General guidelines for harvesting and processing fruit from the fruiting cactus of Northern NM Opuntia engelmannii
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Northern NM being high desert is full of piñon pine and cactus. If we are lucky, both will produce in abundance many gifts. This year is one of those years and we're excited to share with you our method of picking and producing one of the sweetest gifts the high desert has to offer, 'desert cactus fruit juice'.
The nights in Northern NM are now getting cold and the cactus fruits are concentrating their sugars and are ripe for picking.
HARVESTING
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Watch where you step, the desert is full of sharp hard things.
Pick as late as possible, usually around the first cold spells. This will result in a ripe fruit. Just be sure you don’t wait too long or the coyotes will beat you to them.
Use tongs to harvest and harvest into a container that won’t hold the glochids (small spikes) that may find you later.
PROCESSING
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Fill a pot with the fresh picked fruit and then fill with cold water just to cover.
Drain the water removing any dirt or debris and fill the pot again.
Bring the pot to a light simmer ~200f and turn off the heat.
Let cool for a few minutes and then smash all fruit. We do ours in a conical colander with a bowl underneath it, but any means of smashing will do.
If you have a press you can transfer all the pulp to the press, if not add solids in a clean cotton towel and press or squeeze out all excess liquid.
Strain all juice through a fine mesh strainer into glass jars and freeze if storing for later use.
It’s worth noting that somethings are best enjoyed in their most natural state. The juice from cactus fruit is one of those things and is great as just a juice, by itself or mixed with alcohol, especially mezcal. We love to use it as a granita because it usually has exactly enough natural sugars to create the perfect ice crystals. This like many of the recipes we share here is just a launching point so make some juice and explore the possibilities.
