All Choked up about Cactus The SLO County GAZETTE mentions us in a nice article written by Suzan Vaughn Special to the Gazette
To the uninitiated, the thought of eating cactus is as about as appealing as sipping eye of newt soup from an old witch's soup cauldron. Yet, the efforts of cactus enthusiast, John Dicus, to make organically-grown, edible cactus a coveted gourmet dish, have recently made news in the Quarterly Farmer's Almanac and on National Public Radio's All Things Considered.
It seems that there's a marketing push on to get Americans to recognize the cactus as edible plant. Dicus says that he's breeding plants that have few to no spines in order to make the plant a more palpable element in American diets. As new varieties are being cultivated and the prickly stickers are being bred out of the plants, growers like Dicus hope to calm the fears of the less adventurous eaters enough to get them to at least give edible cactus a try.
Dicus has several strains of cacti that have very few spines, and familiar sounding, local names. His most popular variety is one he named himself. Called the Santa Ynez variety of the species Opuntia ficus-indica, the plant came from an elder Navajo woman who lived in the Santa Ynez Valley. According to Dicus, her family developed and bred the plant for more than 300 years so that most of the needles and spines are non existent. You can actually tear the fruit off the Santa Ynez cactus bare handed to taste sweet, succulent, juicy insides.
For gardening enthusiasts and those who would like to know more about cactus, Dicus' company, Rivenrock Gardens, has an informative web site that educates browsers about its certified organic, edible nopales cactus nursery and market garden, a little philosophy on why he chooses the organic method of gardening, and how the plants are shipped.
The company also offers the virtually spineless, edible prickly pears, as well as ornamental landscape cactus plants.
Dicus says that they are trying to change the name of the prickly pear to "cactus apple" for the sake of the image, and to make it more palatable for marketing as an edible plant.
"I got an e-mail last week from a lady in New Jersey, who ate cactus on a vacation to Mexico last year, and now her family thinks she is nuts for wanting to buy cactus to eat," says Dicus. "When people try this vegetable cooked with other foods they love it."
Most of John's current customers are of Italian descent and from the Fast Coast. He says that many of them are interested in the cactus pears, the succulent purple fruit, eaten in the Mediterranean, which is is also popular in Africa and Israel.
According to studies, the average Mexican citizen eats as much cactus as the average American eats cauliflower, he adds, but preparations are sometimes confusing to Americans.
The real key here is the particular variety of plant. Wild cacti will have more spines, since it enhances their survival. The specially-bred varieties remove these sticky points of contention, and clear the way for you and your palate to enjoy an exotic taste experience without skewering your tonsils.
So, if you're game to try edible cactus and your local grocer doesn't yet carry it, ask the produce manager about its local availability. Or do a web search of edible cactus. Dicus' own web site (rivenrock.com) includes several appealing sounding recipes that may convince current non-consumers to cut their teeth on the product, so to speak!
