Prickly Pear Syrup

Felt a little jibbed on one of these fruits, but still had enough to give this recipe a try.

Taking notes from the Hibiscus Syrup Recipe this is a Prickly Pear syrup using the same recipe, but with one or two slight changes. If you're not familiar with the Prickly Pear this is a cactus fruit. It's quite delicious however it's not a fruit that you can chew, as the seeds are very hard, and as it is a cactus fruit it is as its name suggests - prickly. This is something to be wary of as though the large spines will already be removed from the fruit the small, hair like spines will still be on the pear's skin and are great at getting into your hands(I managed to come out with only three of them, although still uncomfortable, having attacked my hands and I call that a win). Much like with the Hibiscus recipe, I managed to misplace the original Prickly Pear recipe I had so I copied the floral syrup recipe to see if it would work.


Ingredients:

 4 ~ Prickly Pears
1c. ~ Sugar
1c. ~ Water
1oz. ~ Vodka(optional)

Kitchen tools needed:

~ knife and cutting board
~ table spoon
~ small pot
~ whisk
~ measuring cup
~ fine mesh strainer
~ jigger cup(optional)

Four Prickly Pears gave me about a cup of fruit after they were cut into chunks.

It's fairly easy to get the fruit out of your Prickly Pears. Cut the pears in half and they should easily come out with a table spoon. The fruit came out whole with almost zero effort, save for the lone pear that wasn't quite as full of fruit as the other three. With the skins removed cut up the fruit into small chunks(not quite dicing them) and place in your small pot with a cup of water.

This is where the recipe changes slightly from the floral syrup. Bring the Prickly Pear fruit and water to a boil before adding your sugar. Since the fruit is juicy you'll want to boil it down a bit before adding the sugar and thicken it. Once the fruit and water came to a boil add your sugar and whisk the mixture until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved(the mixture should still be at the temperature for boiling). After the sugar has dissolved lower the heat and allow the mixture to simmer. It'll take longer for the fruit syrup to thicken than it did for the floral syrup, around 30minutes, but like with the floral syrup this too will get darken in color as it cooks. The fruit chunks will also get small, as you've cooked them down. When your syrup is ready pull it off the heat and allow it to cool to room temperature.

When your syrup has cooled you have the option to add in an ounce of vodka to use as a preservative. You don't want to add the alcohol in before the syrup has cooled as you don't want the heat to cook it out. Without the vodka expect this to be good for a week or two, and with it expect it to last three to four weeks(remember to keep this stored in the refrigerator). The Prickly Pear syrup will also be lighter in color after you've strained it(a fine mesh strainer will be your bff for this) than it was in the pot as the remaining fruit chunks will have been removed from it. If you don't have a fine mesh strainer for this the seeds will be the trickiest part to get out, but doable with patience. It should also be noted that without the mesh strainer there may still be very small bits of fruit in the syrup as I noticed a lot of it had broken down and lost its color while boiling. This should be fine in the syrup, however do take care on getting those seeds out as again they are very hard and can be painful for your teeth.

This is the side by side comparison of both syrups; Hibiscus syrup on the left and Prickly Pear syrup on the right. The Prickly Pear syrup is a little lighter in person but the Hibiscus syrup is still a rich, dark purple that isn't transparent like the other is.




Both syrups are tasty but some things to note on the Prickly Pear syrup: Like the Hibiscus syrup this is a syrup intend for mixing in small amounts with drinks, This recipe is also very, very sweet! I would have adjust and used more Prickly Pears but the selection at the store was not good so I ended up with only four, however I would recommend trying this with five or six Prickly Pears instead, The recipe as is made a cup and a half of syrup, so with the addition of at least two more pears it would make about two cups.