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Eating cactus fruit

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Hey, just wanting to hear about any experiences with eating cactus fruit, what you have tried, your opinion and how you rate it etc.

So far I have tried - cereus peruvianus (was nice I would say like a slightly more bland dragon fruit)

                             - dragon fruit, yellow, red with white flesh and red flesh (all very nice

                             - prickly pear, had a fruit a fair while ago and cant remember the taste well, I remember them to be more watery than other

cactus fruits I tried but pleasant. Will have to try some again soon, heard they make good preserves ? 

                             -mammillaria spp. one little fruit, was pleasant maybe slightly floral taste from memory

That's about my total experience with cactus fruits, will try a button cactus fruit one day when I feel I can spare the seeds, feels wrong to eat those precious seeds but curiosity will surely lead me to trying some day : )

 

Anyhow I would very much like to hear about any cactus fruit experiences you have had : )

 

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Dragon fruit is really nice when its sweet, but can be bland sometimes.

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Barbary figs man , never a better flavour was there to pass along this gullet..

also a great Ice cream flavour..

-edit- oh yeah don't bite or chew hard, those seeds will pass thru fine and are pretty big and not fun to bite down on

 

If you prefer sweetness with dragon fruit get the pink ones (Hylocereus costaricensis) and I don't think you'll be dissapointed :)

 

I read enough about Cereus peruvianus fruit not to pass up the chance if it were to come by.

 

Also I was told by a SABber that T' spachianus fruits are ok too.

Edited by ☽Ţ ҉ĥϋηϠ₡яღ☯ॐ€ðяئॐ♡Pϟiℓℴϟℴ
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2 hours ago, ☽Ţ ҉ĥϋηϠ₡яღ☯ॐ€ðяئॐ♡Pϟiℓℴϟℴ said:

Barbary figs man , never a better flavour was there to pass along this gullet..

also a great Ice cream flavour..

-edit- oh yeah don't bite or chew hard, those seeds will pass thru fine and are pretty big and not fun to bite down on

Fuck is that the idea, to just suck the delicious flesh and juggle the seeds in your mouth and swallow them whole? I had no idea

I crunched them up the texture was kinda interesting... Very noisy feed  :P.  But I agree they are sooooo damn tasty.

 

Dragon fruit is nice but super floraly and can be a bit too perfume like for me. Haven't tried much else.

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1 hour ago, Skellum said:

Fuck is that the idea, to just suck the delicious flesh and juggle the seeds in your mouth and swallow them whole? I had no idea

I crunched them up the texture was kinda interesting... Very noisy feed  :P.  But I agree they are sooooo damn tasty.

 

Dragon fruit is nice but super floraly and can be a bit too perfume like for me. Haven't tried much else.

Yeah man it is as far as I know

I suppose you could spit them out and try to grow them ... ?

I think it's opuntia ficus indica .. I forgot to put that earlier so just in case any other readers wondering what species it is ... but perhaps it's specific cultivars? also the pads are edible but.. glochids so beware

and burn the ones off of the fruit if necc',

 

defo can save the seeds with hylo' costa' too so if they're in season and in your supermarket you can get them growing too fairly easily.

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^Yeah I have heaps of pads I'm trying to root now.
The ebay seller who sold them to me says make sure u watch whos peeling them...
She uses a knife and fork to peel the fruit, sometimes she lets her kids do it, and she reckons they've ended up with glochids in their tongues... LOL.
Takes like a day+ of chewing your tongue to try and dislodge the bastard, haha (they're like fibreglass).

None the less, devine fruit the ol' Opuntia (prickly pear) and thats good advice to burn the fibrey horrible glochids off, should work well.

Edited by Skellum
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i'm patenting a hyrbid fruit+pad opuntia ficus-indica combo, it's the next superfood.

 

the other point i was making, is saguaro fruits have to be at the top of the list, delicious!

 

 

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IMG_2408.thumb.JPG.596e47026e9a6848d37662745804156e.JPG

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That sounds delicious ! there is a lot to be said for the oil from the seed too of the barbary figs..

 

I forgot to add I tried loph fruits and do enjoy them although very small but an experience worth having..

-more seeds if pollinated, so perhaps if seeking a nice berry then maybe not pollinate.

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Awesome, gonna have to hope for the spach to fruit soon so i can try, Hey thunderhorse was the opuntia ficus indica fruit you tried from a spiny plant or a fairly spinless plant ? i see both pics for the same plant i put a couple on here to show what i am talking about.

maybe this is an environmental effect? or two different plants? i know a place that has opuntia plants that have massive and what appears pretty spineless pads, might nock on the door and ask if he knows what type it is and if he would spare a cutting : )

I think the main one that grow wild round here is opuntia tomentose (velvety tree pear) its fruits are edible but i  wonder if its pads are also edible?

Hey skellum, have you got optunia ficus indica or is it another type? are they spiny ? any chance of seeing a pic?

On ‎19‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 6:49 AM, Micromegas said:

i'm patenting a hyrbid fruit+pad opuntia ficus-indica combo, it's the next superfood.

 

the other point i was making, is saguaro fruits have to be at the top of the list, delicious!

 

 

IMG_2408.JPG

 

Yeh how has this not been done on commercial scales? do the fruits perish to quickly for transport, sales etc? so are you hybridising different types of ountia ? So far the only opuntia i have heard anything negative about is optunia stricta, Eric Andersons book plants of central qld states that over eating of this type can cause kidney disorders in humans.

Saguaro fruit, awesome i want to try that now, hopefully i will get to try one, i think they would take years maybe decades to get to fruiting size.

 

optunia sineless.jpg

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59c1be3a569e5_Opuntia_ficus-indicaspines.thumb.jpg.49c626a8aa9a4e2a5cb0e09ef8052626.jpg

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that place that has the spineless looking optunias look pretty much like this pic so i am guessing they are ficus indica, has anyone tried the pads from optunia plants? i wonder if all optunia pads are edible or only ficus indica ?

optunia ficus spineless 111111111111.jpg

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59c1c6e3b5fd2_optuniaficusspineless111111111111.thumb.jpg.ae979584c11472a83c6c3708d17e276c.jpg

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Opuntia pads go well blended with berries and ice into a smooth drink

 

sadly every dragon fruit I've tried has been bland - supermarket fruit for you anyway..

 

theres a huge monstrose cereus peruvianus on a family members property, has fruit on it almost all year round, the fruits are nice but definitely an acquired taste 

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17 hours ago, Matt1208 said:

Opuntia pads go well blended with berries and ice into a smooth drink

 

sadly every dragon fruit I've tried has been bland - supermarket fruit for you anyway..

 

theres a huge monstrose cereus peruvianus on a family members property, has fruit on it almost all year round, the fruits are nice but definitely an acquired taste 

If the pads go well blended to a drink with berries than maybe could use the opuntia fruits with it ? I have been wanting to try a pad but not sure if the velvet type that grows wild here are ok for this, was thinking skinning than frying on the griddle, maybe try make a sauce or chutney type thing with the fruits to go with it.

 

 Are you talking about opuntia pads in general or just a certain type? 

 I really like dragon fruit, I have mainly eaten fruits from the Caboolture markets when I lived close to there, always really liked them, tried a yellow one not that long ago and it was a little smaller but the taste to me was awesome.

Have you tried fruit from a non monstrose cereus peruvianus? cause they also taste awesome to me and I really like the texture of it, very much like dragon fruit, makes me wonder if the monstrose form taste different to the normal form.

Maybe weather/climate effects the taste also.

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Just in general

 

ive been looking for someone that grows dragon fruit somewhat locally to see if they taste any different 

 

nah I have only tried the monstrose fruits, next time I head out that way I'd be happy to pick a couple and send them your way if you like ?

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13 hours ago, ☽Ţ ҉ĥϋηϠ₡яღ☯ॐ€ðяئॐ♡Pϟiℓℴϟℴ said:

I tried loph fruits and do enjoy them although very small but an experience worth having.

I'll have to send you a jar of my loph fruit jam........

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18 hours ago, Matt1208 said:

Just in general

 

ive been looking for someone that grows dragon fruit somewhat locally to see if they taste any different 

 

nah I have only tried the monstrose fruits, next time I head out that way I'd be happy to pick a couple and send them your way if you like ?

Thanks man : ) there is a monstrous form not far from here might ask if I can grab a couple so prob wont need to worry about sending any : )

There is a small dragon fruit farm not far from here, I might see how they compare to others I have tried.

18 hours ago, zelly said:

I'll have to send you a jar of my loph fruit jam........

For real you make loph fruit jam? that would surely take a huge lot of fruit to make a jar, man I wanna try that, that's some rare exotic jam,  could charge a mint for that stuff I  would guess.

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Couldn't help it, I just picked a loph fruit to try and kinda regret it lol it was to small to properly taste it and I feel I have killed some future plants lol oh well curious minds

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damn loph fruit jam would cost a fortune retail..

 

can only imagine the the amount of fruits that would've gone into making that

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I actually tried a few different cereus fruit from different plants on the weekend and was amazed at how good it was and the variation in taste. One was so good I had to buy a cutting to produce my own! Have also tried myrtillio fruit which was nice but they are only small

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Why stop there? I want a loph fruit smoothie...

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On ‎6‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 3:01 AM, nrivers said:

I actually tried a few different cereus fruit from different plants on the weekend and was amazed at how good it was and the variation in taste.

I am wanting to get  different types that are supposed to be good tasting, they are basically super hardy fruit trees, I am going to get cutting or seeds of cereus validus forbesii someday cause I have heard they are quite nice and sweet, also heard good things about Neobuxbaumia euphorbiodes and keen on getting some of them going some time in the near future.

I wonder why cacti fruits are not a bigger thing, surely there is great potential for commercial growing, cactus fruit farm, low care and needs but good return ? create cacti forests in the arid areas and help feed the people ?

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I got my cutting from cactus country, where they make ice cream with it as a bit of a novelty. This plant is more user friendly than others, with smaller spines, produced large almost tennis ball sized fruit. Was told to keep pruning it also, to keep it low to get at the fruit easier. He was also saying it would be great for commercial growing.

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Organic dragonfruits are a lot sweeter than those sold in supermarkets, which are not even worth paying for. I can't imagine they would be as nutritious either. 

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I think it has to do with selection for qualities other than taste and/or early plucking.

Or maybe even some hydro quick grow operation

Edited by DualWieldRake
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