My Kind of hunting

As a fruit hunter for this blog, I chose to visit St. Lawrence Market. And to be honest, I went there for the convenience. We are at the end of the semester, homework and exams up to our ears, I could hardly find the time. And it does not hurt at all that St. Lawrence is really pretty, has a wide range of varieties to choose from and is by far my favorite place downtown.
I was headed there with the true intention of only grabbing cherries, and only cherries. They are in season, they are everywhere, and I'm craving a cherry pie.

However, as I'm known not to have any self restrain when it comes to food, I couldn't just stick to cherries and call it a day! that would be so out of character.
I also picked donut peaches, because who does not like a cold peach with yogurt and granola on a hot Saturday morning.

As I walked around the Market, I saw cactus pears! and all the memories form my childhood summers spent in the mountains of southern Saudi "Asir" suddenly came back. To the sweet old man helping us peal those delicious monsters, the never ending fog and barbecue weather -we mostly bbq in the winter and cold days back home, never during summer season-.  I naturally grab a couple of these too, because its been ages since I had one, and I've only had them on their own, never cooked our accompanied by any other ingredient.

   

I was looking up the history of the cactus pears, and to my surprise I found out that it's only native to South America, and was introduced to Europe and later Africa and other parts of the world after the European colonization of The Americas. Cactus pears are considered to be an invasive spices in many parts of the world. However, in many Arab countries they are grown on the side of the streets and other non-cultivable lands to minimize the damage on native plants.
Cactus pears are scientifically called Opuntia, and are a genus of the cactus family (Gelbart, 2016). They are usually in season from summer to mid-fall. Those fruits however, are not cheap, I got three for 5$! and apparently it's expansive in most places too.

Cactus pears are covered with tough bumpy outer skin. Those bumps bear many tiny, sharp spines, so do be carful when handling them. The interior however, is the complete opposite. It resembles an over ripped watermelon, but without the graininess. The softness of the flesh and the crunchiness of the seeds go so well together. Much like the texture, the flavor remanded me so much of watermelon, but not as sweet, and a little bland in my opinion.

Since I was reminded of watermelon so much while eating the fruit, I decided to make a watermelon salad but with cactus pears. I replaced the feta cheese with citric, because I think it will compliment the flavor better. 

So this is my take on Cactus pear salad

Cactus pear salad Ingredients:
1	Cactus pear	1 pc
2	arugula	1/3 cup
3	Lemon	1/2 pc
4	Mint leaves	3 leaves
5	Pomegranate molasses	2 tsp

Recipe Preparation:

1- Peal cactus pear, and cut into desired size.

2- Peal the lemon, removing both the skin and rind, then slice.
3- Chiffonade mint leaves.

4- Mix all the ingredients together.

5- Garnish with whole mint leaves and Julienned lemon skin.

6- Bon appetite.


Reference

The Biogeographical History of the Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia sp.). (2016, July 08). Retrieved from https://markgelbart.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/the-biogeographical-history-of-the-prickly-pear-cactus-opuntia-sp/