Green Prickly Pears

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Lcasanova

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Has anyone ever made anything with the green prickly pears:drunk:? I've looked around on here and noticed everyone has used the red/purple ones. I have about 5# of them that I've cut up and frozen for now. Any thoughts?
 
Are you sure its the fruit and not the cactus pads you have? Ive never seen green pricky pear fruit. Both are edible but the green pads taste like sour green pepper and the fruit more like watermelon.
 
I've never seen green ones. I guess you should just taste a few and if you think they taste good, there are a lot of recipes for pricky pear mead.
 
They're green before they turn red/purple.

I've made a Prickly Pear Mead with the green ones. It tasted OK I guess since I have nothing else to compare it to. Tastes somewhat like you think aloe tastes like or like the drying effect of tequila on the tongue.

It's all VERY drinkable...;)
 
That's really cool, no idea what they are. Do you go to the Winemakers place on Rt.64 and Rt.83?
 
Yep Chicagoland Winemakers. I was so glad I found that place :ban:, I thought I was going to have to go into the city to get supplies.

Homebrewer 99- do you by any chance have a recipe you used?
 
If there's something they don't have, there's the homebrew shop in St. Charles and 2 Brothers in Warrenville.

I'm gonna be going to the Winemakers' events whenever I hear of them. The older guy in the shop is kick ass, the new couple (of which I've only met the husband, emailed the wife) are great too, just don't know them as well.
 
Yep Chicagoland Winemakers. I was so glad I found that place :ban:, I thought I was going to have to go into the city to get supplies.

Homebrewer 99- do you by any chance have a recipe you used?
Not on me...I'm on a business trip far from home...:D

I used the one in TCJOHB by Papazian.

You can buy the "tunas" from any Mexican grocery store.:D
 
When I have some time I supposed I'll make a basic mead with 1/2 the fruit in primary then rack onto the other half in secondary then rack again until it clears. The fruit itself was rather cheap $.69/lb so if anything, I'll stop by every once in a while to see if they got any purple ones so I can compare the two.
 
Last year, I made a gallon from the green and a gallon from the red. The red fruit tastes sweeter, so I'd assume you'll get more alcohol from them. When I bottled, I thought they tasted similar. I haven't sampled since. I might try a blind taste test to see if anyone can tell them apart.
 
The red and green ones are all over the damn place here. You can buy them deburred or you can just pick them all over the city.

I'm down Tucson and the prickly pear fruit are looking about ready to pick. Do you burn the glochids (tiny spines) off, or just wash them? I'm considering washing, freezing, then squeezing... maybe pureeing a small amount.
 
Last year, I made a gallon from the green and a gallon from the red. The red fruit tastes sweeter, so I'd assume you'll get more alcohol from them. When I bottled, I thought they tasted similar. I haven't sampled since. I might try a blind taste test to see if anyone can tell them apart.

Where'd you get the red ones around here? I have yet to look at Whole Foods, but either way, I assume they are not available at this time.
 
Where'd you get the red ones around here? I have yet to look at Whole Foods, but either way, I assume they are not available at this time.

Look for them at grocery stores that are geared toward mexicans. I just moved but the store I used to live by had them year round. I bought some before I moved and tried brewing with them. I kegged it yesterday, but the gallon of juice was diluted by the 2 gallons of beer, so there wasn't the color contribution I was hoping for.

They should be coming into season about now.
 
Just started the mead with this. I put an unknown amount in the primary and will put the rest in secondary. I used D-47 and it is going along pretty strong right now. DOn't ask about the OG, I got drunk and pitched the yeast and forgot to take a reading :drunk:
 
i had green ones...and actually i was in the same boat as you. After tasting both side by side i decided to wait. There wasnt as much sugar in green ones and im pretty sure they just picked them early
 
It's been a year since I've made mine and I can taste a slight difference between the two, but it isn't much of one. I'm sure I'd fail a blind taste test.
 
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