Prickly Pear Juice

Jodie came home from work with 2 small prickly pears she had purchased, so the first thing I thought was to look up how to make prickly pear juice.

There were a variety of options on how to prepare the fruit from blending the whole fruit, burning off the small spiky hairs to brushing them off, but the one piece of advice they all had was to tread carefully with these bad boys. They have tiny almost unnoticeable hairs that can irritate your skin greatly if you happen to get the lodge in your hands or fingers. It's best to avoid them by wearing thick leather gloves whilst handling or a pair of tongs.

What I did with mine was to pick them up with tongs, place them in a colander, rinse a few times, then using the tongs, pick them up and scrubbed them with a potato brush. 

Place the washed fruit onto a chopping board, I still took precautions while preparing the fruit by holding them with tongs or a fork. Using a small sharp knife, cut both ends off and discard. Make a small incision through the skin and carefully begin to peel the skin away from the fruit, I used the knife for this.

Place peeled, sliced fruit in a blender with a little water. Blend for 10-20 seconds.

Then strain and discard seeds and any pulp.

Which leaves you with a vibrant liquid.

I put some in an ice cube tray for freezing, I intend to use it in desserts and cocktails. 

The juice is a bit gloopy, some people mix it with various ingredients such as orange juice, lemonade, sugar, honey or in cocktails, I bet it would be delicious in a glass of prosecco.

Ingredients

Prickly pears

water

Method

1.  Slice both ends off the prickly pear. Make a long vertical slice along the skin of the prickly pear. Carefully peel the skin from the fruit, discard skin.

2.  Slice prickly pear, place in blender with a little water, just enough to barely cover the fruit. Blend for 10-20 seconds.

3.  Strain the juice into a bowl, discard seeds and any pulp.

4.  Chill in fridge and serve with ice, or in with your favourite juice drink or in a smoothie.