Drying Prickly Pear Cactus pads

[tool-man]

My first though on drying the Prickly Pear Cactus pads was to lay them out in the sun for a year. :yawn:

But I wonder if anyone has a suggestion for a solution to place them into to speed up the decomposition of the soft organic parts leaving only the skeleton?

 

[Manny]

food dehydrator??


Like the ones you make beef jerky with at home.

 

[Dario]

Actually, you don't want to dry it. Do not skin it (yet) either.

Let the pads rot inside...the flesh will turn into a sticky goo/slime and will easily wash away when you peel the skin off. Most of the time, some insects/maggots will be eating the flesh too and will be all over when you peel the skin off (not for the squeamish).

Watch out for the thorns, they go through gloves, even leather ones.

After that is when you dry it.

A lot of work but if you are lucky you can find some that are dead and ready, just peel, wash and dry.

Good luck!

 

[DurocShark]

Dario,

Your description has just cinched the fact that I will never make my own cactus blanks!