Cooking CACTUS! *Eating the Prickly Pear* 

You've kept your channel wildly eclectic & interesting right from jump-street Kelly! Sight seeing, exercise, cooking, all on TOP of the killer fishing videos! THIS is why so many of us jumped onboard for your wild, wacky, wonderful journey you're taking us on. The absolute JOY you get from exploring life is ALWAYS inspiring ma'am! As per the usual, thank you for the vid, your time & effort are always appreciated!

Bluegabe with the “ you never spit anything out do you “ joke

All along the south Texas and Mexico border, “Tunas” are an amazing treat, they come in yellow, green and red. In the fall there are street vendors everywhere that sell them. My favorite fruit in the world.

Check how we cook it in Mexico, whit beans, meat and tortilla... another level ...Nopales... that’s why we call our selves Nopaleros!! Greetz from Berlin

I guess they forgot to tell you that one can purchase both elements of the prickly pear, already de-spined, at most grocery stores in South Texas! Also, I cringed when you walked up on that pear bush in shorts and Crocks! Being from South Texas, I would never walk up on one without at lest tall boots on, if not rattlesnake leggings! Glad you made it out safely! Whew!

Not to many young ladies even bother learning to cook now days. Good job.

Cactus (nopales) make a great vegetarian taco with black beans and cheese, yum!

I'm almost 60 years old and I've lived in Texas my entire life. When I was a young boy. We lived in South West Texas for several years. I grew up eating the fruit of the Prickly Pear Cactus and Mesquite beans from the mesquite trees there as well. Always a sweet treat. The prickly pears tunas do indeed make a great jam. One thing when eating them raw. Most Texans throw them in the camp fire for just a few seconds. ( You can do this on a stovetop too). This does two things. First it quickly burns off any of those little patches of micro thorns. Called Glochids, so you don't end up painfully discovering them for the next six or seven hours on different parts of your hands. And secondly, just like with a bell pepper, allowing them to sit in the hot coals for just a few seconds. Makes them easier to peel. Even more so if you place them directly into a small paper bag and let them self steam for a minute or two. But as kids we usually just carefully peeled them and enjoyed the tangy, slightly sweet red flesh inside. Compared to the seed filled middle, the first thing layer of seedless meat just under the skin can be scraped off the skin with the back of the blade of a pocket knife, ( every boy in Texas past the age of three usually has one or two pocket knives. ) , and enjoyed. Eating the part with the seeds is much like eating a pomegranate.

I always look forward to your videos. It's nice to know that people like you still exists in this crazy time we are in.

Props on you trying out cactus or what we call “nopales”. True the paddles that are best are young in the spring and have thorns that are soft as leaves. They are more tender and and tastier. As for the prickly pears (tunas) even I have problems on when to pick them and I was raised eating them by my grandpa (abuelito) Y’all end up in San Antonio again let me know 🍺

Blue Gabe got ya on that one. Never spit anything out huh?

You should boil(simmer or low roll) fresh cacti first...a couple of hours, until they're sort of al dente. They give off a lot of slime, so wash them thoroughly, after. Then finish them however you'd like.

I grew up with prickly pear cactus growing in our yard. When they're ripe skin the fruit and chill it awhile before eating. Be careful of the thorns, they will stick you. The fruit is sort of a jelly mass packed with seed. Its sweet and delicious. Timing is everything, over ripe and the taste goes bland. Uncooked and cold is how we always had them.

Kelly your video from Texas was amazing seeing things you haven't seen before like cactus plants and cactus fruits .if Kelly doesn't have her coffee in the morning look out guys. Preparation of how you cooked the catcus was awesome with butter and onions loved it 😀😀👍👍❤❤

That cactus fruit is amazing ! I harvest them every year here in New Mexico

I hope you and BlueGabe make many more videos together, each of you are great by yourself but together y'all are fantastic.

I hike pass those cactus all the time here near Las Vegas. Always wondered how to do that. Thanks.

Love how Chillled this Girl is!!!!

I work at a cotton gin in West Texas, almost on a daily basis I load cotton seed by the ton for cattle feed and people who know that deer love em. It's like a T-bone for the deer high in protein

Being from deep south Texas I've seen those grow on cactus all my life, never have had them in my 52 years being on God's green earth! Big props to you, keep the video's coming!!!!😁

I think u and Bluegabe make a great duo! Hooe many more collabs to come.

Awesome video ! Such a fun trip too

Kelly has such a great personality. She laughs easily. That's a good thing. Bless you both.

i miss my granny. she would make a cactus and ground beef dish that was so amazing. i remember her sitting outside cleaning the cactus with a potato peeler, bare handed. ohhh memories.

My uncle from Italy swore by the yellow flowered ones that grow over there. But me I love them all. Bring back good memories of him.

There's a tex-mex restaurant near me that serves the best cactus salad ever. Not sure if it's cooked or pickled but it's fantastic. Gabe is right, always try new stuff. Thanks guys.

20:30 As a Texan when I was a kid we just picked the prickly pear and brushed the prickles off and ate them seeds skin and all not cooked!

I live in NM and we have lots of p-pears. they're very tasty when very purple red. Also, to clean the spines, use a torch to burn off the littlest spines.

Really enjoy your content and especially since Gabe has been helping you! Keep it up!

FYI best time to eat cactus is in the spring time they put out new growth, they are softer , sweeter and the stickers are soft and green.Cows will eat the old ones stickers included 😊

In Spanish the fruit is called tuna, and cooking the paddles the best thing to do is chop them up boil them over and over until the slime is gone. Personally I boil drain the slime, boil and drain, and boil again. Then I blend me some chilly Colorado and fry some pork then mix it all together for some delicious tacos 😍

A propane torch is your friend. Burn all around fruit till you get all the thorns. Newspaper is a great tool to grab the cactus itself. I've been doing this for a while. Great Job!

The cactus pear (tunas) are ready when the top is closed

How cool would it be to see kelly and blue gabe hang out with the googans, maybe like lunkerstv or flair or lojo? Or lfg? I think it would be wicked cool to see a crossover of worlds🤘🤘🤘🤘

The catcus leaf, you scrape off the spines with a knife. You dice the catcus and cook it in a chili sauce. Tastes very good that way. It is also used as a filling with chili sauce in a gordita. Thats how mexicans make that. Yes prickly pear (tunas in spanish) tastes like a fruit or dragon fruit (pitaya). We just peel the skin off and bite into it.

Awesome vid, Kelly! Thanks for making my day! Also; I see the questions flying. I don't care who you're seeing, as long as they're treating you right. Live your life, gorgeous!

For about 3 months, we gather about 500 kilos (1,100 pounds) of "tunas" (cactus fruit) on my father-in-law's ranch. I'm reading the comments by people who have never had them... Im going to clear the air. They don't taste like kiwis as someone said, but can be a little like dragonfuit. They have a flavor all their own. If anything, they taste like a soft, mushy melon. The "fuzz" that is on the fruit are actually miniature spines, that are similar to "hook and latch" Velcro, that is extremely annoying. You do NOT want to accidentally eat the fuzz. It WILL irritate your intestines. You CAN and should eat the seeds. I bumped my head on some tunas two weeks ago while picking them and as of my daily shower yesterday morning I think I finally got all of the annoying fuzz out of my scalp. They're great peeled with a knife and eaten raw, and they're fantastic when you make ice cream from them. There are many varieties, and many flavors. Our Nopal (cactus plants) grow fully into trees that are about 25 feet tall, each with well over 1,000 cactus fruit per tree. To harvest, we have cups (usually a 1 or 2 liter coke bottle with the top cut off) that are screwed onto a stick and we use extremely sharp machetes or long knives (I use my fillet knife) to separate the fruit from the pad, and drop them into the cup, and lower them from there to one of the buckets. We usually get 5 buckets each visit to the ranch. As far as eating the cactus pads, we generally eat only the young ones which also have a season for harvest. They taste a little tart, or "tangy" and when raw they have the same type of vitamin E rich "slime" that Aloe Vera has. Cactus pads (we just call them "Nopalitos" are fantastic, and are very good for your health, having serious healing properties because of the vitamin E.. They're a huge part of the average Mexican diet, especially here in central Mexico. I eat Nopal at least 3 to 5 times per week. Which is good for me, because I used to have ulcers and now I don't. We harvest our own on the ranch or we buy them in our local grocery store or in our local vegetable markets. Kelly did a good job preparing the pads and cooking the pads. She surprised me for someone who never prepared them before; it was as though she's done it every day... The older ones, yes, we trim the outer shell (cascara) off of it and eat the inner part, unless we boil them into a "guiso" or "stew" then the outer shell becomes soft. Fruit g tends to only make the shell harder. The younger ones, though,, we eat the entire thing EXCEPT FOR THE SPINES! Very delicate in texture and flavor. Most grocery stores nationwide carry Nopal leaf strips (cactus pad flesh) in a pickle jar, available in the International foods section. If you don't have Nopal growing in your area, then at least you can buy some to try on a salad or to put some into a beef and potato stew. They are delicious, and would taste about like what Kelly prepared, even though you got them from a can or jar. Sometimes I will cut one pad off of the tree while out at the ranch, go around the outside with a knife and split the in half. Then I will fillet the softer meat out of the middle kind of like filleting a fish, and eat the tasty flesh straight from the inside of the pad, for a refreshing treat. It only takes a minute, and it will refresh you and hydrate you like nothing else out there. If all you have are cactus 🌵 out in an area where you are, you have an endless supply of succulent (water-laden) food all around you. You cannot starve or die from thirst. The tuna fruit is equally refreshing and life supporting, but you must be more careful with them to not ingest the fruit's natural fuzzy defensive spines. I think I may do a video on these, inspired by Kelly. Good job, Kelly! Enjoyed the video! 😁

I'm sure someone of Mexican heritage, or someone familiar with this food, already said in the comments but there is a little more that goes into preparing and cooking the cactus. My mom, born in Mexico, made it with a sauce made of chile ancho. It's actually really good. Good video and I liked seeing this being tried out

I can't believe you didn't notice the SPIDERS 2:06 on the 1st cactus you were pulling the pears from, right after BlueGabe mentioned spiders! At some local Hispanic tiendas, they often sell fresh cactus, all cleaned, sliced, iced down, or even the whole paddles, cleaned of course. You can even buy them pickled. My mom had cactus patches in our yard, we had to help clean them as well. We always had them fried, often mixed with scrambled eggs, with tortillas for breakfast tacos. The prickly pears or tunas, we just cleaned off the spines, peeled and ate the insides. It has lots of seeds so you do like with watermelon seeds, just spit them out. I have seen people make prickly pear jam, never tried it though.

Grew up in south texas. My mom used to make a jam out of these. Great on toast or PBJ sammiches.

Reminds me of my folks. Grew up in Kansas. We spent many a day foraging for gooseberries, elderberry, mushrooms. Fished for cats, gars, drums, carps, bluegills, ate everything including the turtles. I'd refer to them a hippies but they weren't. They just loved

Lol 20.55 Kelly ran into that one. Point to BlueGabe.

Cactus apples or in Spanish Tunas. I've made seriously good wine with them and cooked them down, extracted the juice, added sugar and produced a different tasting syrup for pancakes & waffles. You can remove those microsplinters on them by using a meat fork and holding them over an open flame a few seconds.

Omg Kells put some boots on, those tail shakers are everywhere! Tail shakers are what I call rattlesnakes!

My family eats cactus all the time . I hate it lol 😂

Gabe made a spit or swallow joke! Did anybody catch it?

That´s nice fruit it has a lot of antioxidant properties Here in the Canary Islands we know as ''tuno'' the fruit of that cactus, I recommend the red one in a shake with other fruits. There´s another type of tuno that has a sweeter taste (tuno canario).

Some hints.. use long barbecue tongs. Harvest on cool mornings.. why? The ph changes from alkaline to acidic as the day goes on, and resets the next morning. Yes , pick the smaller younger pads.Avoid any that have a purple tinge... they’re toxic. Some people singe the spines off with a fire or propane torch. Others put them in a jar with water and shake to remove the spines.

You can eat the cactus pads(pull the spines), too, or make prickly pear jelly. Our grocery markets sell it in the produce isle.

Coming soon to homes everywhere. The adventures of Laura Croft (Kelly Young) and her faithful sidekick Rick (Bluegabe).

Yes they’re called cactus pears and you could get them in the supermarket as well. These are really good cancer fighters.

you know coffee is life and number one prio in the morning :)

Great vid Mrs young !!! Really think it’s cool how y’all ain’t afraid of trying new things and food !! Keep up the great vids 👌🏻

Kelly, you always provide a great video of your life and times. Outstanding balance of harmony and life in a cup of happiness. Thanks for sharing this electrifying video with us that watch your channel my friend. Thanks for the time you spend for us. It's said that when you got it. You got it.

Happy belated Kelly!! You always keep me intrigued and of course I love your content. You are such an inspiration. Keep up the great collabs with your awesome peeps as well!! Badassery at its finest!!!!

You can take 5-6 of those pears and put in a colander and swirl them around under running faucet water and no more quills. We do that then put in a juicer and get the juice to make jelly. The juice is very good in drinks like lemonade or ritas. You can also put in a blender and strain through cheese cloth. We will be picking them this upcoming dove hunting weekend at the ranch. Its that time of year again.

I scooped it out with a spoon and put it in a blender and mixed ice and fresh honey. And made a smoothie

Noples is the Mexican version of tofu, it takes on the flavor or what you cook it with. The thick leaves are normally not so good. We always use the very thin leaves

called cotton seed hulls. also fed to cattle before going to auction to fatten them up. we would mix cotton seed hulls with some maze, maybe a lil alfalfa , or maybe some peanut hay spray with molasses. cows would go nuts eating it. prickly pear cactus save your life if you are thirsty too..

I remember my first experience grabbing ahold of cactus I had red fur stuck in my fingers which seemed like days. Now I grow nopales and cook the young tender leaves I have learned to blanch them first and boiling water before handling them to take the spines off. As for the Tunas or prickly pear if you let them get really right they kind of taste like a papaya thank you for the video

Howdy Kelly! I'm with Chris Shuler. I was holding my breath the whole time you were running around in sandals and shorts. Western Diamondbacks (rattlers) are probably the most common large snake in the Mesquite/Mixed Brush community here in South Texas, plus, all the plants around here bite. Not only will rattlers rest in the shade under prickly pear, but some of their favorite prey animals (rodents) build nests in the pear patches too. I'm pretty sure that the bugs on the prickly pear are a species of leaf-footed bugs. There are often some really cool spiders hanging out on prickly pear also. What you were seeing in the wire rack were cotton seeds, which are a high protein, high energy supplement for the animals which eat them. They are removed from the cotton bolls at the gin and then used for lots of other things including pressing them for oil. Next time you are in the area, you should get together with a local ranch cook for a lesson on preparing nopalitos (sliced, cooked prickly pear pads). Best way to pick the tunas is with a sturdy pair of kitchen tongs. Same goes for the pads using a knife to cut them loose while holding them with the tongs. HughLieck.photoshelter.com

Somehow your video culinary skills didn't make us want to rush out and try some, lol. I've seen the petals cleaned, cut small, and eaten in stews and meat dishes and the fruit makes a great jelly and a refreshment drink.

Napalitos in scrambled eggs is good but prickly pear jelly is da bomb on your toast. One of our staples as a South texas kid. Also misquite bean jelly is pretty tastey ...you ought to see what those roadrunners will do to a snake and or lizzard..

I love eating prickly cactus with lemon and salt it’s so delicious and the cactus you can eat it raw or cocked or as a salad.

Can't say I've ever had the opportunity to try a cactus and prickly pear cook, but it looks pretty darn good, thanks Kelly!

Hi ... you and your group have the best set of original.. home cook.in recipes i.ve seen i think ... ever.. with catch and cook lobster.s... shrmip.s .. the barracuda..my lip.s are sealed...also this ..cactus.. great.. stuff.. very original... now i.m gonna watch the wild boar and the swamp...cabbage...... out standing..... have a great day....

here in south Africa we call them prickly pear and we peal the fruit then eat them just like that

It’s cool how you share all kinds of thing besides ocean activities with us. I’ve always wanted to try those fruits.

Welcome to Texas. Glad you're having fun in South Texas. Are you thinking about moving here? You would be a great addition to our great state.

Its all fun and games until you hear that rattle sound lol .....great stuff 👌👌👌👌👌🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

That cactus fruit is called "tunas" in Spanish when you peel them put them in the fridge they are so good cold😉

The only reason I'm watching a cactus picking video on RU-vid is because you're in it :)

Easiest way to get rid of the spines is to burn them of with a propane torch or on your stoves' burner. Been doing that for over 60 years. Best survival plant in the desert !!!

Where I was in Mexico, they had guys that had like an Ice box attached to their bicycles, they would pedal to a spot and sit there where they sold cactus pear fruit, peeled and lemon juice sprinkled on them.

Awesome video 👍 thanks for sharing all the cool things you guys saw and did down there! You had me itchy just from watching you picking those cactus fruits LOL 🤘👍😀

I have a small growth of these in my yard, My friends girlfriend picked a couple and brought them in. The red parts turn into fruits, after the flowers die. They are slimy and have seeds. Not the best thing I have ever tried. BUT! If you had nothing else you would enjoy them.

You should pick the paddles in the spring when they are freshly grown, not the old ones. I made Prickley Pair Jelly, really difficult to get the pectin right, they have very little natural pectin. Very tasty jelly.

That's awesome Kelly!!! I'm from Arizona so everything you were coming across I grew up with and usually take for granted. Would love to have you come over here for a visit and would gladly be your tour guide. I'll catch you on the flip side!!

Gabe’s face after eating that big Cactus was funny as hell lol! The fruit looked delicious but was it really? 😂😂😂

Is there anything this beauty can’t do? Kelly isn’t afraid of anything either👏👏👏👌

Kelly, next time to eat those cactus you need to get the new blooming ones. Which are a bright bright green and not dull colored. Those are the best of the best.

You only cut the fresh “shoots” of the prickly pear. You know they’re tender because they haven’t grown the tiny needles nor the longer spines. Also, none of that fruit “tunas” was ripe enough.

You know we spoon every time you give me a like Kelly.

And u can cook cactus on the grill put lime on it really good with steak

Gotta peel those cactus paddles. The big boys are going to be very fibrous and tough, the smaller ones are much more tender. Also good practice to salt and de-slime them with a quick blanch. Also a torch for the micro spines.

You need to eat the younger cactus leaves, boil them first and add salt to them. The tunas peel them and add lemon juice, sea salt and hot sauce and voilá, ready to enjoy

In Spanish we call them tunas! They sweet! There is yellow red and green ones! But a lot of people say they constipate you, but.... haven’t had the issue lol You gotta try grilling them! 👍🏻 the nopales I mean

props to Gabe for spending the thousands to go on a safari in Texas when he could have just took Kelly to the nursery at the local Lowes Hardware haha jkn

I love the prickly pear fruits. But being up north in wisconsin they are already cleaned up so usually don't have to deal with the spines and such. Once in a while you'll get one. But they are really good tasting. Can't say so far that I've been a fan of the paddle but haven't tried those much.

Got an idea for your cleaning cactus. To get out those pain little needles, you go to the hard wear store and buy a set of punches hammer them out. Good luck hope it works.

My whole life me and my family have ate nopale so much but never seen it with butter, usually we make them with a good carne asada on the grill it's so good

Awesome, gotta give her a thumb's up for trying new foods . A lot of people so finicky , so you go girl

Those bugs on cactus looked exactly like leaf-footed bugs. They're a bane in my garden.

I like scooping the seeds out and making a drink with those since it’s sweeter and just eating the flesh raw. Also makes good jam. 😎👍🏼

My favorite way to cook cactus or as we call them "nopales" is this way: 1. Slice your peeled and clean cactus into strips. 2. Slice some tomatoes, onions, and jalapeno peppers or serrano peppers (if you dare). Slice them longways... because it looks cooler. 3. Mix your cactus, tomatoes, onions, and peppers in a bowl. Add a bunch of spices and plenty of oregano (that's the trick). 4. Wrap in tin foil and place on grill until done. Great side dish at a barbecue.

Those cactus fruit are wonderful raw the paddles are the ones you cook and then only the new young paddles

It should be illegal to have to deal with ppl before you've had you're coffee😂😂. Great video broski 🤙🤙

ok It helps to boil the cactus first to get rid of the slime. The Tunas are best when purple just peel and eat so good !

Kelly when picking cactus blossom's use tongs like you would use for chicken or turning things in a hot skillet. Was down south in Arizona watched some natives using them.,..well that and a big set of pliers hahaha. tongs seemed to be the ticket though.

My Grandpa used to have a theory about why so many of us here in Texas eat so many pickles, he believed it was because we did not have enough cactus pears in our diet. Fun Fact about my family; my grandmas' childhood friend would drive from Iowa to get some of my Grandma's cactus fruit preserves almost every year. also when harvesting the cactus leaves, go for the ones that the thorns haven't hardened yet, they taste the best but in a survival situation you can go nuts, cactus is an amazing superfood and it all can be eaten (that's; if you can get past its protective barriers).