WHAT Are We Calling "Tunas"?

 

In Las Cruces, prickly pear cactus is everywhere. The flat pads are edible when young, and are called "nopals" espcially when referred to as food items. I grew up in the South and we tended to call prickly pears "beavertails." But here, they are "nopals." I was just reading some research about how eating nopal is evidently very good for diabetics, especially those with Type II diabetes. They are full of fiber, and that's thought to help maintain blood sugar at safe levels.

They flourish here! The blooms I have seen here are either yellow or magenta, and they are beautiful in spring. They set many small fruits called..."tunas." In the fall, they are ripe and many do harvest them to eat. You have to be VERY careful of tiny, basically invisible stickers/spines in them that look like tiny areas of white. It's actually a myriad of tiny spines forming those white spots on the tuna. 

Some people make jelly from them, because they yield a lovely color, if not much flavor. But they are also beautiful just left in the landscape for visual interest.