• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Subscribe
Subscribe by email Connect on Facebook Connect on Pinterest Follow Me on Instagram

Hunter Angler Gardener Cook

Finding the Forgotten Feast

  • Shop
  • Video Course
  • Stories
  • About
    • Public Events
    • Privacy Policy
  • Wild Game
    • Venison Recipes
    • Duck Recipes and Goose Recipes
    • Rabbits, Hares and Squirrels
    • Pheasants, Turkey, Quail
    • Dove Recipes
    • Wild Pig and Bear Recipes
    • My Best Taco Recipes
    • Wild Game Sauces
  • Charcuterie
    • Homemade Sausage Recipes
    • Smoker Recipes
    • Bacon, Jerky, Hams, etc
    • Salami Recipes
    • Confit, Pate, Terrines
  • Fish
    • General Fish Recipes
    • Salmon Recipes
    • Snapper Recipes
    • Crabs, Shellfish and Squid
    • Little Fish and Oddballs
  • Gathering
    • Preservation Recipes
    • Mushrooms
    • Sweet Things
    • Wild Greens and Herbs
    • Acorns, Nuts, Starches
  • Podcast
Home » How-To (DIY stuff) » How to Clean Nopales

How to Clean Nopales

By Hank Shaw on April 5, 2019, Updated October 15, 2020 - 9 Comments

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
how to clean nopales
Photo by Hank Shaw

Nopales, nopalitos or prickly pear pads, whatever you call them, cleaning nopales is a sticky business. Here’s how to remove thorns from your nopales painlessly.

Before we start, know that there are scores of various species of opuntia cactus living in 46 states (only Alaska, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire lack at least one species), plus 5 Canadian provinces and, well, every state in Mexico.

All are edible. Some are better than others. What makes some better for nopales are size, tenderness and lack of spines. All species have at least some spines, and all nopales have evil, hair-like glochids — spines you can barely see, but you can definitely feel if you get them in your fingers.

The glochids live at the base of the many little nodes on the pad. We’ll get to them in a minute.

You are reading about how to clean nopales because you either have them growing near you, or you wanted to save money and buy uncleaned nopales at the market.

While all pads are can be used, it’s the young growth you really want, nopalitos, or nopales tierna in Spanish. This normally happens in spring, but I’ve seen new growth on nopales at all times of the year. Cactus are funny like that.

nopales on the plant
Photo by Hank Shaw

Note that if you use old paddles, some will have a woody center to them, which isn’t edible. Stick to the new growth.

To harvest nopales, you grab the nopal (singular of nopales) with tongs and slice it off the larger plant at the base. You can hold it with your fingers so long as you avoid the nodes where the large spines are coming from. One neat trick is to use a torch to burn off the spines of the nopal before you harvest it. That saves a lot of time.

So when you have your nopales, you need to remove both kinds of spines. You can clean nopales with one or more of three tools: A thin-bladed, sharp knife; a melon baller; or a vegetable peeler. I am partial to a knife or a vegetable peeler. I think the melon baller is too dull to do a good job, but some people swear by it.

Step One

Trimming the edges of nopales.
Photo by Hank Shaw

Set your nopal on a cutting board and anchor it with one hand. You can either just press down where there are no spines, or you can use a towel to hold down the base.

Use a knife to slice off a thin rim around the edge of the nopal, removing the nodes on the edge. You can get most with one nice sweep of the knife, but then you’ll need to either move the nopal or flip it over to finish.

Step Two

shaving spines off nopales
Photo by Hank Shaw

Lay the nopal as flat as you can and sweep off all the nodes with the knife. The vegetable peeler really shines here, but you can do it with a knife almost as easily. This is all very easy if you have a flat nopal. Unfortunately, they are often warped. In this case, just slow down a bit or you will slice right through the nopal, which is very tender.

Warped and bent nopales are where a melon baller comes in handy. You can use it to scoop out the nodes where the knife or peeler won’t reach easily.

Step Three

Cleaned nopales in a bowl.
Photo by Hank Shaw

Once you have all the spines off, you will want to wipe down the nopal with a paper towel. Don’t wash it yet — water activates the notorious slime in nopales.

Here are instructions for how to remove the slime from nopales.

Cleaned and wiped down, the cleaned nopales will keep in a plastic bag for a week in the fridge. I happen to like them a lot raw in a crunchy cactus salad.

Video

Want to see how to clean nopales in video? Here ya go…

 

Thanks for Sharing This!

184 shares

Filed Under: Featured, Foraging, How-To (DIY stuff), Mexican

Avatar for Hank Shaw

Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet's largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Avatar for EdmondEdmond says

    May 31, 2020 at 1:40 pm

    Can u juice nopales

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      June 1, 2020 at 7:37 am

      Edmond: Probably. I have never tried.

      Reply
  2. Avatar for IraisIrais says

    May 15, 2020 at 7:13 pm

    I love them. Vegetable peeler for me. Then I dice freeze separately on parchment on cookie sheet. Then when frozen I put in baggie to keep in freezer and only use what I want. I steam them before adding to any dish I’m cooking with the nopales. Not too much slime if any. Steaming keeps them from becoming slimy but holds their integrity and not mushy.

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      May 16, 2020 at 7:01 am

      Irais: Good tip! How long do you steam them for?

      Reply
  3. Avatar for MattMatt says

    May 20, 2019 at 8:02 pm

    Thanks for the article. I had fun gathering the nopales and cooking them. I have two questions:
    1) I assume that cooking destroys the small hairs, correct?
    2) You have a raw recipe for these. Does that require removing 100% of the spines? I’m having trouble seeing how this is possible. After a little trimming my cutting board and knife were covered with spines, and at least some of these ended up back on the nopales. I can’t imagine ever being confident that I had removed all of them.

    In the end I chickened out and boiled mine, which seemed to destroy the hairs, but I am still curious to try a raw salad next time.

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      May 21, 2019 at 8:08 am

      Matt: They come off easily… but it depends on the type of prickly pear. The ones with fewer spines are the ones best to eat raw. But a quick rinse will do the trick. Rinse and wipe dry with a paper towel.

      Reply
  4. Avatar for Ellen SmartEllen Smart says

    May 12, 2019 at 1:36 pm

    Couldn’t find how to prevent slime on nopales. I clicked on the sentence offering same, and it went nowhere.

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      May 12, 2019 at 1:45 pm

      Ellen: Yeah, the fact that you are getting this post in your inbox is a mistake on my part. I have three nopales posts set to publish, but I wanted to push only one to email. Alas, I messed up. The removing slime post is scheduled for tomorrow. Sigh.

      Reply
  5. Avatar for Mike KennedyMike Kennedy says

    May 12, 2019 at 1:32 pm

    Nice! I was thinking of buying some of these to try. They have them in my local supermarket.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Hank Shaw holding a rod and reel in the American River

Hi, my name is Hank Shaw; I’m a James Beard Award-winning author and chef. I started this site back in 2007 to help you get the most out of all things wild: fish, game, edible wild plants and mushrooms. I also write cookbooks, have a website dedicated to the intersection of food and nature, and do a podcast, too. If it’s wild, you’ll find it here. Hope you enjoy the site!

More about Hank...

Featured Recipes

Closeup of sliced, smoked venison backstrap on a platter
Venison 101: How to Cook Venison
pickled pike recipe
Pickled Pike
Slices of smoked venison roast on a cutting board.
Smoked Venison Roast
Conejo en adobo on a plate
Conejo en Adobo
A platter of fried walleye with lemon.
Fried Walleye
A plate of pine nut cookies.
Pine Nut Cookies

As Seen In

As seen on CNN, New York Times, Simply Recipes, Martha Stewart, Food and Wine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, and The Splendid Table

Never Miss a Recipe

Receive recipes direct to your inbox.

 

 

Back to Top
  • Home
  • Shop
  • Video Course
  • About
  • Podcast
  • Stories
  • Wild Game
  • Charcuterie
  • Fish
  • Gathering
Subscribe by email Connect on Facebook Connect on Pinterest Follow Me on Instagram

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

© 2023 Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, All Rights Reserved.

Site built by: Site by Status Forward

184 shares
  • Print
  • Pinterest
  • 128Facebook
  • WhatsApp
  • Save
  • Email
184 shares
  • 128