You can find prickly pear fruit, tuna, at most grocery stores in Texas, and I think it’s becoming more common across the board. Usually in the grocery store the spines have been removed, but you should still be careful in case one or two were missed. You can basically prepare prickly pear in the same way as avocado, just without worrying about a pit. Cut it in half and scoop out the meat on the inside.
Adding the prickly pears makes the cranberry sauce a little fruitier, a little bit brighter, and the lime juice adds a little more acid. Ginger adds a touch of warmth and makes the sauce more interesting. I think this is a good cranberry sauce option for people who don’t like cranberry sauce because of the astringency of cranberries. Prickly pear and lime cut down on that. Also the color of the prickly pear is stunning, and makes the cranberries even more jewel-like. It takes the sauce a little bit close to lingonberry jam.
I came up with this specifically for Thanksgiving but it would be good on a charcuterie board any time of the year, you can store it in a jar in the fridge and maybe give it as a holiday gift.
Prickly Pear Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup (250 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (227 g) water
- 1 12-oz package cranberries
- 3 prickly pear fruits
- 1 lime, zest and juice
- ½ inch ginger, grated
Instructions
- To prep the prickly pear fruits, wear gloves to protect yourself from any remaining stickers. Using a paring knife cut the fruit in half lengthwise, scoop the fruit out into a bowl and smash with a fork until pieces are all cranberry sized or smaller. The seeds are edible but if you’d prefer to not have the crunch, instead of smashing the fruit, blend it in a food processor and strain it to remove the seeds. I’m not a huge fan of the seeds.
- In a medium saucepan combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar.
- Add cranberries, prickly pear, lime zest, juice and ginger. When the sauce comes back up to a boil reduce heat to low and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t boil over, it will foam up while you’re cooking.
- For visual cues you’re looking for the liquid to be a bit syrupy and the cranberries to be broken up and look like maraschino cherries. Remove from heat, cover and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or for several days before serving.
vtx kitchen 