Prickly Pear Cactus

In February, I was fortunate to attend my association’s conference. I am a member of NZ Association of Medical Herbalists, NZAMH, and we had the incredible American herbalist, Mimi Hernandez, talk to us. She had me and many others sold on the benefits of Prickly Pear Cactus, Opuntia ss.. It is native to Mexico but has naturalised through parts of North America (even into Canada), South America, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Mediterranean. I have been told it’s illegal to propagate it in Auckland because it grows so well up there. Since listening to her, I have acquired my own small prickly pear cactus, thanks to a generous friend. I planted it in the hen’s area and figure they will avoid destroying it haha. I’m guessing it will grow well in South Canterbury.

In the Southern US and Mexico the young cactus pads are eaten as a vegetable with foods like okra and the fruits are delicious as juice, a vinegar (from the seeds) and as colonche, which is fermented prickly pear juice. The fruits have a beautiful red juice. For preparing the pads, you need to remove the spines first and the fruits are also covered in glochids, which are spiny fibres you either need to burn or rub off with sand. Watch out for the seeds in the fruits, they are hard and something to avoid putting in your compost unless you like spiky intruders germinating in there! To draw out the muscilage from the pads and the fruits, put them through a juicer.

Medicinally, both the pads and fruits have been shown in studies to stabilize blood sugar when eaten with meals, especially beneficial in an area like Mexico which has sky high rates of T2 diabetes.

The muscilage from the pads is used traditionally on the head for headaches, to draw out spines (the irony of the creator of the prickles being the one to draw them out!), ulcers, cystitis, bronchitis, prevention of T2 diabetes, burns, to nourish and repair mucosal membranes, irritated nerve endings, IBS, sore throat.

You can make a poultice from the muscilage then wrap, like you would with Aloe vera, for drawing out spines, itchy conditions and bites.

Prickly pear cactus