Fruit – How to peel, cut and prepare prickly pears without getting the thorns in your skin

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Peeling the cactus pear fruit, or better in known in some grocery stores as the prickly pear (or Tuna, Indian fig) can be painful, because of thorns on it. The skin of the fruit is covered in tiny needles (called glochids). They’re so thin that you don’t even feel them when they enter your skin. The problem is that they sting like crazy when you touch that area of the skin and are nearly impossible to find and pick out. They are also invisible if they fall onto the floor, counter or dish towel, so you can uknowingly get stuck even if you’re nowhere near a prickly pear.

So what methods do you use to peel prickly pears without pain? And how do you prepare it, to make sure that prickly pear thorns won't be lodged in the throat?

Best Answer

There are many ways to do it, so it is personal choice. Here is a google search if you need to know more. Here is how I do it. You are going to need two forks and a knife.

STEP 1

Place the prickly pear on a cutting board or a plate using a fork by firmly pushing the fork lengthwise into the skin of the prickly pear

STEP 2

With a sharp edge knife, cut of the two end of the prickly pear.

STEP 3

Now, cut through the skin lengthwise. The skin is quite thick, so you need to make a deep cut.

STEP 4

With the second fork, pull away the skin on one side from the inside of the fruit as far as you can

STEP 5

Now, firmly hold the fruit with the second fork by inserting the second fork into flesh of the fruit.

STEP 6

Remove the first fork and use that to peel away the rest of the skin from the flesh of the fruit.

STEP 7

The inside of the fruit is now free from the skin, so you can remove it. Place it on a clean plate

STEP 8

Discard the rests, and properly rinse all the utensils under running water before cleaning the next fruit

Other tips:

  • Wearing welding gloves also works well to handle the fruit To remove most of the thorns before hand, hold the fruit lengthwise between your fingers and gently rub the skin over loose sand. Rinse with water afterwards. Be careful when removing the gloves

  • A bottle brush or nail brush can also be used. Wearing gloves, hold the prickly pear in one hand while you scrubbing the skin of the fruit with the bottle brush/nail brush. Rinse under running water.

In both of the above cases, you still need to treat the fruit as you normally would as if it would still have thorns on.

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