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From: wfi@rti-sel.UUCP (William Ingogly)
Newsgroups: net.cooks
Subject: Re: Cacti as food (huh?)
Message-ID: <596@rti-sel.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 6-Jan-86 11:09:11 EST
Article-I.D.: rti-sel.596
Posted: Mon Jan  6 11:09:11 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 7-Jan-86 06:57:15 EST
References: <263@astroatc.UUCP>
Reply-To: wfi@rti-sel.UUCP (William Ingogly)
Organization: Research Triangle Institute, NC
Lines: 14
Summary: 

In article <263@astroatc.UUCP> gtaylor@astroatc.UUCP (Greg Taylor) writes:

>HOW DO I EAT A CACTUS? WHAT DO YOU PUT THE DARNED THINGS IN? 
>     ... AND HOW ABOUT THE PRICKLY PEARS? ...

Young cactus shoots (buds?) are used in certain regional Mexican dishes. 
I recall seeing a recipe that included cactus and shrimp sauteed together, 
perhaps in an issue of Gourmet magazine a few months ago. As for prickly 
pears, you peel them and eat them raw. They're a blood-red fruit that has 
a delicious taste sort of like a mellow combination of watermelons and 
strawberries. Legend has it that an overindulgence in prickly pears can 
lead to a bad case of Montezuma's revenge, however. :-)

                                -- Cheers, Bill Ingogly