Like many newcomers to the high desert, I wanted to learn the art of prickly pear jelly making. I did one procedure right--picking the fruit with tongs. I spent hours holding each piece with tongs in one hand, tweezers in the other to remove the spines. I walked in a light rain to our local mercantile to purchase pectin only to have the clerk inform me that her mother in Michigan said never make jelly on a rainy day. I'm not sure if her mom was correct or if I was too generous with the juice but I canned some excellent syrup that we ate on our hotcakes.
Advice from a wonderful neighbor, an eighty year old AZ native, helped take the cactus jelly making to another level. A blow torch was her quick method of removing those pesky stickers; we tried it and wouldn't go back to the tweezers. Then, she explained that in her opinion cactus jelly was too bland to merit the effort unless jalapeno was added. What worthwhile advice.
This year's harvest of prickly pear is outstanding. David performed the torching duties and I processed the fruit shortly after. I washed each piece checking for any stray spines, used a fillet knife to make a cut and release juice, then covered with water to boil. After cooking the fruit, I used a potato masher in order to maximize color and flavor. Next, strain the juice through two layers of cheesecloth. At this point I refrigerated the juice and completed the jelly making the next day.
I found a recipe on line that appeared reasonable, excepting the 18 (eighteen) teaspoons of pectin. For two and one/half cups juice, one/half cup lemon juice, five cups sugar, a box of pectin and for us one/half of a plump jalapeno, sliced. It's delicious!
My next prickly pear effort will be syrup with jalapeno. I plan to try the recipe above but substitute five cups cactus juice for the two and one/half cups.
This lovely, but sassy jelly will take the chill off a Badboulder winter day.
FROM THE KNOTHOLE: Hey, up here, it's me, on duty, keeping an eye on the front gate. You know, don't want no scallywags coming in uninvited, especially when Badboulderlady has her hands full of prickly pears. Here in Arizona, nothing sums up the image of our state quite as well as the cactus. Just to make my point, we put a cactus on our license plates. While Arizona boasts many varieties of cactus, the undisputed star of the lot is the tall, stately, imposing saguaro cactus. In all the world, the saguaro cactus can only be found in the Sonoran Desert, which is shared by Arizona and Mexico. Are Texans just a little bit jealous of our Saguaro? You can bet your boots on that one. As we leave the desert and follow U.S. Highway 89 up the Yarnell Hill to Badboulder, the Saguaros quit growing at about 4,000 feet in elevation. Although Saguaros bloom and produce a fruit which can be used to make jelly, jam, fruit leather, wine, and syrup, Badboulderlady prefers to use what grows right here on Badboulder, where prickly pears are abundant. So, when the winter days turn cold up here on Badboulder Mountain, I expect Badboulderlady will warm me up, with her jalapeno laced prickly pear jelly. Life is good.
a parting shot from bbman: one life is not enough. zsa zsa gabor
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