Have you ever eaten Prickly Pear Jelly?  I could remember the first time I ate it.  It was about twenty years ago in Kindergarten.  (Wow – that sentence made me feel old.)  My friend’s mom made it from scratch and we ate it on Keebler’s Club crackers.  Try this over chicken, lamb, or even ham! 

If you like to make your own jelly, here is a simple recipe:

Cactus Prickly Pear Jelly
Source: www.cooks.com

1)    Pick prickly pears and remove the spines
2)    Rinse the fruit and place in kettle, adding enough water to cover
3)    Boil until quite tender, squeeze through jelly bag or jelly press
4)    To every 2 1/2 cups of juice add 1 (1 3/4 oz.) package powdered pectin and boil for a couple minutes
5)    Add 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
6)    Add 3 1/2 cups sugar
7)    Stir often and boil hard for 5 minutes. Pour in jelly glass and seal with paraffin.


Or for those of you who do not live in the desert or just want to try it, you can just purchase these from Cheri’s Desert Harvest.


If you live in Arizona or are ever in town, try out Flancers’ “The Prickly Pear Sandwich”. 

They also make their own bread!!!  Mmmm!