Many moons ago all of my siblings and I go with our parents into the desert south of our home in northern Arizona and pick the red and purple-red fruits from the prickly pear cactus that grows just about anywhere in AZ that is below 4000 feet elevation.

We would take those pears home, clean them, extract the juicy goodness while leaving behind the nasties, and make prickly pear wine. After a few weeks of fermentation in glass carboys, we would bottle the wine (in high quality bail-top bottles), then bury the bottles a few feet deep. Since we lived in the high desert of AZ, the depth provided relatively decent temperature control. In about six months, we would dig up the bottles and have wine, which we were allowed to taste and then never see again. We (kids) were very disappointed every time.

I think the most important part of making anything with prickly pears is to do it when the fruits are fresh. I pick, clean, and use the fruits within a day. By the way, they make the most refreshing (and nearly florescent pink) ice cream I have ever had.

Safety: When dealing with the fruits (as opposed to the juice), I wear thick gloves or handle them with tongs. The very ends tend not to have much in the way of stickers if you really need to touch them with your hands. If you to stick yourself, stop and pick the needles out with a good pair of tweezers. You will invariably have several needles if you have one. Don't ever stick a finger with the spines in it into your mouth.

Cultivation: When I was in Tucson, I could grow these in my front yard. I would wait to pick the fruits until the day of or the day after I found the first bird-eaten one. The easiest way to pick them is to have a pair of tongs and a large, long handled, sharp knife. While pulling firmly but gently on the fruit with the tongs, cut just at where the fruit joins the plant. Try not to cut into the fruit, but don't take too much of the cactus. If you can get just at the joint, that's best.

Cleaning: This should be done in the kitchen. Have two large pots: one with recently boiled and one with ice water on hand. I scald the fruits in the water for a minute or so, then transfer to the ice water. When all of the fruits have been blanched, while holding a piece of fruit with tongs in the hot water pot, I will scrape the needles off with a sharp knife. At this time, I will cut the little bumps where the needles clump, trying not to make the fruit bleed. This is not peeling potatoes; you do not want to cut through the skin, just remove the needles so you can handle the fruit with clean hands. Cut one fruit in half length-wise and move to the next step and come back when done with that fruit.

The inside of the fruit seems to oxidize quickly so I try not to leave them open to the air for very long.

Juicing: I use a medium-mesh colander or strainer and smear half of the fruit back and forth, trying to extract as much juice as possible into a small sauce pan. If the mesh is too fine, the meat of the fruit will clog it, but too coarse and the seeds and pieces of the outer skin will get into the juice. I am sure there are better ways to do this, such as with a juicer, but... This is my way and I'm sticking to it.

I will then simmer the juice down just a bit--I don't want it to become a thick syrup.

At this point, I think it should be ready for use. If I'm making ice cream, I'll stick the juice in the freezer or fridge for a little while as I prepare the rest of the ingredients. Make sure it's in a tightly sealed container and use it within a day or two. You can add a little bit of the syrup to lemonade for color and flavor. You can also make alcoholic beverages with it.

I suspect you can use this thin syrup in the making of the wort or in flavoring at bottling time. This is one aspect that I do not remember very well (the timing). I will speak to my dad about it.

Nopalitos are a different beast altogether and I don't particularly like them. These are made from the young pads of the cactus, not the fruit. They are particularly slimy and have a bit of a sour, critus taste (as do the fruits, but... You just have to taste it to know it). Anyway, I would not use the nopalitos to make any kind of beverage that can be made legally in the US. I am certain that some people use it to make distilled beverages, but that's not what I'm interested in.

More to come as soon as I can talk to my dad about his methods.

That sounds really good, great detail on your post. Thanks!

Hey there, did not mean to ignore your reply to my query, but I got laid off, and have been kinda scramblin last few weeks, had to use net time to fry bigger fish. I was born and raised in az myself, so am familiar with everything coming equiped with stickers large and small.
Tremendous detail on handling of fruit, do you recall if your folks pitched yeast, or just let nature take it's course?

Sorry to hear about the layoff. Hope you find something new soon!

From my dad's recollection, he's tried both, using honey when not pitching and sugar when he pitched yeast. I don't know if he remembers which turned out better.

He's actually started using a juice maker to extract the liquid. I think he might even ignore the spines and just chuck them whole into the juicer.

He's got a good crop coming to fruit in the next few days and I'm hoping to get enough to make an extract to use in a blonde ale and enough to make a good batch of wine. I'll document my process here.