The Garden State’s Yummy Cactus
Opuntia humifusa, commonly known as Eastern prickly pear cactus
When you think of where you might find cacti in the United States, New Jersey is probably not one of the first states that comes to mind. However, New Jersey is home to Opuntia humifusa, commonly known as Eastern prickly pear cactus, or devil’s-tongue.
Eastern prickly pear is the only native cactus in New Jersey and the only native cactus found along the East Coast. In fact, it is the only native cactus east of the Rockies! New Jersey is actually home to both habitats where you would expect to find cacti – sandy soils along our coast and rocky outcroppings in central New Jersey. Both habitats are very hot and dry (xeric). Cacti in the prickly pear (Opuntia) genus are perennial and thrive in conditions of full sunlight and dry, sandy loam soils all over the world.
Perhaps you have noticed prickly pear down the shore when walking along a dune path or maybe you have even found an individual or a colony of it in your own backyard. Regardless, wherever you have encountered it, hopefully you did not learn firsthand that, as its name implies, it is prickly! As Baloo wisely said in “The Bare Necessities,” “Don't pick the prickly pear by the paw; When you pick a pear try to use the claw.”
Prickly pear pads (cladodes or nopales) are the flattened fleshy, oval green stems, which are the main organ of prickly pear. They are modified leaves, performing all photosynthetic activity necessary for the cacti to survive. The pads are covered with both fine sharp bristles that look like hairs (glochids) and hardened spines (spikes). Each of these defenses are meant to deter animals from eating the plants and will irritate or penetrate your skin – the tiny hairs actually more than the spikes! The brownish bristles and spines emanate from air pores (areoles) along the pad surface, which are uniformly arranged in diagonal rows. Each areole will have 0-3 spines and many 3-millimeter bristles. Each areole will also support one 3-to-6-millimeter leaf and interestingly, the spikes themselves are actually modified leaves. Their prickly nature may have you thinking you should avoid this plant entirely, and you certainly should on the dunes (keep off the dunes and do not harvest this plant in nature! – more on this later), but a meal or snack of either a prickly pear pad or fruit at a restaurant or from a friend may change your mind!
Prickly pear pads are edible, delicious, and highly nutritious like a vegetable! Once stripped of their defenses, pads can be prepared for eating in various ways. Their taste has qualities akin to okra, green pepper, and asparagus. The pads store water, are evergreen, and can be harvested year-round but are plumper in spring and summer. Pads shrivel in winter when water content is decreased and glucose increased to prevent freezing. If you plant prickly pear and cultivate mature, well-tended plants, you can expect to harvest pads up to six times a year and yield up to 20-40 pads per harvest. Also, be sure to plan harvests for mornings as pad acid content actually increases throughout the day, changing their taste! To harvest a pad, wear gloves, bend the base close to the point of breaking, and then slice it cleanly off through the joint.
Bright yellow flowers bloom before the cactus bears the edible fruit.
Before Eastern prickly pears bear their delicious edible fruit, they put on a show with a dazzling array of bright and beautiful yellow flowers that the bees love! These flowers typically bloom May to July and each pad can support up to 30 flowers, although 3-12 may be more typical. Each flower will bloom for only one day (diurnal) and then develop into a fruit which is commonly called a tuna or fig. The fruit grow green initially, but darken to a purplish deep red when ripe. The fruit also bear sharp bristles, but these fall off as another indication that the fruit is ripe. To harvest the fruit, twist each off to avoid tearing its pad. They are likened in taste and nutritious value to the superfood dragon fruit. The fruit are delicious raw, stewed, canned, or jellied – yum! The window for harvesting the fruits is short as the fruit is only ripe for about a week. Beyond the culinary benefits of the pad and fruits, like aloe vera, prickly pear sap squeezed from pads can be used for sunburn and other first-aid applications. The pads can also be flattened, dried, and woven or pressed into textiles, paper, and baskets, and fruits used to create vibrant red dyes.
If you plant prickly pear from seed, do not be surprised if it does not bloom and bear fruit for a few years; it can take 3-4 years for the plants to reach maturity. However, once they are mature, you can expect them to live up to 20 years. Propagation of a plant from an existing pad will likely yield a bloom in less time, but be sure to sustainably source pads such as from a local garden center or friend with a cacti pad to spare from their garden. Do not cut plants from the dunes. Do not do this because: (1) these plants represent an important and limited food and shade source for the few animals that can survive on the dunes; and (2) you will damage neighboring plants as you traipse on and break imperceptible fine roots, weakening the dune’s storm response. Promoting and choosing to plant native plants in your home garden or landscaping is an easy way for you to be an environmental steward and in the case of the prickly pear, can be a pleasant conversation starter!