Amazing recipes
I spent last weekend foraging prickly pears and it was quite a process. While the prickly pear cactus are plentiful here in the desert of Albuquerque New Mexico and free for the taking, picking the sweet purple fruits is something that most people would not do as these purple pears grow on a cactus plant that is loaded with spikes and the fruits themselves are covered with tiny spikes that are impossible to remove from your skin. I have lived in Albuquerque for over 20 years and this was my first year that I decided to get brave and pick the fruits from the prickly pear cactus.
Sweet and refreshing lemonade
When you add the juice from a prickly pear to a glass of lemonade it makes a sweet drink that has amazing flavor and color. It is a refreshing drink for a hot summer day. This sweet pink drink is so easy to make. You can add the prickly pear purple juice to homemade lemonade, storebought lemonade, or even a powder lemonade mix. Fresh lemonade from freshly squeezed lemons always tastes the best. Squeezing lemons is not that hard when you have a citrus juicer. If you do not have a juicer, then simply squeeze the lemons by hand over a fine-mesh strainer, that way the seeds don't end up in your lemonade.
Items needed for prickly pear lemonade
+ Fresh lemons
+ Prickly pear fruits
+ Sugar or zero-calorie sweetener
+Water
+ A Pitcher
+ Spoon
+ Citrus juicer or blender
Tip: To check to see if the prickly pear is ripe before peeling, place it in a bowl of water. If it sinks, it is ripe and ready to eat. If the fruit floats, then give in a couple more days to ripe. I like to place my pears on a baking tray on the countertop for a couple days to further ripen.
Prickly Pear Lemonade
Makes 8 glasses
Ingredients
5 prickly pears, peeled
4 lemons, peeled and sliced in half
8 cups of water
3/4 cup sugar
Place all the ingredients into a blender, don't worry about the seeds from the fruit as we will be removing them later with a fine- mesh strainer. Blend the ingredients on high until smooth. You will hear the noise of the seeds. Then pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds.
If you don't have a fine-mesh strainer, you can remove the seeds from the fruits before you blend them. To remove the seeds from the prickly pears~ cut the fruit in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. To remove the seeds from the lemons, just slice the lemons in quarter pieces and use a knife to remove the seeds. You can also use a citrus juicer to remove the seeds from the fruits.
Oh yes please. I know my family would love this! We're all about lemonade. Plus it's super pretty :) So bonus, you get Insta pics.
ReplyDeleteI really would like to try all of these delicious recipes. I have not seen the prickly pear fruit sold near by, though.
ReplyDeleteI've always been interested in trying prickly pear. I hear of so many great things about it. This drink sounds amazing too. I could go for this right now.
ReplyDeleteFresh lemons are always a good idea when making lemonade. I'd love to try this version sometime.
ReplyDeleteThis is just the cutest drink idea. I really love the glass you chose to use too!
ReplyDeleteThis is really a must-try! It looks so delish!
ReplyDeleteId like to make the smoothie recipe. For a tropical like the Philippines, I can enjoy the cold treat all-year round.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness how good this lemonade looks! It sounds perfect for these last days of summer heat!
ReplyDeleteJust amazing!! I never knew that those things were even edible. Looking at them without the skin reminds me of the kiwi fruit. I cannot wait to give this a try and I enjoy fruits a lot.
ReplyDeleteThis looks so delicious, yummy and refreshing. I'll try it out soon!
ReplyDeleteI’ve never tried prickly pear cactus before, that purple colour is amazing. This lemonade recipe looks refreshing.
ReplyDeleteLove lemonade and these recipe sound so interesting! I ve never heart ofPrickly pear cactus so its a great idea to try!
ReplyDeleteI can’t wait to start trying your recipe, homemade prickly pear cactus lemonade awesome.
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