"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 20:40:20 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:


A change of topic. Did you ever eat prickly pears Franz?

Yes, frequently.

Do they taste
good?

Yes, if they are decently ripe. The flavour is delicate and
slightly
sweet.

I watched somebody on German TV this evening in a documentary
about Tenerife showing how to pick them without getting prickles
in
your fingers. He also showed how to open up the fruit, but nobody
tried eating them.

The silly idiots.

Do be exceedingly careful when peeling them. Once the prickles
have
penetrated your skin, it takes days to get rid of the irritation.

Yes I know. :-((((

That was as far as I got with prickly pears growing wild outside an
old Spanish mission in Lompoc California.

I
handle
them with a knife and fork. Hold it with the fork
while you top and tail them, then make a longitudinal slice through
the skin and use the knife to open it wide enough to get your
fingertips in, and force the skin off. If the pp is ripe, the skin
comes off cleanly.

This guy removed the prickles by first beating the pears in situ
with
a bunch of leaves and twigs.

We just cut them with a sharp knife and let them fall on the ground.

The he cut off one at a time and rolled
them with is foot in the dust. This removed all the prickles.

True. I forgot that stage. It does not get rid of *all* the
prickles, but it does make them a little more handleable

He then
cut the top and tail off made a cut along the length of what was
left
and pealed off the skin.

That's what I said.


A word of warning: The pips are somewhat slow to be digested, so
never eat more than six at one go if you want to avoid being
constipated.

They do occasionally get into the supermarkets. I always keep an
eye
open for them

But what is the connection between prickly pears and moss?

Rolling stones?

{:-))

Franz