Makin' prickly pear jelly

W

Walt lister

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Jul 26, 2010
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Should be a good crop of cactus fruit soon so it's time to start thinking about jelly.

Pick VEWWY CAWEFULLY
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9/10 lbs of fruit
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Wash
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Add some water and boil 'till very soft then mash the hell out of 'em
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Separate juice from husks and seeds
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Strain through cheesecloth several times
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Filter through paper coffee filters---very slow process
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I use Sure Jell low sugar pectin, 4 1/2 cups sugar to 8 cups of juice. I generally follow the grape jelly recepie provided except I use 50% more pectin to get a firm set
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Cook to jelly temp and quickly fill and seal hot jars
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A true gift of the desert. Makes great Christmas presents. If you live in cactus country and haven't taken advantage of this you don't know what you are missing
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Nice! I was actually getting ready to start a thread about prickly pears myself. Has anyone ever tried making prickly pear mead (a honey based wine)? I made some huckleberry mead last year, which turned out great. I also tried dandelion this spring, which I ended up dumping down the sink last night. It had only been going for a few months, but it tasted and smelled like poo.
 
That's pretty cool.
Can anyone give me some idea of what they taste like?
Similar to any other berry or fruit?
 
Randy11 said:
That's pretty cool.
Can anyone give me some idea of what they taste like?
Similar to any other berry or fruit?
Click to expand...

Reminds me a little of plum or pomegranite but varies with species of cactus, how ripe, etc. It's good. The pure juice before the sugar is added and before it's boiled down has a very mild flavor and not very sweet.
 
mdunc8 said:
Nice! I was actually getting ready to start a thread about prickly pears myself. Has anyone ever tried making prickly pear mead (a honey based wine)? I made some huckleberry mead last year, which turned out great. I also tried dandelion this spring, which I ended up dumping down the sink last night. It had only been going for a few months, but it tasted and smelled like poo.
Click to expand...

I've been tempted to try to make prickly pear wine but haven't yet. If someone has I'd like to know.
 
mdunc8 said:
Nice! I was actually getting ready to start a thread about prickly pears myself. Has anyone ever tried making prickly pear mead (a honey based wine)? I made some huckleberry mead last year, which turned out great. I also tried dandelion this spring, which I ended up dumping down the sink last night. It had only been going for a few months, but it tasted and smelled like poo.
Click to expand...

My wife is too stingy with her huckleberries to do that. Now huckleberry infused vodka.... that is another story.
 
the letters p.r.i.c.k. in a post and out comes AZ's curiosity..................................hmmm must have used a search engine!!!:D

Seriously what does that jelly taste like?
 
Last edited:
Are there any known side benefits to this jelly as well?..steadys your aim, impoves your hearing, clots the blood, cleans the colon out, relieves cronic pain, cures cancer. etc?
 
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