SUCCO DI FICHI D'INDIA - PRICKLY PEAR JUICE

I could call this post Much Ado For Nothing but that would be a bit unfair because even though it was a lot of work and not that much came out of it, what came out was delicious! I can never resist to buy fichi d'India or prickly pears when they start to appear in the shops, I love the way they look and I love the fact that I'm eating or drinking something that comes from a cactus! And a cactus that grows in the country where I live. It's not coming from any of those that I used to see on TV when I was a child and an avid consumer of Westerns but from cactus growing here in Italy. Yes I know that the Westerns made by Sergio Leone often was filmed here in Italy but I never saw those when I was a kid, I watched James Stewart, John Wayne and Glenn Ford riding into the cactus strewn desert and it looked so cool. Hot but cool. I think I liked those films first and foremost for the horses and for the great stories but nowadays I get more satisfaction out of prickly pears!
I bought a batch today and I made myself a nice glass of juice. I scratched my fingers on the sieve and my hands are full of miniscule spines that hurts when I grab things but I was very happy when I sipped my glass and looked at the wonderful colour!




SUCCO DI FICHI D'INDIA or PRICKLY PEAR JUICE

Fichi d'India or prickly pears
Some lime juice
A little freshly grated ginger
Runny honey

- Peel the prickly pears and cut them into pieces. Press these through a not to finely meshed sieve in order to get rid of all the seeds.
- Mix the juice with lime juice, grated ginger and honey. You better start with a little of each until you get the balance you want. I used only a little ginger as I just wanted to taste a hint of it!