Prickly Pear Cactus have been a staple food of Native Americans for many centuries. Their large, colorful blossoms appear in yellow, pink, red or purple and grow from the tip of cactus nodules, which later ripen into delicious red fruit. Many varieties of prickly pear cactus grow wild throughout the deserts of the Southwest, but [...]

Nopales: Prickly Pear Cactus Pads Desert Lil’s Recipe Book www.desertusa.com Nopales is the Spanish name for Prickly Pear Cactus pads. Prickly Pear Cactus are members of the Opuntia genus, and produce both nopales, a vegetable, and tuna, a fruit. Native Americans used Nopales to poultice bruises and dress wounds. They also boiled and crushed the [...]

Desert Lil’s Delicacies A DesertUSA Food Feature As we discussed in February, Mexican cooking, like other cuisines, is the product of both regional culture and local agriculture. It’s also the combination of two worlds — the Hispanic and the Native American. Exporting this cuisine to the southwestern U.S. creates a hybrid of local cuisines I [...]