I've been reading Graham McKintosh's book and I just finished reading the chapter where he gorges on the fruit of the Pitahaya cactus. The way he
describes them, they sound so tasty! How do those who've eaten the fruit like it? Can you buy them already prepared or do you need to harvest them
yourself?David K - 8-12-2004 at 06:55 PM
I asked JESSE about this when we met at JR's last month... It is a family thing to go out and pick pitahayas... There are two varieties, both good.
They are ripe mostly in the fall... Ensenada and south for the Pitaya Agria (Sour Pitahaya)... early Spanish sailors ate the fruit to prevent scurvey.
Pitaya Dulce (Organ Pipe Cactus fruit) is the famous fruit of Baja Indians, the second harvest, orgies, etc. Grows in central and south Baja. I am
reading (in Norm Roberts' book) that Pitahaya daiquiris are delicious!!! I am getting thirsty!
I invited Graham to the Baja Cactus fiesta, he said would love to be there, but he will still be in Michigan then. Perhaps he will post some comments
on his love affair with the pitahaya fruit!?
Cactus Apples
capn.sharky - 8-12-2004 at 07:12 PM
Are you talking about the red fruit that appears after the flower blooms on the cactus? If so, it is very good and does not have to be prepared.
Just peel and eat. It is full of vitamine C and very good for you. I get mine in my backyard here in California and love it. You got to beat the
birds to it though. It is a bit grainy but very sweet.David K - 8-12-2004 at 07:33 PM
Yes cactus fruit, but not what you have Sharky which is the Prickly Pear Cactus Apples (Nopal in Spanish), the fruit is called 'tuna' in Spanish.
The Pitahaya is much sweeter, even the 'Sour Pitahaya' is sweet. It is the creeping cactus lower to the ground, very heavy beyond El Rosario. The
Pitaya Dulce is the Organ Pipe Catus, upright branches, like a dwarf cardon.JESSE - 8-12-2004 at 07:56 PM
I am still not sure i will make it to the movie-dinner, but if i do i will bring along some fresh Pitayas for all to see and eat.
Fruit...
BajaCactus - 8-12-2004 at 08:23 PM
This fruit is excellent.... Jesse if cannot make it to the event, let me know and I may be able to take some for everyone.....Germanicus - 8-12-2004 at 08:37 PM
when and where please will
A) the Baja Cactus Fiesta
B) the "movie-dinner"
take place.
(Or is that out of TV > Dinner and a Movie?)
Germanicus??
David K - 8-12-2004 at 11:40 PM
There are two threads running about the BajaCactus Fiesta (movies and dinner and museum and more) on the General Baja Discussion Forum (on Nomad).
This (here) is The Q & A board, but a lot more is posted on the General board.
If you come to Nomad daily (I think you do), then click on 'Today's Posts' link at the top of the page (bookmark it). It will show you any Baja board
with activity in the past 24 hrs.... That way you won't miss any new conversations.
If you don't come here daily, then go to each board that interests you and scroll down, reading anything that appeals to you.
Pitahaya fruit
Taco de Baja - 8-13-2004 at 07:44 AM
Excellent tasting.
Another good one is the "old man cactus" Lophocereus schottii I seem to recall it is ripe in the early Summer. It's kind of like a cross between a strawberry-watermellon with a fig
like texture. YUM
For pictures of what the plants (Pitahya, Old-man and others) look like, so you can find them yourselves, and lots of info go to:
Good site. Pitahayas are growing all over the place down south and the birds love em!Germanicus - 8-13-2004 at 05:56 PM
DK, thanx for the hint!
As you know, I'm a newbe here.
I'm also visiting other baja forums and , man , I do have my struggle to remember all the names I've got and all the passwords.
As time is limited to me to sit infront of the comp., I do not even sign out.
Even if the comp is shut down, next day I'm in automaticly.
(That makes all the statistics of the admin so true)
thanx again!
G.
A note from Graham Mackintosh on Pitahayas and Michigan
David K - 8-17-2004 at 10:10 PM
(I sent Graham this thread to read while he is in the Great Lakes enjoying summer, here is his reply, thought you guys would like to read it)
--------------------------------------------------------
Hi David,
Wish I had some pitahayas to pick now -- the local blueberries and raspberries just don't quite compare. Hope all's well in sunny CA. It's cold, windy
and raining up here. Bonni is at least delighted with the bumper crop of mushrooms. I know what's for dinner tonight.
Graham
--------------------------------------------------------
(the note on mushrooms is understood if you have read his third Baja book, 'Nearer My DOG to Thee' http://grahammackintosh.com )
Straight from the source
rogerj1 - 8-17-2004 at 10:18 PM
Well done David. Perhaps Graham could wax rhapsodic about the Pitahaya some other time when he's not so distracted by the foul weather.jeans - 8-17-2004 at 10:46 PM
Ok....I have a ton of cactus in my yard, one variety is a type of "beaver tail" that an elderly neighbor comes every week or so to trim for nopalitos.
This cactus also has the fruit bulb that comes after the flower.
After reading this thread, I took a pair of tongs and a knife, cut one off, trimmed off the little spines, cut it length-wise and scooped it out with
a spoon.
It had a pleasant, sweet taste...sort of like a kiwi. But the seeds were much too tough to chew or swallow. (no second harvest here) My neighbor told me today that I might have cut it too soon. The others on the
plant are now turning yellow and mine was still green.
Neal Johns - 8-18-2004 at 09:32 AM
Hot tip for cactus fruit experimenters:
To remove any fine spines (glochids), put the the fruit into a paper sack with some sand and shake, shake, shake. Works great!
If you read this too late, use white glue over affected area, when dry, peel
off.whodat54321 - 8-18-2004 at 11:24 AM
would a potato peeler work on that too?Neal Johns - 8-18-2004 at 08:34 PM
Sure, just hold it in one hand and peel with the other.
I don't want those scraped glochids in my "potato"!David K - 8-18-2004 at 08:47 PM
Although I will be tasting pitahaya for the first time this Sunday at the fiesta, I have eaten prickly pear ('nopal') cactus apples ('tuna' in
Spanish) from my former back yard near Escondido. The trick I read was to rotate the fruit over a flame (stove top) to burn off the tiny spines. I
then put the fruit in the fridge and enjoyed when cool. I used a fork to hold the fruit when rotating over the flames.
[Edited on 8-19-2004 by David K]elizabeth - 8-18-2004 at 08:57 PM
Burning off the spines of the tuna over an open flame also carmelizes the fruit sugars making the tuna sweeter!
Cactus Fruit
capn.sharky - 8-18-2004 at 09:03 PM
Cactus Fruit
capn.sharky - 8-18-2004 at 09:05 PM
Oops---Too much fruit and I hit the wrong button. Question---heating the fruit seals in the flavor. But, does it taste like chicken.David K - 8-18-2004 at 10:16 PM
Nope, but it tastes just like rattlesnake!bajalera - 8-19-2004 at 10:40 PM
Served with a chipotle-based salsa, glochids are very tasty. Particularly when barbecued.
Lera
[Edited on 8-20-2004 by bajalera]
Glochids
jrbaja - 8-20-2004 at 08:02 AM
Pitahaya??
Glochids=Barbed spines nfm
Anonymous - 8-20-2004 at 11:05 AM
elizabeth - 8-20-2004 at 11:13 AM
Capn Sharkey and David K:
You are both wrong...it tastes like iguanaJESSE - 8-20-2004 at 12:14 PM
Bad news people, there are no Pitayas to be found at Tijuana at this point, i went to the market where i had seen them, and my friend told me they
sold out a few days ago and had to discard the rest because they where getting rotten, he doesnt know if his supplier will bring any this weekend, i
will keep searching for them but it doesnt look good.bajalera - 8-20-2004 at 05:39 PM
But to bring out the distinctive flavor of the glochids, it's essential that they not be over-ripe, and that the wood be mesquite.
bajaleraNeal Johns - 8-20-2004 at 06:25 PM
Lera, Not gonads, GLOCHIDS! bajalera - 8-20-2004 at 08:59 PM
The reason most people don't realize that glochids are edible is because it's so difficult to separate them from all that sand in the bottom of the
sack.
Fortunately, Neal, your maiden sister's little folder explains the easy way to do that. The recipes she includes are certainly yummy too.
And that glochid diet she went on certainly trimmed down her figure.
LeraTaco de Baja - 8-21-2004 at 08:21 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by bajalera
Fortunately, Neal, your maiden sister's little folder explains the easy way to do that. The recipes she includes are certainly yummy too.
And that glochid diet she went on certainly trimmed down her figure.
Lera
First there was the grapefruit diet
then the south beach diet
then the 0 carb diet
Will the glochid diet be the next one to sweep the country???
pitaya
cnelsoni - 9-6-2004 at 07:47 PM
This is garden of Eden stuff! Unbelievable color,texture and taste. Easily this finest fruit I have ever encountered. Start watching for them in Oct!
Pitahaya fruit
mcgyver - 9-6-2004 at 08:35 PM
Are you into the second harvest also??Mike Humfreville - 9-6-2004 at 08:41 PM
Last October we were kicking back at Camo Gecko (this year too!), 4 miles south of the village of Bahia de Los Angeles. I drove the road to the
village at least once daily and there were always local families wandering the hillsides gathering the fruit. It was available at the markets in the
village. I've always wondered why there are the two spellings of its name: Pataya and pitahaya. The latter adds a sylable unless you pronounce it by
surpressing the third sylable. Sort of like the name Abraham. While spelled the same in Spanish and English, the Spanish pronunciation is only two
sylables: Abram, because the second sylable is silent.bajaloco - 9-7-2004 at 09:07 AM
Last summer we were driving north from San Bartolo. It was mid July, and all along the highway from San Antonio to the tope towns just south of La
Paz, you saw people with Se vende pitahaya signs.
We stopped a couple of times and the fruit was over-ripe. It was selling for around 50 pesos for a large bag full.
We never heard it pronounced like pitahaya, it sounded more like two syllables than three, like pitaya. I think the fruit must have different seasons
for different areas in Baja. We didn't see it anyplace north of La Paz.
Except in the "CH" letter
Tucker - 9-7-2004 at 09:15 AM
the "H" in spanish words is always silent, thus seemingly changing the pronunciation.
Seasons
jrbaja - 9-7-2004 at 10:26 AM
El Triunfo has a bunch of people with bags of them for sale right now.
My neighbor told me today that I might have cut it too soon. The others on the
plant are now turning yellow and mine was still green. 
use white glue over affected area, when dry, peel
off.
