Fruits of Tuscany PART 1~ making prickly pear jam

Stumbled across a low lying cactus plant on a nearby hill in Impruneta with a high fruit yield of baby prickly pears. Quite a big cactus, spread in and amongst wild thyme bushes. Figured that picking the ripe young pears would make for a tasty jam ~ and nutritious too, as they are high in water, vitamin C, magnesium, potassium and dietary fibre.  Also, its really easy to make Tuscan prickly pear jam, but only once you've removed the pesky barbed spines (glochids)!

🌵 Jam from baby prickly pears (cactus fruits) is lovely, sweet and colourful.

Picked only half of them and left the other half to ripen to maturity. Had to sample a few myself first, but made sure Daisy's nose did not touch any that I took home. All very well washed on arrival back!

RECIPE: use lots of baby prickly pears, and:

• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 2 ½ tablespoons powdered fruit pectin

• 2 ½ cups white sugar

• Lemon juice from one lemon

• Dash of Amaretto (optional)

https://youtube.com/shorts/tqdVgwSdQVw?feature=share

Cracked a big smile when stumbling across fresh baby prickly pears just up the hill from our house.

Raw, rough, uncultivated countryside, ready for exploration.

Tuscan woodland flush to our house leads into greenbelt countryside. There are no paths, it's a veritable jungle!

Have bag, will pick 50% of the cacti fruit and leave the rest to mature.

"Assume the position"... And pick! The little barbed spines (glochids) are annoying. These can be easily brushed off at home. Be sure to wear thick gloves when picking.

Enough to make a first batch of jam.

Soon to be prickly pear jelly.

The fresh baby prickly pear fruit hoard.

Leave them to soak in filtered water for 24 hours and this soften the glochids.

Baby prickly pears are so tiny, there is no point in peeling them. After soaking them overnight:

1. Rinse the fruits carefully, keeping them away from other food.

2. Cut off both ends of each fruit with a sharp knife and remove the glochids and rinse well.

3. Pop the whole fruits back in the pan for cooking.

Sieving the juice from the pulp. The fruit has lost it's colour into the liquid, which is a beautiful rose red colour.

Sterilise small conserve jars.

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This is the pectin I found in the supermarket 'Esselunga'.

Fruit pulp and seeds sieved out.

Adding pectin and sugar after filtering the pulp remains outs.

End result: pink and sweet with a subtle prickly pear flavour, described as a cross between watermelon and bubblegum, melon and kiwi, or an under-ripe strawberry with tart brightness.

Very happy with the finished product. Looks pretty in the little IKEA jars.

Now for a dog stroll in Fiesole, Firenze.

Olive tree photo bomb.

Won't use as much sugar in the jam next time. Think I'll be more confident with a less sweet and more natural flavour. Gotta love free organic fruit growing locally! I'll keep the jars in the fridge as I didn't boil the jars for fifteen minutes after filling them, and doubt this batch will last long anyway. Hope you enjoyed this article and don't get the little glochids stuck in your hands like I did.