Here in Napa, the prickly pears have been ripe for about a month. As you know, I'm in love with these free gifts from the wild and I've been eating them daily. Of course, having hundreds of them waiting to be plucked right outside your door helps.
I had some friends over for dinner and we ate some prickly pears for dessert and my smarty-pants friend Pam said, "You know, in Mexico, I've only had these served ice cold." and when I thought about it, she was right. I serve them right from the cactus (sans prickles, natch) and then douse them with Sambuca Romana and scoop out the fruit with a spoon. Pam said when she buys them commercially, she just peels them. So I experimented and in fact, you can peel them when they've been chilled. If they're a little old and well-chilled, you can peel them very easily. So now I'm chilling them, peeling and then slicing before dressing them with either Sambuca or calvados. They're delcious with out the booze as well.
When we go down south (Italy) during the summer you can find them growing EVERYWHERE. Evan and Piero eat them peeled and then raw, as if they were apples. Very good for intestinal movement btw!
Posted by: Julia | October 20, 2008 at 12:36 PM
Don't you call them Finche d'India or something like that? Yes, they are NATURE'S BROOM! Do you ever eat the paddles in Italy?
Posted by: Steven Sando | October 20, 2008 at 12:43 PM
Ah, thank you! These were on sale at the local farmer's market, and I didn't know what to do with them -- now I do and I will definitely buy some!
Posted by: Steph | October 20, 2008 at 02:54 PM
Yep, it's FICHI (plural of fico = fig) d'India. Indian figs. Evan eats them peeled like they're apples. I love that they come in so many colours - orange and fuscia...I haven't tried the paddles but now I'll have to do that next summer!
Posted by: Julia | October 22, 2008 at 06:28 AM