Prickly Pear Cactus Juice
& Jelly
To
do the juice, you need a stream juicer.
If you haven't already picked the prickly pears, make sure that you pick them using tongs. Hold each pear with the tongs, and cut in half. Put both halves in the top part of juicer. (Bottom part is filled with hot water)
Boil/steam them, and drain off the juice into hot bottles as you need to. When you are not getting any more juice, or the juice is getting less red/purple, or when you look at the fruit and it looks a whole lot paler than it did, it's probably done and you can throw away those and put in fresh. The bottles are processed in a regular water bath for about 20 minutes for quarts. The juicing is usually an all-day process for me.
We can the juice and use it for drinks.
Or you can use the juice to make jelly or syrup:
PRICKLY PEAR JELLY (Asena Smith)
3-4 c. prickly pear juice
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 box powered pectin
4 1/2 cups sugar
Stir lemon juice and pectin into measured juice. Bring to a boil. Add sugar. Return to boiling. Boil for 1 minute. Skim off foam. Pour into hot jars and seal.
*may take several weeks to jell.
(See Elderberry Jelly recipe in pectin box)
[internet recipe uses 1 cup juice to 1 cup sugar (4-4)]
Also, internet recipes say to use liquid pectin. That's what I have always used.
Because there is so much variance with prickly pear cactus, there is no way to know how much natural pectin is in the fruit. I've had some set up in a few weeks, some after a couple of years, and some never does. We just use it for pancake syrup so it doesn't bother us. Hope that helps. Call me if you have any questions.
If you haven't already picked the prickly pears, make sure that you pick them using tongs. Hold each pear with the tongs, and cut in half. Put both halves in the top part of juicer. (Bottom part is filled with hot water)
Boil/steam them, and drain off the juice into hot bottles as you need to. When you are not getting any more juice, or the juice is getting less red/purple, or when you look at the fruit and it looks a whole lot paler than it did, it's probably done and you can throw away those and put in fresh. The bottles are processed in a regular water bath for about 20 minutes for quarts. The juicing is usually an all-day process for me.
We can the juice and use it for drinks.
Or you can use the juice to make jelly or syrup:
PRICKLY PEAR JELLY (Asena Smith)
3-4 c. prickly pear juice
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 box powered pectin
4 1/2 cups sugar
Stir lemon juice and pectin into measured juice. Bring to a boil. Add sugar. Return to boiling. Boil for 1 minute. Skim off foam. Pour into hot jars and seal.
*may take several weeks to jell.
(See Elderberry Jelly recipe in pectin box)
[internet recipe uses 1 cup juice to 1 cup sugar (4-4)]
Also, internet recipes say to use liquid pectin. That's what I have always used.
Because there is so much variance with prickly pear cactus, there is no way to know how much natural pectin is in the fruit. I've had some set up in a few weeks, some after a couple of years, and some never does. We just use it for pancake syrup so it doesn't bother us. Hope that helps. Call me if you have any questions.
Rachael’s Friday Night Pizza Crust
For
3 pizzas:
2 Tbls. Yeast
2 ¼
cups water
4 ½
Tblsp. Olive Oil
1
Tblsp. + 1 tsp. Salt
6 ¾ Cups flour
Mix
all together, knead, and place in well oiled bowl. Let set in a warm place
until doubles, about an hour. Roll out, or fit to pans, and place in a well
greased cake, pizza, or cookie pans. Top with tomato sauce, cheese, and all the
toppings you want.
The
dough will do it’s last raising while you are placing on the toppings. Bake at
450 degrees until the crust is golden brown, about 14-15 minutes for a 14”
round pan. Slide out of pan onto a cutting-board, let cool a few minutes before
cutting with a pizza cutter and serving.
