Prickly Pear

We love learning random facts about Arizona. 

Have you ever seen a Prickly Pear cactus?

Well, they grow rampant here in Tucson-in people's yards,

on the side of roads and out in the desert. Oh wait, 

we live in that desert.

The red fruit on top of the cactus is actually edible!

We had a Prickly Pear Chicken sandwich back in Gilbert

and it was really good. (The chicken was marinated in the

juice of the prickly pear fruit)

The first RS activity I went to here in Tucson was learning

how to make prickly pear jelly. I was super pumped about it

because they were going to show us the steps beginning to end:

picking your own fruit--getting the juice out--and turning it into jelly.

The entire process was very involved, messy and takes approx. 2

days and 2 people. After the demonstration, I decided that it was too 

much effort for the present time (I know...I made peach jam, but that took less than an hour).
Maybe next year? In all reality I have plenty of time since we'll be here for 3 years. 

Instead, we are all enjoying the jar of finished jelly they gifted to us. 

Look at that gorgeous color! NO food coloring added. Wow.