower buds of these two species were particularly prized by Native Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O. arbuscula      \n<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

O. echinocarpa<\/em> \u2011 Staghorn Cholla<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O. versicolor      \n<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

O. whippleii<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 These species often produce good fruit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opuntia species Almost throughout                                            Cactaceae The Opuntias are the weeds of the Cactus family. Unlike most of their cousins, they are relatively fast growing, opportunistic and short-lived (though they may … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-useful-plants-permaculture","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Prickly-Pear.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1794"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1798,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions\/1798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}