rarely do I wash the fruit. only if it's rained hard and the fruit close to the ground have visible dirt. but they ripen during the rainy season so they are already "washed off"
And really ripe fruit can be too soft to wash as a load - they'd have to be washed individually - which is very time-consuming and I've found it to be unnecessary.
if you only pick one bucket or so, because you don’t have freezer or fridge space, I assume you can process it right away when you get home. When you were mentioning grinder, what kind of grinder are you referring to? I’m not talking about the second grinding you do in your coffee grinder
yes, that's what I did for years. But if you can freeze first, in makes the blend and strain even easier.
I found an inexpensive herb grinder on Amazon. I believe the brand was Zebra. They aren't the safest electrical appliance around, but mine has lasted for years with regular use.
that makes sense because freezing, I think, usually turns fruit tissue into mush . I guess I could use large-ish food plastic containers, and maybe Ziploc bags in order to fit it into my freezer.
Goodness, John! Such valuable and detailed instructions and fabulous photos, to boot. I never gathered prickly pear while in the desert although I had several on my property. Too busy, I guess. If I ever make it out there again I know what to do. Thank you for taking such time and care to put together this tutorial.
Thank you so much for these very detailed instructions. I may have missed this, but do you wash the fruit?
rarely do I wash the fruit. only if it's rained hard and the fruit close to the ground have visible dirt. but they ripen during the rainy season so they are already "washed off"
And really ripe fruit can be too soft to wash as a load - they'd have to be washed individually - which is very time-consuming and I've found it to be unnecessary.
Thanks for the quick reply. We've had a few nice monsoon rains recently, so the fruits look clean to me!
if you only pick one bucket or so, because you don’t have freezer or fridge space, I assume you can process it right away when you get home. When you were mentioning grinder, what kind of grinder are you referring to? I’m not talking about the second grinding you do in your coffee grinder
yes, that's what I did for years. But if you can freeze first, in makes the blend and strain even easier.
I found an inexpensive herb grinder on Amazon. I believe the brand was Zebra. They aren't the safest electrical appliance around, but mine has lasted for years with regular use.
that makes sense because freezing, I think, usually turns fruit tissue into mush . I guess I could use large-ish food plastic containers, and maybe Ziploc bags in order to fit it into my freezer.
Goodness, John! Such valuable and detailed instructions and fabulous photos, to boot. I never gathered prickly pear while in the desert although I had several on my property. Too busy, I guess. If I ever make it out there again I know what to do. Thank you for taking such time and care to put together this tutorial.
Glad you appreciate it! There are many years of experience wrapped up in this video.