Prickly Pear Magaritas

[CouesWhitetail]

Yes, I know this has nothing to do with Coues deer, but it's the season to be harvesting prickly pear fruits and there is a HUGE crop this year.

 

My husand and I have been harvesting and juicing ppears for several years now. The juice is a beautiful magenta color. The flavor is light and unique. It's most similar to watermelon, but is not really the same. It's not real sweet, but it mixes great with other juices and drinks like orange juice, ice tea, gatorade. Or you can drink it straight over ice for a refreshing drink.

 

But we also use it for Margaritas!! Which makes a fun and beautiful drink. You just add as much ppear juice as you want to your usual margarita mix. I will be making a bunch of margaritas this weekend for the ladies that are attending the Becoming an Outdoorswoman workshop in Prescott. I teach some classes there and we have a social on Friday night where I started a tradition of making them ppear margaritas a few years ago.

 

Anyway, just wanted to let you guys know that the pears are ripe for the picking. Anyone else ever do this? Take the kids out and have some fun. I use a five gallon bucket and some metal tongs. To help remove spines once I get home, I roll them around on the driveway with a rake and then rinse them in a bucket. Then I use a regular mechanical juicer to separate the juice. Then take the juice that comes out and put it in a large container of some kind and let it sit overnight. The next day you can scoop off the pulpy stuff that didn't strain from the juicer. What is left is perfect juice ready to drink!

 

If you don't have a juicer, use a blender and strain it through some kind of cloth or tight colander. It's pretty pulpy, so you don't want too fine a strainer or it plugs up too much.

 

Maybe some of you guys have your own trips and tricks for this.

 

Amanda

[Guest Ernesto C]

Bartender give two por favor Salud!!

[Rembrant]

Sounds very good! But dangerous!

Got a tip for you bear hunters: Get out over a prickly pear slope real early in the morning before daylight. As the first light begins to offer a little vision, instead of glassing, just listen very intently. You can actually hear the bears feeding on the cactus fruit. The sounds you will hear are: OUCH! OOOOCH! OWIEE! OUCH! AIAHH! OUCH! OOOWIEEE!!!!!

Mike

[.270]

Amanda, you ever make prickly pear jelly? a hot fresh biscuit, some real butter and prickly pear jelly, it is pure heaven. my grandparents were prickly pear freaks. made the the concentrate and then made all kindsa stuff out of it. juice and jelly mostly. they would talk all year, wondering how the pear crop would be. a few years back, while on a trip back home to the mt.s, we were taking the mule creek road up from the gila and i noticed a lot of ripe pears. pulled over and got the wife and kids out and we picked a bunch. took em home and made a bunch of juice. Carol made a bunch of jelly and we froze the rest. still have a bag or 2 in the freezer today. all we had a was one pair of leather gloves and a couple card board boxes that day. got fulla stickers, but had fun. another thing it is great in, is tea. but the jelly is worth fighting over. one trick i learned from my ol' grandad was the right kinda gloves. there is a type of glove, cement finishers use them a lot, that really works well. they are a heavy cotton glove that has been dipped in rubber. they're usually flourescent red. with them you don't need tongs. just grab the pears and break em off. the little hairy stickers won't go through the gloves and it's a lot easier than tongs. seems like i always got fulla stickers even with tongs. anyway, great to hear that folks are still old schoolin' it and doin' a little livin' off the land. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm prickly pear jelly..............

[bullwidgeon]

After seeing more than a few piles of bear scat after they have been hitting the pears pretty hard, I am not sure my body could stand consuming prickly pear anything

 

Bret M.

[.270]

don't make jelly outta bear leavin's, bullwidgeon. it just ain't right. beside, you've been bear huntin' all wrong. read this. Lark. and answer my email.

 

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/081...rBear19-ON.html

Edited January 1, 1970 by .270

[bullwidgeon]

I aint going back to work till Monday night and I can only get my email there. I have been up on the mountain videoing your bull, I am going back tomorrow to resume the scouting/videoing. Yours is a 5x4 raghorn right now, but he may go 300 by the time you draw out in 4 or 5 years . Send me a Personal Message here or over at MM.com if you want your email replied to today.

I saw the Rainier beer bear story last night and almost died laughing. We are headed to unit 27 late next week and we are planning on taking an extra 30 pack for the bears. However, I have hunted with a few of the ladmos going with me before and I seriously wonder if there will be any beer left by the time we hit Bylas, much less Morenci , these guys are generally whitecan Budweiser guys and I hear bears only dig gourmet beer. I may have to break out one of their credit cards and spring for some of the gourmet beer ...

 

Bret M.

[.270]

my bull!?!? you jackass. you leave my bull alone, bret. hope you shoot a cow. i was gonna tell ya about a 400 bull north of springertown, but not now. i'll tell griz and he take a uso guy in there. watch out for the purple bear turds. i'll talk to ya when ya get back to work. Lark.