Prickly pears grow in large and dangerous bushes throughout Lanzarote.
Some years ago we stayed in a Casa Rural on Feurteventura and the Canarian woman owner taught me all about the prickly pear fruit.
The fruit grows on the edges of the flat pads of the cactus, and are pear-shaped. They range in color from green (less sweet) to purple (very sweet) with orange and red shades in between. The little spots you see on them are not thorns. They are covered in glochids which are like little hair-like splinters that can stick into your skin and are very painful, very hard to see and once under your skin, impossible to remove.
When picking a prickly pear cactus fruit, you absolutely must protect your hands. You can use thick gloves or an old towel folded into a couple of layers. Use the gloves or towels to grip the fruit, and gently twist it. The greener fruits will require a firmer grip and more twisting, and the riper fruits will pop right off with very little effort. Place the fruits into a bowl or basket. No matter what, do not touch the fruit with your bare hands!
The glochids can easily be burned off over an open flame. Grip a fruit with a pair of tongs or stick it on the end of a fork. Slowly turn the fruit over the open flame. As the glochids burn off you hear popping sounds and see little sparks fly off the fruit. You need to make sure that all of the spots are blackened, indicating the glochids are gone. Don't forget to get the top and bottom of the fruit, as the glochid spots are more concentrated there.
When the Canarian women had explained this to me, I had a great image of a huge prickly pear cactus, late at night, with hundreds of fruits sparkly and popping like dazzeling fireworks.
Prickly Pear Haiku
purple fruits ready to burn
blazing fireworks
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