Cactus Candy Recipe (mind the needles…)
November 29, 2011 at 9:57 am 3 comments
I ran across this item in a June, 1918 issue of The American Food Journal:
Cactus candy is now being made in Louisiana from the spineless cactus grown for cattle food. Tills Candy makes a palatable confection, with only a reasonable amount of sugar used, the cactus being peeled, dipped in hot sirup or molasses, and coated with granulated or powdered sugar. … Cactus candy can be made by housewives on southern farms, using home supplies of cane sirup, a standard farm product of the south.
Add this to my “candy from anything” file… (see also: potatoes, lima beans, yams, garlic, cottonseed, alfalfa…)
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Entry filed under: Ingredients, Uncategorized. Tags: cactus, recipes, vegetable candy.
1.
Common Sense | November 29, 2011 at 11:23 am
I’ve had cactus candy, it’s fairly common in the West, made from prickly pear cactus. You can even buy it from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Pound-Prickly-Pear-Cactus-Candy/dp/B004HZICGS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1322583698&sr=8-2
In Colorado, we also have a restaurant that sells prickly pear cactus marguaritas.
2.
Candy Professor | November 29, 2011 at 11:32 am
Prickly pears are sort of fruit-ish, aren’t they? How does the candy taste?
I’m not sure prickly pear is what this recipe refers to: “spineless cactus grown for cattle food.” Which sounds not exactly like the prickly pear, but I’m not from cactus country!
3.
peter (@pjohn358) | June 7, 2012 at 2:17 am
No doubt that these are the fruits which contain parts like needles and have flower on it but i am not sure prickly pear is used in making this candy . I am bit confused about it .