Also known as the prickly pear, it is a common ingredient in many Mexican dishes
Nopal cactus: your antioxidant friend
What is it? “Nopales” or “nopalitos” are the pads of the nopal cactus. People consume them as a dietary vegetable, and they regularly appear in restaurants, grocery stores, and farmers’ markets across the American Southwest and Mexico.
How to prepare You can eat prickly pears raw, but first remove the skin. Unripe prickly pears tend to be less sweet, individuals who
prefer a sweeter taste should look for red and purple fruit. Make sure to rinse nopales thoroughly to remove the slime from the surface before cooking them.
How to cook
Sauté them and add them to a range of dishes, including tacos and scrambled eggs, or prepare them as a side dish with tomatoes and onions. Grill sliced nopales for fajitas in a similar way to how you would use peppers.