One of those “farm uses” could be burning off prickly pear spines . . Image via BoingBoing |
I’m drowning in prickly pear fruit which means a lot of nasty thorns in the kitchen and an angry Mrs. Homegrown. Previously I burned them off over our stove, but inevitably a few stickers would find their way to the kitchen sponge. Now I’ve got a new technique for removing stickers thanks to Norman of Silver City New Mexico who writes,
“Just a note to tell you how I harvest the pears. We live in the arid SW and have a lot of native cacti. The pears were very good this year because of the extra wet summer. In dry times we burn the stickers off the prickly pear so the cows will eat the leaves. It saves the cattle in some years. I take a propane torch and burn the stickers of the pears before I pick them. They turn very shinny like you had waxed them. Then just pick them with your bare hands. Sure saves a lot of time not having to roll them on a grill.”
I tried this today with the propane torch I use for sweating pipe. Works great. Norman also suggested making some “Knox Blox” with the juice, something I intend to try. Thanks Norman for saving our marriage.