Nopal Cactus
The edible nopal cactus, called Nopales in Mexico, is traditionally used as a vegetable and eaten with tortillas in Mexico. In Mexico, it is common to make juice, jams, and even tea from cacti. You can also eat the prickly pear fruit, a small, rounded, and often colorful part of the nopal plant. Before a detox event in Mexico, my colleague prepared several nopales dishes for lunch.
We chop them up and sautée with some spices and herbs and add to a range of dishes, fill them into tacos, or prepare them as a side dish with tomatoes. Nopales are also edible when raw. Mexican nopales are famous for their health benefits with high antioxidant, vitamin, and mineral content. Nopales or nopalitos are from nopal cactus pad-like shapes and are traditionally consumed as a dietary vegetable.
Like most fruits and vegetables, you can buy nopal cactus readily at grocery stores, and farmers’ markets, and it’s on the menu at restaurants across the Southern USA and Mexico. In addition, prickly pear fruit juice is a popular beverage for health-conscious consumers. Cactus plants also play a role in traditional medicine for the treatment of diabetes. For example, a study tested the effects of nopal on 14 people with type 2 diabetes.
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