I'm currently making my third batch of Prickly Pear mead. The pulp from the pears can take a while to break down and for the mead to clarify, but it will clarify eventually. I highly recommend adding some pectic enzyme at the start of fermentation.
My first batch was made with Prickly pear preserves and was spectacular. My second batch I used actual Prickly Pears, but boiled the pulp too long. I went by the time listed on the recipe and not my gut. This resulted in a loss of all the spectacular color of the pear and the bulk of the fruity prickly pear flavor. The point of the boiling was to break down some of the gelatinous goo that makes up a prickly pear.
In the most recent batch I skinned and then juiced the prickly pears instead of mashing them with a potato masher. The juice went straight into the carboy with the honey, while the pulp got boiled long enough to sanitize it. As a result I have a LOT of prickly pear flavor and the color is a spectacular dark red. My two year old son confuses it with the beet wine I have in another carboy.
This is spectacular stuff and even the batch that lost most it's color was so good my wife was OK with me making another 3 gallon batch for submitting to competitions.
As a final note, mesquite honey is a natural pairing for prickly pears in making mead. It also helps that mesquite honey is about $2.90 a pound at Trader Joe's when in season.
prickly pear wine
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