Pitaya comes from the Stenocereus genus and is sour, while Pitahaya comes from the Hylocereus genus and is sweet. Pitaya and pitahaya are actually two distinctly different varieties of dragon fruit. You can enjoy eating it in fruit salads, it can be used to create tasty drinks and desserts, and it is a wonderful, healthy snack on its own.ĭragon fruit is also known as strawberry pear, pitaya, or pitahaya.
#Cactus that has soft thorns skin#
Though it may look intimidating with its pinkish red skin and light green scales, preparing this unusual fruit is easy. Originally popular in Southeast Asia and Latin America, dragon fruit is now grown and enjoyed all over the world. The plant the fruit comes from is actually a type of cactus of the genus Hylocereus, which includes about 20 different species. This fruit comes from the Cactaceae family of climbing cacti.ĭragon fruit, also known as pitaya or the strawberry pear, is a beautiful tropical fruit that is sweet and crunchy. The edible part of the hylocereus cactus is probably one of the most unique and bizarre cactus fruits you will ever eat. Many of the fruits sold in California are imported from Mexico to extend the market season. The perfect stage of ripeness of each fruit lasts only about a week, and the maximum shelf life of a fruit is only eight or nine days. Those that are best for eating fresh ripen from September through November. The fruits ripen from early spring through late fall, depending on the variety. White-skinned varieties are the most popular in Mexico, while the sweetest varieties generally available in this country have dark reddish-orange or purple skins and deep red-purple flesh. Skin and flesh come in a rainbow of colors ( white, green, yellow, orange, red, purple, and brown. Cantwell-de-Trejo says that the acidity and fibrousness of the fruits are called "xoconochtlis" and are used in certain traditional Mexican stews and other dishes.įruit size, shape, and color vary from small and round like a walnut to three inches long and two inches wide like a rounded cylinder. They range from juicy to dry and sweet to acid. While all the fleshy fruit kinds are edible and none are poisonous, only a few are palatable and even fewer taste really sweet. In Mexico alone, there are over 100 species with edible fruits.
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Individual taste preferences will dictate which varieties to choose for eating fresh and which for cooking. This syrup can be reduced even further into a dark red or black paste that is fermented into a potent alcoholic drink called "coloncha." The fruit pulp can be dried and ground into flour for baking into small sweet cakes, or stored for future use.
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They can be cooked into jams and preserves or cooked down into a syrup as a base for jelly and candy ( the "cactus candy" in some Mexican food stores. You can eat them raw, at room temperature or chilled, and alone or with lemon juice. The flavor of a ripe prickly pear cactus fruit depends on the variety but include strawberries, watermelons, honeydew melons, figs, bananas, and citrus. The yellow platanera has a tropical flavor like that of bananas, the fruit from which it takes its name. The cuerno de venado has a floral flavor its high water content and small seed size make it a favorite snacking tuna. The naranjona has a honey-sweet, subtly spicy flavor reminiscent of a ripe persimmon's. 5 The widely available cristalina, also known as zarca, is juicy and crisp, with a sweet flavor like that of a white peach.The wild xoconostle has a sour and chewy, edible peel that is sometimes used in savory stews.
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The most widely available wild variety, the cardona has soft seeds and a flavor that's both sweet and bitter, almost like a Luxardo cherry's.
#Cactus that has soft thorns free#
The roja pelona, kiwilike in flavor, is free of thorns, and while the seeds of all tunas are edible, the ones in this variety are smaller than most. The Juana (sometimes called roja) has large, chewy seeds and tart, crimson flesh. The dark nubs on the skin contain sharp spines, but these are easily removed by slicing off the ends of the fruit, making lengthwise incisions, and peeling back the rind to reveal the luscious flesh. Varieties number in the hundreds, with flavor profiles ranging from creamy-sweet to brisk and tart. Cactus pads, or nopales, are eaten year-round, but it's only in summer that the fruits reach maturity. The prckley pear cactus grows all over Mexico it's also cultivated on plantations. Providing a refreshing snack eaten out of hand and a popular ingredient in candies, drinks, jams, and more. In late summer in Mexico, prickly pear cactus fruits, or tunas, are everywhere. Opuntia, commonly called prickly pear, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae.