[Sca-cooks] Fw: Prickly pear fruit

[Thebard]

First off use them as fresh as possible, they start to turn bittter the 
minute they are picked.  And like a few fruits they do have a laxitive 
effect if you eat too much at once but they are good for you.  Many 
people use them to help lower their cholesterol and I know a few 
diabetics who say it helps them keep blood sugar levels well, level.

And because you didn't say how they were aquired I'll say this, wear 
gloves when handleing them!  Learned this lesson as a kid.  The really 
fine, hair-like thorns on the things will drive you nuts! And unless you 
are very good at useing a propane torch to burn them off they are hard 
to get rid of.

Here are a few recipes I've made in the past;

Prickly Pear Jelly
4 cups Prickly Pear juice
5 cups sugar
Pectin, one pack

Follow manufacturer's directions for adding ingredients and boil for 5 
min. Pour into sterilized jars and seal with wax. Should syrup not jell, 
cook 5 more min
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Prickly Pear Candy

2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups Prickly Pear juice
2 pack powdered fruit pectin
1 teaspoon baking soda

Put fruit in a large pan and barely cover with water. Stickers will cook 
and strain out. Boil fruit until soft, occasionally mashing down and 
cutting through the fruit to release the juice. Strain through a cloth 
in a colander. This juice may be canned in fruit jars and used for 
candies and jellies, or used immediately.

Candy Procedure
Use two large pans because candy foams. In one pan, mix sugar and syrup 
and bring to a full rolling boil. Simultaneously, cook foaming juice, 
pectin and baking soda mixture in another pan until foaming dies down, 
stirring both mixtures. Pour pectin mixture slowly into sugar mix and 
boil together about 2 more minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from 
fire, stir a bit more to allow bubbles to escape and candy to clear. 
Pour into buttered 10 x 6-inch glass dish. Let stand at room temperature 
until set (several hours).

Candy can then be turned out on a buttered pan and sugared.  Let "dry" 
one day before storing

-Note, made this a few times and the last time I lined the glass dish 
with edible rice paper, that way all I had to do is cut it after it's 
set.  It worked really well, just don't do like me and put a peice of 
the paper on top or they will sick together  Thought about useing 
something like agar powder to make it next year but don't know if it 
will work or not.
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*Prickly Pear Syrup*

12 prickly pears
1/4 cup honey

Wash and cut each prickly pear into quarters, leaving the skins on.
Place the fruit in a food processor and process until pulpy and 
thoroughly blended.
Press the liquid through a fine sieve; discard skin and seeds.
Put the prickly pear juice into a saucepan with the honey and bring to a 
boil over medium-high heat.
Reduce the heat and let simmer 10 min, until the mixture has thickened. 
Remove from the heat and let cool.

Can be used in drink recipes, salid dressings, used as table syrup, 
canned and so on.