Nopalpalooza: Phoenix Celebrates Cactus

Nopalpalooza shopping bag

Last week Phoenix veggie lovers and the veggie-curious came out for the Nopalpalooza to celebrate the launch of a new shopping bag featuring cactus pads.  The bag is the second in a series of veggie-themed bags from HipVeggies, the brainchild of Valley of the Sun dietitian Monika Woolsey.  The Phoenix New Times did a piece on her venture that you can read here.

The bag was designed by Phoenix graphic artist Joe Ray and some of the profits from the sales go to the Desert Mission Food Bank.  Monika is so into nopales that she even commissioned a Phoenix baker to make several dozen nopal cookies (just sugar cookies, but very cute.)

I was there, showing people how easy it is to clean nopales and cook them.  Also attending was a delegation from Ramona Farms with some delicious tepary bean dishes.

Steve Dunker and Steve Markt with their mesquite granola at the Nopalpalooza.

There to get feedback for their new venture of making commercial products from mesquite meal were Steve Dunker and Steve Markt.  Markt recently graduated from commercial baking school and had brought some mesquite granola and mesquite-based powerbars to pass out. He hoped to get feedback as he designs his product line.  He is purchasing his mesquite from Mike Moody, who is growing a mesquite plantation over by the Colorado River.

And speaking of mesquite, Tucsonans get ready for the Desert Harvesters (www.desertharvesters.org) annual mesquite grinding.  They will have their hammermill at the Santa Cruz Farmer’s Market at El Mercado on West Congress on November 15 beginning at 3 p.m.  On November 18 they will move to the  Dunbar-Spring community garden beginning at 9 a.m. They’ve already been to Phoenix and Oracle with their hammermill and have conducted a couple of events in Tucson.  So if you still haven’t had your pods ground into silky delicious meal, this is your last chance this year.  In conjuction with the grinding, there will be a bake sale of fabulous mesquite-based goodies with the profits going to support Desert Harvesters. I’m still trying to decide what to take — ginger mesquite cookies? mesquite banana cake?  Or sweet, crumbly scones?  Come out and see!

And if you have your mesquite meal and are wondering about some ideas for what to do with it, check out my cookbook Cooking the Wild Southwest, Delicious Recipes for Desert Plants.  For inspiration and directions on what wild plants are available in what season, watch a short video here.  

Look Who’s Cooking with Nopalitos

Jim Hastings during a nopalito demonstration.

It’s always exciting to encounter someone as passionate about edible wild plants as I am.  I recently had the opportunity to meet Jim Hastings from El Paso, Texas,  who calls himself The Gringo Gourmet.  He gave several  demonstrations on cooking with nopalitos at the recent convention of the Cactus and Succulent Society held in Tucson.   I wasn’t attending the meeting but a friend called and said, “You’ve got to come down tomorrow and meet this guy.”

I found a true believer and a genuine nice fellow who has been bitten by the cactus bug.  Here’s Jim’s recipe for Nopales and Green Chile Tart:

1 package puff pastry

1 cup nopalitos diced to 1/4-inch

2 tablespoons olive or canola oil

1 cup peeled and seeded roasted green chiles, diced to 1/4-inch

1/2 cup peeled and seeded roasted red bell pepper, roughly chopped

2-3 finely chopped garlic cloves

8 ounces whipped cream cheese

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Open puff pastry and set out to thaw according to package instructions.  Saute nopalitos in oil until army green and slime has evaporated.  Let cool.  Stir together cooled nopalitos, green chile and garlic.

Unfold puff pastry onto a baking sheet. Moisten seam between sheets and seal together.  Trim dough to fit pan, using trimmings to fill sides.  Lightly score around perimeter of dough about 1/4 inch.

Blend oregano into whipped cream cheese.  Spread cheese mixture evenly over dough inside the score line.  Spread nopalitos, chile and garliclmixture over cheese.  sprinkle red peppers over green chile.

Bake at 400 degrees F. for 10-12 minutes  until pastry puffs and is golden.  Remove from oven and let rest 15 minutes. Then cut into 2-inch squares and enjoy.

Here is a photo of some of  Jim’s food.  You can spot the nopalitos.

Sampling of Jim’s nopalito dishes.

Into the Mainstream

I was also surprised to find a recipe for Garden Salsa Jam using nopalitos in the June issue of “Better Homes and Gardens.”  It was submitted by Jean Groen of Apache Junction, Arizona, a small town south of Phoenix.  I couldn’t find it on-line so can’t provide a link.  A Google search of Mrs. Groen shows she has a home ec background and has written a book on the edible plants of the Superstition Mountains near Apache Junction.  The recipe in the magazine calls for jarred nopalitos, but I’m guessing that was an addition by the editors to make it possible for folks outside the Southwest to try it.  When nopalitos, fresh or jarred,  make it into “Better Homes and Gardens magazine,” they are well on their way into the mainstream.

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You can find more recipes for nopalitos in my books The Prickly Pear Cookbook (Rio Nuevo Press)  and Cooking the Wild Southwest (University of Arizona Press), as well as complete instructions on how to gather, clean and prepare the cactus stems.

Nopales Are Ready

Nopales are ready when they are the size of your hand.

It seemed like the nopales (prickly pear cactus stems) were late this year — or maybe I was just anxious for them to appear.  The native species out on the desert began putting out new growth weeks ago, but the Ficus indica, the large Mexican variety didn’t have anything large enough to pick– at least in my yard — until about a week ago.

Nopal stems are very healthy — full of all the sorts of vitamins you find in most vegetables with the added bonus of some gums and fibers that are helpful in regulating the blood glucose levels for people with  non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.  The fiber helps, of course, but there is something else going on that researchers haven’t yet been able to figure out.  Prickly pear, both the pads and fruit, seems to increase sensitivity to insulin through some unexplained process.  About 100 grams, around two medium-sized pads, before each meal  will do the trick.  That could be with eggs for breakfast, in a burrito for lunch and maybe with some other vegetables for dinner.

Many people eat the pads fresh and sliced into a salad — that is one of the classic preparations.  I prefer them cooked. They can be sauteed in a frying pan, grilled over coals or lightly coated with oil and baked.  But first they need to be cleaned of whatever thorns are present.  The photos below show how to remove the thorns with a common steak knife, going against the direction of growth.  Put a little muscle into it.  Then trim off the stem end which could be tough and trim off the edge.  Once you chop it into small pieces you have nopalitos.

Cleaning off the thorns.

Trimming the edge.

Chopping into nopalitos.

As you cook the nopalitos, they will shrink as they lose water.  This reduces the gummy texture.  They all change color from bright green to olive.

Sizzling noplalitos ready to eat.

Now you have  nopalitos that you can combine with other ingredients into delicious recipes.  You can stir them into commercial or homemade salsa, scramble with eggs,  or include with roast chicken to roll into a burrito.  You can find delicious recipes for Nopalitos and Chicken in Culichi Sauce,   and other simple-to-prepare gourmet dishes in my latest cookbook Cooking the Wild Southwest.   There are also both classic and innovative  recipes in The Prickly Pear Cookbook.  How do Grilled Chicken with Noplito and Pineapple Salsa or Jicama and Nopalito Salad sound?  Yum!  Below is a photo of  French Green Lentil Salad with Nopalitos from Cooking the Wild Southwest. 

French Green Lentil Salad with Nopalitos

If you have a favorite preparation using nopalitos,  please share it here with me and the other readers.  Nopalitos are mild tasting and there are endless ideas for including them in dishes.  What is the best nopalito dish you ever ate?