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Prickly Pear (Fish) Juice


Rain seems to be less and less these days. However when it did rain it must have come at the right time for prickly pear as they are bright red, plump, and beautiful. When found, of course. Wildlife knows where the good stuff is and finding prickly pear not already munched on or off can be a challenge. Scoring half dozen or so, all that was needed for a vibrant pink juice was sugar and time. Making Prickly Pear Juice was not difficult just cautious. 

Modifications Made:
Juice was extracted as written and sugar was added in quantities equaled to amount of juice rendered along with a splash of fresh lemon juice. Juice sugar mixture was cooked until sugar dissolved and water was added to keep juice liquefied as I was making juice not jelly.

Scaled for Likability: Fail
Ugh, the stench! Cooking prickly pear looked beautiful. Bright pink fruit creating a bright pink juice. Smelling cooked juice was a bit rancid. Drinking cooled juice was the equivalent to drinking week old rancid fish rot. 

I should have known as great grandma who grew up cooking everything that moved and harvesting everything that wouldn't kill a person never made prickly pear jelly. But one has to try, right? I mean prickly pears are common foods amongst many cultures, just not this culture. 

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