Nopal is a common name in Spanish language for Opuntia cacti (commonly referred to in English as prickly pear or tender cactus), as well as for its pads. The name nopal derives from the Nahuatl word nohpalli for the Phylloclade of the plant.
Nopal fruits can be eaten raw or cooked, having numerous uses particularly in Mexican cuisine.
Description
There are about 114 known species in Mexico,
where it is a common ingredient in numerous Mexican cuisine dishes. The
nopal pads can be eaten raw or cooked, used in marmalades, soups, stews and salads, as well as being used for traditional medicine or as fodder for animals. Farmed
nopales are most often of the species
Opuntia ficus-indica or
Opuntia matudae although the pads of almost all
Opuntia species are edible. The other edible part of the
nopal cactus is the fruit, called tuna in Spanish and "prickly pear" in English.
Culinary use
Nopales are generally sold fresh in Mexico, cleaned of spines, and sliced to the customer's wishes on the spot. They can also be found
canning or bottled as
Nopalito, and less often
food drying, especially for export. Cut into slices or diced into cubes,
nopales have a light, slightly tart flavor, like
, and a crisp,
mucilage texture. In most recipes, the mucilaginous liquid they contain is included in the cooking. They are at their most tender and juicy in the spring.
[Aliza Green, Field Guide to Produce, Quirk Productions, 2004, pp. 214–215, ]
Nopales are most commonly used in
Mexican cuisine in dishes such as
huevos con nopales "eggs with nopal",
carne con nopales "meat with nopal",
de nopales, in salads with tomato, onion, and
queso panela (panela cheese), or simply on their own as a side vegetable.
Nopales have also grown to be an important ingredient in New Mexican cuisine
and in
Tejano culture of
Texas.
Nutrition
Raw nopal fruit is 94% water, 3%
, 1% protein, and contains negligible
fat (table). In a reference amount of , the fruit supplies 67
of
food energy, and is a rich source (20% or more of the
Daily Value, DV) of manganese (20% DV), while containing moderate amounts (10-13%) of
vitamin C, calcium, and magnesium (table).
A 2011 study found that its carbohydrate, dietary fiber, and calcium contents increase as the plant matures, each becoming highest at 135 days.
Economic value
The
nopal cactus grows extensively throughout Mexico, being especially abundant in the central Mexican arid and semi arid regions. In Mexico there are over of land used to cultivate
nopal. There are three typical ways to cultivate
nopal cacti — commercial plantations, family farms and gardens, or in the wild. Approximately are used to produce prickly pear fruit, for the pads production, and to
cochineal production. In 1996 there were prickly pear farmers, as well as around 8000 general
nopal farmers, with all of the people involved in the processing industries and in cochineal production, employing a significant number of the Mexican population.
Nopal is grown in eighteen of the Mexican states with 74% in the
Mexico City metropolitan area, with an annual yield of tons of both the
tuna and the pads.
The farming of
nopal provides many subsistence communities with employment, food, income, and allows them to remain on their land.
Detection of the cactus-eating moth Cactoblastis cactorum in Mexico in 2006 caused anxiety among the country's phytosanitary authorities, as this insect can be potentially devastating for the cactus industry.[ Cactus-eating moth threatens favorite Mexican food (Mon Feb 19, 2007)] In 1925, the same insect was successfully used in Australia to control the quickly growing population of cactus, which had become an invasive species after its introduction.[Patterson, Ewen K. 1936. The World's First Insect Memorial. "The Review of the River Plate", December pp. 16–17]
== Gallery ==
See also
Notes
