How To Harvest And Eat Prickly Pear Fruit

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Before moving to the southwest, I had never even tried prickly pear fruit. Then I moved to the southwest and my first home had not one, but two large prickly pear cactus. I’ve learned so much from prickly pear cactus and have recently completed my second year harvesting fruit.

This post goes over every detail on the prickly pear cactus fruit and all of your questions will be answered.

The first question I hear from people who have never tried prickly pear fruit is if it’s even edible.

Yes, you can definitely eat this fruit but you have to tear off the skin and clean off the glochid spines. It’s a process that is worth it if you love the taste of prickly pear fruit.

You can eat prickly pear fruit completely raw as long as you tear off the skin.

Many people in the southwest mountain biking community will go up to a prickly pear cactus, tear off the skin, and eat the fruit immediately while on their ride.

Some people say prickly pear fruit tastes like a mixture of a watermelon and bubblegum. I can’t describe the taste at all. All I know is I’ve never tasted anything like it.