Cactus Juice Recipes

CACTUS JUICE RECIPE FOR GOOD HEALTH

Steps:

• To make cactus juice, start with removing any spines still stuck in the pad with tweezers or a knife.
• Bring a pot of water up to a boil and then drop in the two cactus pads.
• Allow them to steep for 3-4 minutes, as they will begin releasing their juices
• Remove the pads carefully and let them cool.
• Peel the pads and chop them into small cubes.
• Add the chopped cactus to your blender, along with the oranges, lemon and coconut water.
• Blend thoroughly until the consistency is even.
• Place cheesecloth over a bowl or container and strain the blended mixture through it.
• Press on the cactus pulp in the cheesecloth, removing as much juice as possible.
• Discard the cactus pulp, refrigerate the juice, and serve chilled!

HOW TO MAKE PRICKLY PEAR JUICE

Steps:

• If you are picking fresh prickly pears from a nopal cactus, be sure to use thick rubber gloves or tongs to avoid pricking yourself with the glochids.
• Before handling the prickly pears, brush them under cool running water to remove as many of the glochids as possible from the skin. (Store-bought prickly pears may already have most of their glochids removed).
• To peel the prickly pears you still may want to wears gloves or use tongs in case of any remaining glochids. Cut off both ends of the prickly pears. Make a skin-deep incision along the length of the fruit. Now you can easily pull the skin away from the inner flesh.
• Add the peeled prickly pears to a blender along with optional lime juice and agave syrup. Prickly pears are so juicy that I have never needed to added additional water to get the blender going. Blend until smooth.
• Pour the blended juice through a sieve to strain out the hard seeds.
• Adjust lime juice & sweetener if needed. You can drink the juice as is or diluted with water. It is also great in smoothies or margaritas.
• The juice can be stored refrigerated for 2-3 days. To store for longer, fill the juice into an ice cube tray and freeze. The frozen prickly pear juice cubes can be added to water for flavoring, or blended into smoothies or frozen margaritas.

PRICKLY PEAR JUICE

Steps:

• Remove the spines from the fruit, as noted in the text above. Put the fruit in a pot and just barely cover with water. Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, and when it cools enough to work with, mash everything with a potato masher.
• Run the mash through a food mill, or of you don't have one, push it through a colander with a rubber spatula. You need to get rid of the many seeds. Once that's done, strain the mash through a fine sieve, pushing it through with a rubber spatula. If you want a very clear juice, run that one more time through a sieve with a paper towel set inside it, and do not push it through -- just let it drop through over the course of an hour or two.
• Add sugar, plus citric acid or lime juice to taste. Enjoy over ice.