Cactus Pear

Glochids — the real menace

The visible spines on a cactus pear are intimidating but easily avoided. The real danger is glochids — tiny, almost-invisible barbed hairs covering the skin. They detach at the slightest touch and embed in skin painfully, requiring tweezers to remove.

Commercial cactus pears sold in supermarkets have been brushed and singed to remove glochids. Field-harvested fruit is handled with thick gloves and burned over a flame before peeling.

A drought-stage staple

In the Mexican highlands and Mediterranean drylands, cactus pear (called tuna in Spanish, fico d’India in Italian) is a critical drought-tolerant food source. The plants thrive in conditions where almost nothing else fruits, and produce reliably for decades.

In Sicily, cactus pear ice and granita are summer staples. In Mexico, the fruit is eaten fresh, juiced, fermented, or candied; the cactus pads (nopales) are a separate vegetable.

A natural dye

The same magenta pigment in cactus pear flesh — betalain — is used as a natural food coloring. It’s found in beets and amaranth too, but cactus pear extract specifically is favored for its intense color and clean flavor.

The pigment is also the reason eating a lot of cactus pear can stain urine pink or red — a harmless but startling effect for first-time eaters.

A global desert crop

Originally Mexican, cactus pear has spread to Mediterranean drylands, the American Southwest, southern Africa, Australia, and Israel. Sicily, Tunisia, and Mexico are the major commercial producers.

The plant is also studied as a sustainable crop for arid regions, where it produces food and forage with minimal water — and for biofuel production.