When you look at the fruit of Missouri’s most common cactus, you might not think “that looks tasty”. With all the spines, cactus are well protected. But what are they so eager to protect? The red fruits of the cactus are edible, once you get past the spines. To avoid the spines, pull off the fruit with tongs. Use a skewer to hold the fruit over a flame to burn the spines off the fruit, ideally, use a campfire. When the skin is blackened and even the small hairs have burnt off, peel off the burnt skin. Now the fruit is ready to eat. I found the experience to be somewhat like eating overcooked okra because the seeds are very slimly. The fruit turns your fingers pink. It has a very sweet taste at first but with an after taste of green beans. Cactus fruit is easy to prepare if you are outdoors camping with a fire. It is kind of a mess indoors. Knowing how to eat Opuntia would be a nice survival skill. I know some people have developed a taste for Opuntia and enjoy eating it. I imagine with the right other ingredients it could be part of a delicious meal. The cactus fruits are often used to make jams and jellies.
Opuntia humifusa, also known as the Eastern Prickly Pear, has large yellow flowers that bloom from May to July. The purple/red fruits ripen in late summer. The hardiness of the plant and beauty of the flowers make Opuntia a popular garden plant. It grows best in full sun and well-drained soil. This cactus is happy in a gravel filled pot growing amongst decorative rocks on a sunny front porch. It will also grow well in the gravely base of a south facing retaining wall. The cactus will remain evergreen through the winter and put on new growth in the spring. I recommend keeping it away from sidewalks or any place that children or pets play to prevent tears.
The cactus has two types of prickles. The easily visible long sharp spines, but also tufts of tiny, barbed hairs called glochids. The glochids are more problematic because they are much harder to pull out of your skin and can irritate for days. Weeding around prickly pear is a dangerous chore. Plucking weeds early with long tongs is the best method I have found. Planting cactus in an area where it is less likely to be invaded by incoming seeds will prevent a lot of cursing in the future.
Prickly pear is an important pollinator plant for many native bees. It is also the host plant for a few moths that need the cactus to reproduce. It is also deer resistant with those big spines. I hope we can all find a special space in our gardens for this plant or find time to pause and apricate it in the wild.
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