South Africans are most familiar with the mature green fruit, but the white, pink, yellow, and orange fruit are also delicious, and catalogued under
cultivars to aid you in identifying your own fruits. The recipes make use of not only the well-known
mature fruits, but also use unripe fruit and
nopalitos (young leaves). Since this plant is known to be prickly, tried and tested methods of
harvesting, cleaning, and preparing the different plant parts are available here. The plants are also sought after for their
pharmacological properties. Get to know more about the people involved in the research and making of the website on the
About Us page. If you’ve tried any of our recipes or have any cactus-pear-related questions, you can get in touch by emailing Dr Alba du Toit at
DuToitA1@ufs.ac.za