Canning nopales

Do you have any information on canning nopales? What about dehydrating?

Shirley Sandquist
Elwood, Illinois

Nopales (or prickly pear cactus pads) are best canned as pickled. A simple pickling solution made of 1 cup white vinegar and 2/3 cup sugar is all you need. Pick only the young, tender nopales with the fat new stickers. As they also have some hard stickers, hold the base of the pad with your fingers and thumb or a pair of pliers and scrape the stickers off with the back of a larger butcher knife. Rinse well to remove any clinging stickers. Then cut into strips to resemble green beans. Put into a large pot with water to cover and simmer until tender; about 6 minutes. Meanwhile, make your pickling brine and ready half pint or pint canning jars. (Make more pickling brine, using the same proportions if you’ll be using pint jars and canning more nopales.) You may add sliced, seeded jalapeños if you wish a spicy pickle. Pack drained nopales into jars and pour boiling pickling solution over strips and jalapeños if you’ve decided to add them. Leave 1/2″ of headspace being sure to cover nopale strips. Put hot, previously simmered lid in place and screw down ring firmly tight. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. You can rinse pickled nopales and use in recipes such as fried nopales and eggs.

So far there isn’t an approved home canning recipe for putting them up without pickling. They do dehydrate well. Prepare as above but only simmer and drain. Pat dry then lay out on a dehydrator tray in a single layer. Dehydrate until leathery/brittle. Store in an airtight container. Check the first day or two for any sign on condensation droplets inside the container. If they form, dehydrate immediately for a little longer or they’ll mold. As you probably know, nopales are very good and easily found in many areas. — Jackie

Vitamin C to keep fruit fresh

Could Vitamin C tablets be soaked up and used in the water to keep fruits from darkening — instead of the commercial (and expensive-$6.79 for 5 oz) product?

Shirley Stone
McArthur, Ohio

Yes you can. Just crush four 500-mg tablets and add to water and cover fruit. For short term holding, I add 1 Tbsp salt to 1/2 gallon of water and use that to cover fruit while I’m cutting more to can up. — Jackie

2 COMMENTS

  1. Lori,

    Yep, that works well. I just use the salt but the vinegar will make the solution last longer than just the salt. It’s amazing at how all the “old” stuff works so well, isn’t it???? And saves us tons of money, too.

  2. Hi Jackie. When I can fruit to keep from darkening I just add 2 Tablespoons each of salt and white vinegar to a gallon of water. I just drop the fruit as I peel and core into the solution. Don’t leave for more than 20 minutes and rinse thoroughly before packing. I’ve done this for years with no problems. I got this from an old Ball Blue Book that I bought at Agway for $2.50 so you know how long ago that was.

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