Prickly pear fruit and scorcher days

The prickly pear cactus fruit is ripe and ready to be picked and eaten here in the desert. I haven't tried it myself because you have to clean off the little prickles and I don't feel like doing that. But the animals certainly must be enjoying it and many people here do harvest the fruit. You can peel it and eat it straight from the plant or you can make it into jam, jelly, syrup, wine and probably a lot of other treats.

It's quite nutritious and has been used for centuries for medicinal purposes as well as just a good food source. And just about every restaurant in Tucson offers prickly pear margaritas! I buy bottles of prickly pear syrup and add a little to lemonade to sweeten it and turn it a lovely pink. Many use the syrup just like you would maple syrup on pancakes.

The red fruits above are on my neighbor's plant; the one below with the green fruit is in my yard. I've read that the green fruit is more tart.

Here's a link to a five-minute video showing how to pick and process prickly pear fruit:  video. In this video, the fruit is picked with tongs and a twisting motion to avoid getting your hands full of the prickles.

Meanwhile, we're in the midst of scorching triple-digit days, the kind of days where you try to get all your errands done by 8 a.m. and then you don't go out again. Even after the sun goes down, it's still in the 90s. We got our first monsoon storm of the season yesterday, and it tore through with lashing wind and rain, uprooting trees, knocking out power and even tearing off part of a roof not far from me.

To help cope, I bought this little handheld fan to carry in my purse and whip out when needed. On the day that it was to be delivered, I put out a cooler of water and grapes for the delivery driver. It was 109 and there was no shade between the street and my front door. My package was delivered and the driver took a frosty bottle of water, so mission accomplished.

While I'm stuck inside, I've been working on my wool appliqué embroidery. Our summer desert days are like winter days up north, where you hunker down inside and create.

 Have a colorful day