Prickly Pear Jelly!

When we made Prickly Pear Jelly the first time, we decided that it would also be our last time.  Yet three years later, we made it again for the third time now.  Last year, we found a spot in Albuquerque that had big Prickly Pear tunas (the red fruit that grows atop the green pads)--much bigger than the little "scrub" prickly pears we have here in Gallup.  So when we went into Albuquerque on Thursday, we dropped by our spot (by a Community Center on Yale near the cemetery where my mom is buried) and picked prickly pear fruit after we left the Isotopes game.

We kind of felt like thieves by night as we collected the fruit, although I'm petty sure it was no problem.

The dad perfected the "cardboard grabbers" last year, when that was the only thing we could find to grab the fruit with.

Susan and I rather like the tongs and bucket approach.

We set up to burn off the little pricklies with the propane burner.

Cutting open the fruit to burn; there were two different colors of pink fruit that we picked.  We found that when cut open, the two kinds looked different inside.  At first we thought some were more ripe than others.  After cutting and cooking them, we are pretty sure they are two different varieties.

Cooking the pulp.

Straining the juice from the pulp.  It has kind of an unusual smell when it's cooking.  After the first year, we learned that we like it much better when we cook it outside.

We restrained the juice.  We found out on the almighty Internet that prickly pear juice is considered a super food.  We saved the extra juice and froze it in ice cube trays so we can add it to our amazing yogurt-kale smoothies later on.  They just keep getting better and better--just ask Susan!

Adding the pectin to make the jelly.

This is the end of boiling the second batch.  Susan had been stirring over the hot stove for a very long time!

The finished jelly!  Notice that there are two different colors!