Everything’s coming up Prickly Pear

Last year, Mitch and I decided to make Prickly Pear syrup and jelly. And this year we did it again! We learned from last year, so it was a little easier this year. But it still requires plucking things off cacti when it’s over 100 degrees outside, so it’s not exactly vacation.

In case you're dying to make your own- here’s the process:

1. Go collect the ripe pears. You can tell they’re ripe when they’re a reddish-purple and come off easily. Use tongs for this- the longer the better. Again, they grow on cacti so they’re spiny little suckers. And they have the tiny spines that are impossible to see in your fingers but will hurt every time you touch anything.
2. I recommend not doing this at noon on the hottest day in the past two weeks. I did not take this advice. It was gross outside and I returned home drenched in sweat.
3. Take your giant bucket full of ripe pears home. Then use a lighter or creme brûlée torch to burn all the little spines off. This is best done while sitting on the floor and watching TV. 
4. Next cut them into quarters. Use an old cutting board because it will be pink. Your fingers will also turn pink when you touch them to put them in a big pot. Everything will be pink- bright pink!
5. Fill the pot with water so it just covers the pears and then boil it for a solid 10 minutes. Then mash it all up.
6. Straining time. This is where experience spoke up finally. Last year we used an old (and clean) pillow case to strain things. This year I spent $15 and bought a stand with two straining bags. It was a very good choice. Straining very hot cactus pieces is more time consuming than you’d expect. And those little guys are FULL of seeds. But eventually you will have a giant bowl of pink juice.
7. Then its time to make it into something else- syrup or jelly. Boil it with sugar and pectin (for jelly) and then jar it up. This is the time to invest in a funnel that fits on a jar perfectly. Hello Ace Hardware, my old friend.
8. Fill ‘em up and pop them in boiling water to seal. And, several hours and a lot of pink later, voila! Prickly Pear Syrup and Jelly.
9. Make margaritas. This is the best part. Share. Don’t share. Your call. As long as there are margaritas with prickly pear syrup, it’s all worth it.