Prickly pear jam recipe. Recipe: Cactus jam - with cinnamon and vanilla. Recipe for prickly pear tincture

Cactus is a plant with thorns embittered at the world. Good inside. According to rumors, it can absorb electromagnetic waves and process them into mescaline. Often appears in jokes with mice.

Hello. Today I would like to talk about such a wonderful plant as cactus. I came across the most accurate description of it in N. Nikonov's book "Constellation of Cacti": “If you meet a plant that approaches the shape of a perfect ball, an oblate sphere, a hemisphere, a polygon, a cube, a cylinder, a polyhedron, or a pyramid, most likely it will be a cactus.”
I’ll add on my own: if you saw something similar to: a cone, a porcupine, moss, a hedgehog, a piece of natural stone, or even a lump of an incomprehensible living green woolly substance, then with almost 100% guarantee it can be argued that you saw a cactus.
Or, on the contrary, divinely tender flowers resembling bells caught your eye, or maybe snowdrops or even dandelions, or maybe they were huge flowers up to half a meter in diameter, glowing in the dark. Know. It's most likely all the same cacti.

There is still no exact information about the origin of cacti, there are only assumptions. The most reliable is that they come from South America. And only 5-10 million years ago they hit the northern continent. Thus, it turns out that cacti are the youngest group of plants growing on Earth, but this does not prevent them from actively developing, adapting to external changes.
Now very common breeding cacti at home. Yes, and your obedient servant at one time was directly "sick" of this matter. In these plants, in addition to their unusual appearance, their compact size and slow growth are very attractive: you can create a whole reserve using just a small window sill in a standard-plan apartment. And in the summer you can transport your pets to the backyard and use it as an exotic design for flower beds and lawns.
Growing cacti- a very exciting process, giving scope for creativity and usually addictive for many years. But we are talking more and more about the decorative properties of cacti, but they are still actively used in medicine and cooking.

Cacti in medicine
- it is this species of the cactus family that is actively used in modern medicine. The extract of this plant, which has an antispasmodic effect and increases blood circulation, is used to treat cardiovascular diseases. In his homeland, in Mexico, local residents use the pulp and juice of this plant for compresses for rheumatism. And the Mexican Indians, for fractures and bruises, apply the stems to the damaged area, after removing the skin with thorns.
Another cactus - Lophophora(Lophophora), occupies a special place in the history of Mexico. Outwardly, it does not represent anything: a thorny round ball has been an object of worship for local residents since ancient times, since its juice causes a state of euphoria caused by colorful visual and sound hallucinations. And now there are still tribes that use Lofofora as a cure for all diseases: they treat pneumonia and bleeding, save from snake and scorpion bites, and even use it as a cure for a hangover.

cacti in cooking
But in cooking they mainly use very tender young prickly pear shoots which taste like cucumber. The most popular dish for their use is salads, but you can also find recipes for hot dishes and desserts, where cacti are present in the composition. And in the deserts, it is also a refreshing drink for travelers and livestock.
Since the fruits of cacti are inherently similar to berries, they are used accordingly: they make jam, add to desserts, make drinks, or eat them raw. In the markets of many countries, you can find them next to other ordinary fruits and vegetables: for example, in Vietnam, chylocereus epiphytes are very common.
To try exotic cactus berry it is not at all necessary to go somewhere: it is enough to grow the well-known mammillaria on your windowsill. After flowering, many red berries are formed on it, the taste is very reminiscent of barberry fruits.
But if you are not too lazy and grow an epiphytic cactus Schlumbergera, then when it is pollinated, you can get a tasty fruit, the size of a plum.
And if you happen to be lucky enough to find two flowers of selenicereus, then after pollination you should get a marvelous fragrant fruit, the size of a good apple.

Finally, I would like to offer you cactus jam recipe

Compound:
Cactus - 8 pieces.
Sugar - 1 glass.
Lemon - 1 piece.

Cactus jam. Method number 1 (classic):
Prickly pear berries are best suited for jam, but the stems of echinocactus or imelocactus (another name is candy cactus) are also suitable. They must be carefully cleaned of skin and thorns, covered with sugar and simmered until boiling. Then remove, cool to room temperature and return to the fire. Cool again, add lemon juice, boil for the last time. Then filter - and your jam is ready to eat or store.
Enjoy your meal!

Method number 2 (alternative)
You take the cactus out of the pot, simultaneously shaking it off the sand. Put the pot aside - we don't need it anymore. Resigned? Good. Now once again thoroughly shake off the remnants of the sand and replace it with sugar. For those who like spices - you can add a little cinnamon and vanilla. The cactus, stunned with happiness, will begin to absorb sugar. Do not forget to add more, while strictly monitoring the level (any self-respecting doctor will confirm that the level of sugar is an extremely important thing!) After a while, your culinary ingredient will begin to be distributed in the sides and acquire the sweetest expression on your face. Here (attention!), The main thing is not to miss this important point. Grab it on the battery too: the sugar will melt and the jam is ready! Enjoy your meal!

Ingredients of the recipe Lemons 1 pc. Cactus 8 pcs. Sugar 1 stack. Servings: 8 Cooking method: how to cook Cactus jam. Imagine: New Year, guests at the table, you serve dessert, and, so casually, say: “But try cactus jam, this year it turned out not bad, not like in the past.” The guests are out, honor and praise to you, and the eternal envy of your friends. Yes, of course, you can buy anything in the store, but anything else needs to be brought to mind. You can also buy cactus jam, but you still need to know how to cook it yourself. In this culinary recipe, not even a recipe, but a delight, the most important thing is to find the right cacti. After all, you can’t cook this jam from ordinary cacti from the windowsill. For this purpose, the fruits of common prickly pear are well suited, they taste like strawberries, they are used to make jam, bake and eat fresh. But there is another very interesting cactus, not even two - melocactus, it is also called candy cactus, and echinocactus. Here, jam is definitely made from them, not from fruits, but from themselves. So, the stems are very carefully, with the help of a knife and fork, cleaned of thorns and skins, covered with sugar and simmered until boiling. Remove from heat, wait for it to cool completely and return to the fire. Cool again, add lemon juice and boil again, filter and jars. http://eda-recepty.com/cooking/3291-varene-kaktusovoe

There are many types of prickly pear fruit. I have a Libyan Otsuntia (North Africa). The local population calls it "tin shauki". Cactus fruits should be collected and cleaned in seals, as they are armed with "glochidia" - specific spines in the form of very small, fragile hairs with tiny hook-shaped outgrowths at the ends. At the slightest touch to the glochidia, their hooked hairs easily break off and instantly dig into the skin or clothing. In order not to suffer from small thorns, prickly pear fruits can be soaked in cold / warm water for 15-20 minutes. Then it will be possible to clean the fruits even without gloves. We make an incision, We extract the juicy, sweet, bright pulp. Cut the flesh into cubes. Add lemon juice, cinnamon... ...and sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, 10-15 minutes. I had cactus fruits with small seeds, so I did not extract them. If you have fruits with large seeds, you can strain through a sieve and make jelly. It turned out fragrant, very sweet jam! Note: I don’t know about seaming, I haven’t tried it. Jam according to this recipe can be stored in the refrigerator for two to three months. Ingredients for "Prickly pear cactus jam": Cactus (fruit) - 5 pcs. Lemon juice - 2 tbsp. l. Sugar - 2 stack. Cinnamon (ground) - 0.5 tsp

An outlandish delicacy and exotic is a cactus jam, the recipe of which came to us from the countries of Central America. Locals prepare it from prickly pear (a genus of cacti that includes numerous subspecies).

Opuntia from the New World came to the Mediterranean countries, where it also gained well-deserved popularity. The edible part is red or yellow fruits, reaching 10 centimeters in diameter. The flesh of the cactus has a sweet, refreshing taste reminiscent of watery strawberries or juicy pears. It contains proteins, sugar, vitamin C and starch. Prickly pear is used for various disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, ulcers and gastritis, diabetes, obesity, dehydration, inflammation, bleeding, as a general tonic.

A selection of the best cactus fruit jam recipes

Cactus fruits are consumed fresh, baked in the oven, added to salads and other dishes, made jams, jellies, compotes, tinctures. The young shoots are also edible. When collecting prickly pear, you should be extremely careful, they have special small spines (glochidia), in the form of hairs with hook-shaped outgrowths, which are very easily separated and remain in clothing and skin. Therefore, it is necessary to collect and process cactus fruits in tight gloves.

Simple homemade cactus fruit jam

Soak prickly pear fruit in warm water for half an hour to get rid of prickly hairs. After carefully peel, make an incision and extract the juicy sweet pulp. Cut it into small pieces and place in a bowl. Add sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice.

All this mass must be cooked over very low heat until it boils, stir for about a quarter of an hour, remove from the stove and let cool and infuse. If large seeds are present in the fruits, the jam can be passed through a sieve.

For this treat, you can use several types of cacti, such as melocactus and echinocactus. In this case, not the fruits are used, but the whole plant. Such cactus jam is prepared like ordinary fruit jam, in several stages.

How to make cactus-based lemon juice jam

For jam, we need: prickly pear fruits - 5 pcs, sugar - 2 cups, lemon juice - 2 tbsp. l, ground cinnamon - 0.5 tsp Peel the prickly cactus. Cut the pulp into cubes, cover with sugar, shake so that everything mixes well. The fruits immediately release juice, so they can be cooked right away.

Put on a slow fire, add cinnamon, lemon juice and boil, stirring, 15 minutes. Cactus jam is ready. It tastes a little like strawberries or mulberries.

In order not to come across cactus seeds in conservation, at the end of the cooking process, it is filtered. An alternative solution would be to use a juicer. At the same time, the preparation almost does not change, only after the pulp is extracted, it is passed through a juicer, and the jam is made from the juice.

Jam with lime and prickly pear fruit

Ingredients:

8 cacti;
1 glass of granulated sugar;
1 lime.

Peel the opucia and cut into small circles, which will release the juice almost immediately. Therefore, put the cactus in a separate container and cover it with sugar. After that, the pulp will give the maximum amount of juice, which is very useful to us when cooking cactus jam and, in particular, at the stage of making syrup.

Now that the cacti are infused, immediately put the container with them on the stove, bring to a boil and boil for several minutes over low heat. You will be surprised, but after that the mass will be ready! If you want to give the jam a piquant sourness, add a little lime juice before the end of cooking. If the cacti do not boil well, they are cooked in several steps, heating and cooling the mixture.

Useful properties of cactus fruit jam

It is quite natural that cactus jam cannot be prepared in the amount of 10-15 three-liter bottles. Think of this preservation as a delicacy that you can enjoy on your own or serve it on a festive table to surprise guests. Just imagine how unusual such a treat would look!

Few people know that jam plants can be grown at home! Such a plant is known as prickly pear or razor-sharp cactus. It tastes like mulberry. Of course, now you can buy it in stores, so if you do not want to grow it, it is quite possible to look for a thorn for brewing on sale.

Cactus fruits are very easy to clean - their peel resembles the skin of tomatoes. By the way, be careful when you begin to clean the cactus for making jam - you can get hurt on the thorns. In stores, thorny plants are sold already cleaned, which greatly simplifies the task.

It is best to clean the stems of melocactus or echinocactus with a knife and fork. You can make a paper "collar" that you put on the plant, after which you can painlessly perform various manipulations with it. Prickly pear is best cleaned with gloves. If prickly pear fruits are soaked for 20 minutes in water, the thorns will stop digging into the skin. If you add pectin to cactus-based jam, you get a wonderful jam.

Video recipe: Cactus jam

Recipes for drinks, desserts, salads and second courses from cactus. Use in folk medicine.

The content of the article:

Cactus is an uncommon plant for our latitudes. It is used as an ornamental flower and home decoration. The thorny stems that are grown at home are not suitable for eating, but wild varieties in Mexico and other countries of South America have been used for a long time as ingredients for various dishes, the inhabitants of these states know very well how to cook cacti.

The history of cactus cooking

For the first time in food, cacti began to be used in Africa. This is due to the small amount of water in the area. Initially, only the leaves were used, as they are fleshy and contain a lot of water. Previously, wild thorns were found everywhere, there were a lot of them in the desert. Therefore, the local population during a severe drought collected the leaves and used them to prepare various drinks.

A little later, the Mexicans also drew attention to a strange plant, only this time they took fruits for food, they are sweet and tasty, like tropical fruits. It was in Mexico that wild prickly pear was later cultivated for its fruits. Now the Mexicans do not have a question what to cook from a cactus, as it has become a source of income for local residents.

Interesting facts about cacti and dishes from them:

In Tunisia and Cyprus, cacti are grown as hedges. This plant is covered with small fluffy spines. At first glance, they are harmless, but they are not. Upon contact with the skin, they dig into its deeper layers, causing burning and itching. An abscess and even blood poisoning can develop.
For the first time as a dessert, the fruits of cacti began to be used not by Mexicans, but by Italians. They were the very first to prepare a salad and dessert with fruit from the fruits of a prickly plant.
Mexico is now the largest exporter of cacti. There are special farms that grow edible varieties of prickly pear.
The Mexicans originally used only the thorny leaves as food. One of the most popular dishes now is the pickled leaves of the plant. They taste like pickled cucumbers.
In Mexico, many indigenous people cook grilled cactus with steak for the holidays. In addition, many eateries in the country serve scrambled eggs with chopped prickly pear leaves for breakfast.
Doctors in Mexico successfully use the cactus to lower cholesterol levels and even treat diabetes with the help of the plant.
Cacti are very useful, the healers of Africa knew this. They used leaves, roots and fruits to treat skin diseases and ailments of internal organs.

cactus recipes

In Mexico, Africa and South America, cacti are used to make desserts, salads, snacks, and even main courses. In our country, this plant is not common, but if you travel, you should find out a few recipes for simple cactus dishes.

cactus salad

For the preparation of salads, both prickly pear fruits and echinocactus leaves are used. Leaf salad is prepared with the addition of various vegetables and spices. They eat it, scooping it up with bouffant (corn chips).

Cactus salad recipe that came to us from Mexico:

Soak the leaves (botanically speaking, they are not leaves, but stems) for 20 minutes in cold water. Remove a thin layer of skin.
Chop the pulp with a sharp knife into cubes measuring 2 by 2 cm. Pour boiling water over the cactus pieces and leave for 15 minutes. Drain the water.
Finely chop the parsley. Cut cucumbers into thin slices. Tomatoes are cut into neat slices.
Mix all the vegetables and cactus pieces, add canned sweet corn. Dress the salad with balsamic vinegar and vegetable oil.
Mexicans love to flavor this salad with hot peppers. But for us, the addition of onions marinated in vinegar is more familiar.

This is a great side dish for meat dishes. Cooking goodies in Mexico. The edible cactus nopal is used. It is pre-cleaned of needles and peel.

Roasted Cactus Recipe:

Cut 500 g of cactus pulp into thin slices and boil in water until tender. You will need 20-30 minutes.
Remove cactus from boiling water and let cool. Separate 4 whites from yolks in a separate bowl.
Beat egg whites and yolks in separate bowls and combine.
Dip cactus in egg mixture and coat in flour.
Fry on both sides of each piece of cactus and salt.
Serve with onion, tomato and garlic tomato sauce. Sprinkle the finished dish with grated cheese.

cactus sweet recipes

Sorbet and spicy cookies are prepared from prickly pear fruits. These fruits taste like kiwi, but without a clear sourness. They are watery and look like a juicy pear.

cactus jam

In our country, this dish is called jam, abroad it was called confiture or jam. Desserts, pastries, or simply eaten as a sweet addition to tea or coffee are often prepared with it. Preparing the dish is quite simple.

Cactus Jam Recipe:

Prickly pear fruits are used for cooking. If you use melocactus or echinocactus, then these species must be taken completely, that is, with leaves and stems.
Before cooking, soak prickly pear fruit or echinocactus leaves in cold water for 30 minutes. This will help to painlessly remove the thorns. You can do all the work with rubber gloves. An incision is made in the prickly pear fruit and all the yellow or red pulp is removed.
When using echinocactus, the leaves are cut into small cubes. Sprinkle vegetable raw materials with sugar. For 1 kg of fruit, 500 g of granulated sugar is needed.
After that, enter 100 ml of lemon juice and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Leave in the pan for 20 minutes for the fruits to release the juice.
Put on fire and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Pour into sterilized jars and roll up.

If you want to make jam, then the brew must be wiped through a hundred, because the fruits contain small bones. After that, pectin is introduced into the homogeneous mass. Such confiture can be used as an addition to ice cream or a filling for cookies.

Prickly Pear Sorbet

This is a kind of ice cream or fruit ice. For dessert, you can use yellow or red prickly pear fruits.

Sorbet recipe:

To prepare 6 servings, you need 6 cactus fruits, 50 g of sugar and water, egg white.
Soak the fruit in very cold water for 20 minutes and scrape off the thorns.
Cut the pulp into small cubes and pour it into the blender bowl. Grind to a puree. It's okay if it's very liquid.
In a separate bowl, mix 50 g of sugar and water. Put on fire and stir constantly. When all the crystals have dissolved, pour the syrup into the puree.
In a blender, beat 1 protein with a drop of lemon juice. The mixture should resemble foam.
In a thin stream, add cactus puree to the protein and gently stir. The mixture should resemble liquid foam. Pour the mass into bowls or molds and freeze. Sorbet is served with ice cream and grated chocolate.

cactus jelly

Prickly pear fruits are so juicy and tasty that they are eaten raw or prepared as light desserts. All of them are low-calorie, so they are ideal for women who are watching their figure.

Jelly recipe:

For 5 servings, you need 5 red or yellow prickly pears, 500 ml of water, 50 g of sugar and 20 g of gelatin. You will need 3 kiwi fruits and mint leaves.
Peel prickly pear fruits from thorns and skin and cut into small cubes. Whisk in a blender.
Put the water on the fire and after it boils, add the puree. Stir and add sugar.
Cool the mixture and add gelatin to it. Leave for 20 minutes. Put on fire and stir constantly, do not boil the mixture.
Set the liquid aside after the gelatin crystals have dissolved.
Peel the kiwi fruit from the skin and cut into thin slices.
Distribute pieces of fruit in bowls and fill with cactus broth. Put in the freezer for 2 hours.
Serve in bowls, garnished with mint leaves.

cactus drink recipes

In Mexico, prickly pear is used to make cocktails, mojitos and even alcoholic tinctures. Due to the large amount of fructose, the cactus drink ferments well.

Prickly pear tincture

The recipe is based on the use of vodka, which is infused with cactus fruits. For spice, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla are added to the mass. The drink goes well with fruit and resembles liquor, although not so viscous and sweet.

Recipe for prickly pear tincture:

Take 1 liter of vodka. Using gardening gloves, remove the skin and thorns from 0.5 kg of prickly pear fruit. Cut into small pieces or slices.
Place the fruits in a bowl and add a glass of granulated sugar, 20 g of vanilla sugar, 12 cloves and a few cinnamon sticks.
Pour vodka and 200 ml of orange juice into the mass. Leave in a warm place for a day.
The next day, stir the mixture so that the sugar is evenly distributed throughout the volume. Leave in a cold place.
After 21-28 days, strain the mixture through cheesecloth. Then pour into a container through a layer of cloth. You must achieve complete transparency. Served with citrus tincture and tropical fruits.

Non-alcoholic cocktail "Pink Panther"

This is a fruity drink that is great for refreshing in the summer heat. Even children can drink it.

Drink recipe:

Take 3 prickly pear fruits and peel them.
Remove pits from a handful of cherries. With 200 g of blackberries, remove the ponytails.
Pour all the ingredients into a blender and grind.
Now you can strain through cheesecloth. It is necessary that the bones do not fall into the cocktail.
Squeeze the juice of a quarter of a lemon into a bowl. Pour a handful of ice and grind in a blender.
Pour the cocktail into glasses and immerse the tubules.

cactus medicine recipes

In Africa and Mexico, the cactus is used for medicinal purposes. Syrups, decoctions and rubbing for coughs, bronchitis and varicose veins are prepared from it. In some settlements in Africa, there are shamans who use the cactus to treat almost all diseases.

Consider what medicine can be prepared from a cactus at home:

From cough. For the preparation of a remedy, leaves of a green edible cactus are used. They need to be cleaned of thorns and squeezed out a little juice. Mix equal amounts of honey, cactus juice and marshmallow. Take the drug three times a day before meals. It treats a mixture of bronchitis, tracheitis and even tuberculosis.
For eczema. The mixture is used to treat eczema, purulent wounds and abscesses. Peel the leaves of the green cactus from the needles and skin and grind into a puree. Strain through cheesecloth. Mix one part cactus juice and 2 parts horseradish juice. Soak a bandage or cloth with liquid and apply to the boil. Change the compress every three hours.
For stomach ulcers and gastritis. Crushed cactus leaves (two spoons) pour 500 ml of boiling milk. Enter the peel from one tangerine. Close the mixture in a thermos and leave for 14 hours. Take 120 ml of liquid three times a day.
From sciatica. Peel a few cactus leaves from thorns and skin and grate. Rub the resulting porridge into sore joints. Cover the ointment with compress paper and leave for 1 hour. It is recommended to do compresses in the morning and in the evening. If you wish, you can leave the application all night.
From colds and SARS. Used tincture of prickly pear. To prepare the potion, take three leaves of a cactus and remove the skin and thorns. Cut into small pieces and put in an enamel pan. Pour in 500 ml of boiling water. Add a handful of linden blossom and wrap the dish. Leave overnight. Take 125 ml of medicine in the morning and evening.

Keep in mind that all cactus medicines should not be taken on an empty stomach, as they irritate its walls.

How to cook a cactus - look at the video:

Despite the exotic origin of the cactus, this plant is gradually gaining popularity in our country. In some supermarkets you can find fruits on the shelves.

The taste of fresh fruits resembles mulberries, the seeds are similar to grapes. It makes no sense to buy in kilograms if you are not going to harvest. In order to taste the taste, one fruit is enough.

I didn’t buy the sabra, the whole package was already waiting for our arrival) Who is the sabra?, - you ask, - yes, it’s the same prickly pear, the sprawling cactus Opuntia, but here it lives, thrives and bears fruit under this name: sabra, tsabar, sabres. In the English-speaking environment, the fruits are called prickly pears.

I remember in my youth I was fond of breeding cacti and my mother and grandmother brought me from the Crimea a cake of prickly pear with a small green process on top. Oputia grew and developed beautifully on my windowsill for a while, until one winter most of the cacti in my collection froze and I heartily handed out the rest out of sight. Of course, I had a chance to dream about its flowering, but no one informed me that it also bears fruit, and that these fruits are quite edible and even tasty, and my non-poor fantasy did not wander into such a steppe then.

It would be nice to mess with prickly pear fruits with the right tools. I remember in my youth it was recommended to simply fold a sheet of paper into a dense tape and wrap it around a cactus like a collar if you are going to do any manipulations with it, for example, a transplant. Habitual laziness forced me to give up on all sorts of precautions and I took up the matter with my bare hands. As a result, we have

I peeled the first few fruits like potatoes, removing the tops and removing a thin layer of skin with a knife. The rest were subjected to more economical cleaning - the skin of ripe fruits was removed approximately like a tomato. I cut the pulp into circles, lightly sprinkled with sugar and shook the pan so that each piece was thoroughly covered with it. The fruit immediately gave juice. The best approach to preparing anything from prickly pear is to use a stone fruit juicer, i.e. one with which you prepare juices from tomatoes, currants or raspberries. I didn’t have one at my disposal, so I had to tinker with a regular juicer and a sieve. As a result, from about a dozen fruits, I got 300-400 grams of juice or syrup, I find it difficult to say what it is))))

Brought to a boil and warmed over low heat for several minutes, that's all the labor. Now I’m pouring goat cheese with this sauce and enjoying it with a glass of dry wine.) If you add pectin, then jam-confiture-jelly will come out, etc. You can also simply use it for lemonade compotes. A nice little thing, not sour, fragrant and beautiful color)

I’m writing with one right hand, I’ve been trying to get a thorn from my left for the fourth day already)))) What do you think, cook jam from cacti and not earn a bracket?)))) In fact, prickly pear fruits are sold here already peeled of thorns, but sometimes all the same , the most fortunate ...))))