3 Southwestern Inspired Food Products That You Need To Try

 Check out these delicious products that are Southwestern-inspired. These products are perfect for summer meals.

 When you look up what foods are regional for the Southwest, the most common answer is the three sisters' foods ~ corn, beans, and squash. While these are common staples in the Southwest, many more delicious foods can be found in the Southwestern region of the United States. 

 From delicious tortillas to spicy green chile, the Southwest states have unique food items that you need to know about. Today I am going to introduce you to some Southwestern-inspired items that I am enjoying this month. 

1. Hatch Chile Sauces

 One food that is from the Southwest is green chile. This spicy pepper is a New Mexico staple and is mostly grown in Hatch, New Mexico. This small town in New Mexico is the Chile Capital of the World. This is where the best green chile is grown and it is where many brands like Santa Fe Ole and Los Roast get their chile to make their delicious sauces. 

 We New Mexicans love our green chile and eat lots of it. Green chile and red chile are staples in our cooking for delicious meals. Fresh Green chile is only available for one month and this is a time when most people buy big bags of green chile at the markets. The markets even roast the green chile in the parking lot. Read more about green chile roasting here.

 People from New Mexico stock their freezers with fresh green chile, in hopes that they will have enough to last all year. For most people, their green chile stash is gone quickly, and they turn to their favorite New Mexico brands to buy more green chile products. 

A couple of brands that have been supplying green chile and red chile to folks living in New Mexico and other parts of the United States are Santa Fe Ole and Los Roast. These local brands have been making chile sauces for many years.

 Each brand sent me a jar of their chile sauces and I am excited to use them in my New Mexican recipes. Santa Fe Ole sent me a jar of medium-roasted green chile sauce and Los Roast sent me a jar of red chile sauce. For those not familiar with green chile, red chile is from the same chile pepper, it is just left on the vine longer.

The green chile sauce will be awesome in my slow cooker tamale recipe. This medium-roasted green chile will also be enjoyed over my vegan scrambled eggs and in a homemade bean burrito. The red chile sauce will be awesome in my Slow Cooker Vegetarian Posole, a holiday favorite that my family enjoys even in July. 

2. Cactus Crunch Chips

 Here in the Southwest, we love tortilla chips. Tortilla chips and salsa are a favorite snack and appetizer. Visit any New Mexican restaurant and they will give you a basket of tortilla chips along with salsa before your meal. A tortilla chip that I have been enjoying with my salsa is Cactus Crunch Chips.

 These delicious chips are made with nopal flour. Nopal flour comes from the paddles of the prickly pear cactus. The prickly pear cactus grows in the Southwest and here in New Mexico, they are everywhere. I love harvesting the fruit from the prickly pear cactus. 

The Catcus Crunch Chips are so delicious and they are loaded with nutrition. They are a healthier option for tortilla chips. Cactus is abundant in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that boost immunity. These crunchy chips have less carbs, sugar, and calories when compared to traditional tortilla chips. They are a perfect pair for salsa.

3. Keith Cacao

This 100% Pure Ceremonial Grade Cacao Drink may not be grown in the Southwest but it is a wonderful product to make Mexican Hot chocolate. It may be summer and hot chocolate may not be on your mind but this Ceremonial Cacao can be enjoyed warm or over ice. 

Keith's Ceremonial Cacao is the healthiest chocolate drink in the world that you can drink every day! This superfood offers a boost of energy and enhances your focus. Many people like to enjoy it in the morning as a healthy alternative to coffee. Unlike coffee, you won't get the caffeine jitters from this drink. Keiths Cacao has theobromine which stimulates our peripheral system, boosting blood flow throughout our body and providing a genuine lift without the rollercoaster crash.

 Keith's Ceremonial Cacao is offered in beans, paste, and mini-brick pastes and you can serve it up hot or cold or even incorporate it into your baking - check out some recipes here.

Southwestern-Inspired Products that you need to try

These are products that you need to try. My teen son loved the Cactus Crunch chips and ate a whole bag of the chips. I did get a few chips but I did not mind one bit as he ate plenty of salsa with the chips. Salsa is made with veggies so that counts as a vegetable serving.

 I enjoyed a warm mug of the Ceremonial Cacao with some cinnamon and it had a delicious chocolate taste. It reminded me of Mexican hot chocolate.

The chile sauces are in my pantry and I will be making some posole in the slow cooker this weekend with the red chile sauce. My son wants to use some of the red chile sauce for his enchiladas. The green chile sauce will be used on a daily basis over eggs and in burritos. 

Which product are you excited to try?

Homemade Prickly Pear Cactus Lemonade

Looking for a delicious summer drink? Prickly pears make the best lemonade. Keep reading to discover a delicious recipe for prickly pear lemonade.

 I recently discovered the joys of harvesting prickly pears and now have several bags in my freezer that are filled with these delicious cactus pears. If you have never tried a prickly pear fruit, you need to as these deep purple fruits or tunas are simply delicious. The pear fruit that comes from a prickly pear cactus is sweet and has a taste similar to watermelon. The texture of the fruit can be compared to a cucumber and the color of the sweet prickly pears is amazing. The deep purple color of the prickly pears gives your recipes a pink to purple color. Learn more about how to harvest prickly pears here.
Amazing recipes

 The prickly pear fruit is tasty by itself and is wonderful in smoothies, you will love drinking purple smoothies. Many people like to harvest the prickly pears to make prickly pear jelly and prickly pear syrup. While many restaurants here in New Mexico like to serve prickly pear ice cream and prickly pear margaritas. My favorite way to use the magenta prickly pear fruit is in a refreshing glass of lemonade which is perfect for a hot summer day after harvesting prickly pears. If you don't live in the desert and want to try prickly pears, you can find them at grocery stores in the produce section.


 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.

 The cactus plants near my house were bursting with prickly pear fruits and it was my son who encouraged me to pick them. He plucked a pear from a cactus while we were out running and had me taste it (after he peeled the pear.) It was so delicious that I had to go pick more. I did plenty of research online on how to harvest prickly pear fruits from a cactus and then I spent all weekend picking prickly pears. My freezer is filled with bags of purple prickly pears that are ready for my smoothies and glasses of prickly pear lemonade. You can also use the prickly pears to make a delicious Prickly Pear Syrup that is wonderful on ice cream and stirred into drinks.

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. As the experts at Arden's Garden say, 'Fresh juice is nature's perfect beverage, delivering pure nutrition in every sip' - and this homemade prickly pear lemonade certainly delivers on that promise with its vibrant color and natural sweetness.".

 You can add the prickly pear purple juice to homemade lemonade, store-bought 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.

Make sure to Pin this recipe on Pinterest for later


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.

How To Make Homemade Prickly Pear Syrup

 Prickly pears are colorful and loaded with flavor. The fruit can be used to make a simple syrup that is great in drinks and other recipes.

 This past month, I have been busy picking prickly pears, and I have an abundance of the sweet delicious hot pink fruits in my freezer. I am addicted to all things prickly pear right now as I just discovered how easy it is to harvest these purple fruits.

 I live in the desert of New Mexico and my neighborhood has plenty of prickly pear cactus plants. The cactus this year seems to have more prickly pears than usual and I for the first time decided to pick the purple magenta fruits. It also seems that nobody else is picking the purple pears from the cactus plants so I am on a mission to not let these fruits go to waste. As long as I have freezer space for the prickly pears, I will continue to harvest them. These colorful fruits from the prickly pear plant are delicious in smoothies and many recipes, like prickly pear syrup. 

If you don't live in the desert and want to try prickly pears, you can find them at grocery stores in the produce section.


What is prickly pear fruit?

 Prickly pear is the common name of a cactus that is native to New Mexico and other southwestern states. The edible fruit is a result of the cactus flower. These hot pink fruits have a sweet taste that is similar to watermelon and a texture that is like a kiwi or a cucumber. They are so delicious and I love to eat them fresh and in my morning smoothie.

 If you want to learn about how to harvest the prickly pears from the prickly pear cactus plant, then head over here as this article has plenty of good information. This prickly pear harvesting article has everything that you will need to know from picking the fruits to getting them ready to freeze. It even has a unique, painless way to get the tiny spikes called glochids off the prickly pear fruits so you don't end up with them in your fingers. Once you see how easy it is to harvest prickly pear fruits, you too will have an obsession with prickly pears.

Prickly pears are low in calories and a good source of dietary fiber, vitamin C, calcium, and antioxidant compounds.


Prickly pears are everywhere

 The area from where I am harvesting the prickly pears is a housing development that has only been there for about 4 years so the prickly pear plants that are growing on the main street are only about three years old. So maybe that is why they are now bursting with fruit. I have noticed the purple pears in past years while out running but never thought to pick them until now. The abundance of prickly pear fruits was just begging to be picked.

 Since my freezers are getting full with the magenta fruits, I am glad that I have two deep freezers, I am exploring new recipes to create with the delicious sweet fruits. I made prickly pear lemonade last week and this week I am making prickly pear syrup. Next week, I will be dehydrating the prickly pears to make prickly pear powder. I will have to even make some prickly pear fruit leather. You need to check out my simple recipe for making fruit leather. These fruits are so delicious that I am going to clear a spot in my yard so I can grow my own prickly pear cactus plants.

What is prickly pear syrup?

 Prickly pear syrup is made from the juice of the prickly pears. The process of getting the juice from the ripe prickly pears is quite simple. After you peel the prickly pears, you place the whole fruit into a blender and blend until smooth. Then you pour the fruit mixture through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds and pulp. What you have left is a delicious, sweet purple juice that has a nice watermelon flavor and can be used to make my prickly pear syrup.


The prickly pear syrup can be used in many drinks like Prickly Pear Lemonade and margaritas. It can also be used for pancake syrup and drizzled over ice cream. I like to use the prickly pear syrup in my cold brew ice tea for some awesome flavor. This syrup can also be used to add flavor to smoothies and it adds a nice natural pink color to frosting. You are going to love how easy making this prickly pear syrup is.

Preparing the prickly pears

 To prepare the prickly pears for the prickly pear syrup is quite simple. Ripe prickly pears are so easy to peel. I like to soak the pears in a bowl of water for a couple of minutes. To peel the pears, you will need a knife and a cutting board. Take the knife and slice off both ends of the fruit. Then peel off the outer layer of the fruit. There is no need to remove the seeds as you place the whole fruit into your cooking pan. You will later strain the seeds out of the cooked syrup with a fine mesh strainer.

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.

Homemade Prickly Pear Syrup

8-10 prickly pears, about 1 1/2 - 2 cups peeled fruit
3 cups of water
1/2 cup sugar

INSTRUCTIONS
Peel the prepared prickly pears and cut them in half. ~ Check out this article on how to prepare the prickly pears

Add the pears to a pot with the water and sugar.
Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.
Allow the mixture to simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. When the mixture thickens, remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Pour the cooled fruit mixture into a strainer. (Make sure the strainer is over a bowl.)
Use a spoon to press the prickly pear mixture into the strainer to get all of the liquid out. Do this in steps if the mixture does not fit all at once in the strainer. Empty the strainer of the seeds and thick pulp as you won't need this.
Pour the syrup into a container and chill for one hour. Store the prickly pear syrup in the fridge for up to two weeks.

How to Harvest and Prepare Prickly Pear Fruit

 Can you eat cactus fruit? Prickly pear is the common name of a cactus that is native to New Mexico and other southwestern states. The edible fruit is a result of the cactus flower. This fruit is sweet and delicious. Learn how to pick prickly pear fruits and use them in recipes.

 I have lived in New Mexico for 23 years and have never tasted a prickly pear tuna. I have seen the deep, dark magenta-colored fruits so many times when I am out running and have always been in awe of their beauty, but it never crossed my mind to pick a prickly pear. Maybe the fact that these delicious purple fruits grow on a cactus that has sharp spines on it has been the reason. I have always wanted to harvest prickly pears, but I was never brave enough to touch a prickly pear fruit.

Good can come out of a pandemic

 The virus pandemic of 2020 has made me brave in so many ways, and I have ventured out of my comfort zone so many times. The fact that I started a garden and grew vegetables still amazes me. I also became serious about making my body stronger and started doing more strength training. My newest thing is foraging for fruit, and I have been brave about asking people if I can pick fruit from their trees. I am amazed at how many fruit trees are not being harvested near me. I am glad that I have two deep freezers for all my fruit bounty of plums, peaches, and now prickly pears.

 It was my younger son who got me harvesting prickly pears. While we were out running one day, he grabbed one of the prickly pear fruits off a cactus and brought it home. He peeled and cut the ruby red pear so I could sample it. It was so sweet and delicious. If you have never tasted a prickly pear, it has a sweet taste similar to watermelon and a texture like a soft cucumber. I was glad that my son picked a cactus pear for me to enjoy.

I have a prickly pear obsession 

 The next day, while I was out, running and gathering some apples for my no-peel apple crisp recipe, I decided to pick a couple more of the tunas from the prickly pear plant. I was glad that I always carry a bag with me on my running belt (never know when I might see a fruit tree while running), so I had something to carry the purple fruits from the prickly pear cactus home. After I peeled those pears and enjoyed them, I knew that I had to harvest more prickly pears. The fruits were calling my name, and there was an abundance of them growing a couple of blocks from my house on the jogging path. So the next day, I decided to forage some prickly pears while I was out picking some peaches for my homemade peach fruit leather.

Free prickly pears for the taking

 I gathered up my fruit-picking supplies and hopped on my bicycle. I am glad that I equipped my bike years ago with rear baskets so I could use my bike for running errands. The prickly pear cactus plants were a couple of blocks from my home, so biking made sense. 

I was amazed at how many prickly pear plants I discovered, and they all had an abundance of ripe fruit pods on them. It was free fruit for the taking as they were along a public street and not near any houses. I had thought I had entered into a secret world as no one was picking these magenta fruits. Several people who saw me picking the prickly pears said to me "I am glad someone is putting the prickly pears to good use." Which made me think that in past years, the fruit went to waste. I even had a man ask me if I was making prickly pear jelly. So I was on a mission to pick the prickly pears and fill up my freezers with fruit, so I would have plenty for the year for my smoothies.

 What is a prickly pear?

Prickly pear is the common name of a cactus that is native to New Mexico. The edible fruit is a result of the cactus flower. These hot pink fruits have a sweet taste that is similar to watermelon and a texture that is like a kiwi or a cucumber. They are so delicious and I love to eat them fresh. Care must be taken when picking the prickly pear because of the plant's sharp spines and small tiny spines called glochids. The tiny irritating spines cover the fruit of the prickly pear and those spines are a pain to get out of your hands. My son failed to tell me about the tiny spines but strong tape helped me remove them from my fingers.

When to pick prickly pear fruit?

 Picking prickly pears is best done in the late summer when the fruit has turned to a deep magenta color and has no green remaining on the fruit. Here in New Mexico, that time is usually the end of August through October. I have learned that there really is no best way to tell if the prickly pear is ripe by looking at it as I picked several that were the right color but were still green on the inside. So pick a few pears from the cactus and peel them before you pick more.

Prickly pears are low in calories and a good source of dietary fiber, vitamin C, calcium, and antioxidant compounds.

How to pick prickly pears

1. Grab a bucket, a big bowl, a shopping bag, or even a cardboard box ~ I used a reusable shopping bag to gather my prickly pears as they fit in my bike basket. If you choose to use a shopping bag, be prepared to throw it away afterward, as the tiny spikes will cling to the bag. 

2. Wear heavy-duty gloves ~ I like to wear leather garden gloves with sleeves to protect my skin from the tiny, fuzzy glochids. These tiny thorns can be hard to remove from the skin, so protection is good.

3. Use metal tongs to pluck the fruit ~ I do not recommend using your hands to pick the pear tunas, as the tiny spines will poke through the gloves. So wear garden gloves and use metal tongs to pluck the fruit off the cactus.

4. Twist and pull ~ As you twist them off the pad, they should pop off immediately and dribble a little bit of purple juice. If the fruit does not come off easily, it is not ripe.

5. Don’t pick up fruit off the ground ~ The fruit on the ground may be rotten or have bugs in it.

6. Leave at least one fruit per pad, so the desert critters can get their share and the plant can reproduce ~ I am not sure how the animals enjoy the prickly pears without getting poked, but leaving a couple of pears on the cactus will help the plant grow more.

How to remove the tiny spines or glochids from your hands

I don't care how careful you are in picking the prickly pears; you will get a couple of the glochid spikes in your hands. I have discovered several ways to remove these painful, irritating thorns from your hands.

1. Use a piece of ice ~ just rub an ice cube over the tiny thorn, and that will help your skin remove the thorn.

2. Ice water ~ Place your hands in a bowl of ice water for a couple of minutes, and that too will help release the thorns.

3. Tape ~ I have found that duct tape or packing tape works to remove the thorns. Just place the tape over your fingers or hands and quickly pull it off.

4. Tweezers ~ If you can see the thorns, then use a pair of tweezers to remove them. Also, you can use tweezers to scrape the thorns out of your skin. 

How to prepare the prickly pears for consumption

1. Place the prickly pears in a bucket of ice water for an hour ~ The best way to get the tiny, painful spikes off pears is with ice-cold water. The freezing cold water helps the fruit release the glochid spines from the fruit. I have also found that sticking my hands in a small bowl of ice water helps me remove the glochids from my fingers. Just don't stick your hands in the same container that the pears are in.

2. Drain and rinse the prickly pears ~ After the pears have soaked in the ice water for at least an hour, use the metal tongs to place them in a strainer. Then give the pears a good rinse. You might have to do this in batches depending on how many pears you have. After I rinse the fruit, I place it in a bowl. At this stage, the pears should be fine to handle with your hands, but a few might still have tiny thorns on them, so grab them by the ends.

3. Examine the fruit ~ The prickly pear should be a deep purple color or magenta. If the fruit is green or light pink, it will be bitter, so just toss it. Be thankful that you pick the fruit for free and always pick double the amount, as not all the fruits may be ripe. My first harvest of prickly pears was all ripe, while the second batch from another plant had many unripe fruits. ~ A ripe prickly pear will be juicy with purple juice.

Tip: To check whether 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 it a couple more days to ripen. I like to place my pears on a baking tray on the countertop for a couple of days to further ripen.

4. Slice and peel ~ Place the prickly pears on a cutting board and slice both ends off. Then peel the outer layer of the fruit off. If the pears are ripe, the outer layer should come off easily. The prickly pear fruits will have plenty of edible seeds inside them, but there is no need to remove them now. If using the pears in smoothies, you can leave the seeds in the fruit. If you are using the fruit in recipes, then I recommend removing the seeds when you make the recipe.

Tip:  I recommend wearing vinyl gloves while peeling the skin off, as your hands may turn purple, and this also prevents the pokies from getting into your skin. Also, lay down a large old towel under the cutting board if you are prepping a lot of the fruit, as there will be purple juice.

5. Use in recipes or freeze ~ Decide how you are going to enjoy your prickly pear harvest. Since I was going to use my pears in smoothies and future recipes like prickly pear lemonade, I decided to freeze the majority of my prickly pears. I did place a couple of the fruits in a container in the fridge to use for a couple of days.

6. Making Prickly Pear Juice ~ After peeling the pears, place them in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into a fine mesh strainer to remove all the seeds. 

To eat the seeds or not

The seeds from the prickly pears are edible and will not harm you. The seeds are hard and hard to chew, so they are fine when drinking them in a smoothie, but I recommend removing the seeds when using them in recipes.

How to freeze prickly pears

Prickly pears can be frozen for a year or longer, and are so easy to freeze. Just place the whole prickly pears on a cookie sheet and place them in the freezer. Once the pears are frozen solid, place them into a freezer bag and place them back into the freezer. This makes it easy to grab a few for smoothies or other recipes.

You can also freeze prickly pear juice. I like to freeze the juice in 1- 2 cup portions to use later in recipes.

How to use prickly pears in recipes

 To use prickly pears in recipes, there are several ways to do so. Prickly pears can be enjoyed in smoothies, and there is no need to remove the seeds. If you choose to use the delicious prickly pears in recipes, then here are three methods to choose from:

1. Put them in the blender and blend them whole. If they are frozen, let them thaw first. Then strain the pulp and juice through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds.

2. Freeze them whole for a day or so, then let them thaw and mash to release the juice. Strain the pulp through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds.

What to make with prickly pears

The prickly pears are tasty on their own and can be enjoyed in things like smoothies and salads. While doing my research on prickly pear recipes, I discovered that many people use the prickly pear juice to make many prickly pear recipes, such as:

~ Jam or jelly
~ Prickly Pear Syrup
~ Pink prickly pear lemonade
~ Margaritas or mimosas
~ Prickly pear peach chutney
~ Prickly pear BBQ sauce
~ Kombucha tea (a type of fermented tea)
~ Prickly pear cheesecake
~ Prickly pear ice cream or sorbet

 I am choosing to use my prickly pears in my morning protein smoothies and in lemonade. The recipes for prickly pear jam and syrup call for way too much sugar. I may make prickly pear sorbet in the future. If you need prickly pear recipes, just do some searching online. Next up is learning to harvest the prickly pear cactus pads. These are more intense to process as they have a ton of long spikes on them, and you have to burn them off to pick the cactus pads.

Have you tasted a prickly pear?