The versatile prickly pear bears both a sweet fruit and novel vegetable that is a mainstay of many authentic Mexican dishes : Cactus CUISINE

Water-conscious Southern California gardeners know the value of cactus. These camels of the landscape survive happily in the driest of yards.

Unfortunately, most gardeners don’t take full advantage of these versatile and useful plants because they are leery of the notorious spines or are unaware of the plants’ culinary uses.

The knowledgeable gardener, who picks wisely, will have a plant that is nearly spineless, has beautiful yellow flowers in the spring, bright red delicious fruit in the fall, and fleshy “pads”--shaped like a beaver’s tail--that can be prepared as a nutritious vegetable.

Commonly called the prickly pear, Indian fig or beavertail cactus, the Opuntia ficus-indica and several closely related species are native to Mexico. By the time Cortez arrived, countless varieties of Opuntia had been hybridized by Native American farmers. They are still a food staple in Latin America and in Sicily, where they have been naturalized.

Opuntia , which is finding an increasingly larger role in the cuisine of California, provides both a deliciously sweet fruit called tunas in Spanish, as well as nopales, a novel and useful vegetable.

Tunas, the succulent pear-like fruit, are used in a number of ways. Most commonly they are served chilled, sliced and eaten with a spoon. The large seeds can be strained out and the sweet pulp made into marmalade, or mixed with sugar and water and frozen on a stick and served as an helado or frozen fruit bar.

Nopales are the tender young pads that are a mainstay of many authentic Mexican dishes. A study published by the National Institute of Nutrition in Mexico City reports nopales to be a good source of calcium and Vitamin A.

The bright green pads are cleaned of spines, then sliced or diced and used in salads or as an addition to scrambled eggs and other dishes. They can also be stir-fried in butter with onions or garlic and served like green beans.

“People just don’t take advantage of cooking with nopales,” said Natalia Calderon, whose family has run the Casa Calderon restaurant in San Gabriel for 30 years . “They make a great addition to a variety of traditional Mexican dishes.”

Ben Leon of Atascadero frequently cooks with nopales raised in his back yard.

“My cactus came from my father’s yard in the Imperial Valley,” Leon said. “I boil them and use them sliced up in salads and I cook them with onions and peppers in scrambled eggs.

“My favorite cactus dish is Nopales Con Tortas de Camaron (Cactus With Shrimp Patties). It is a traditional Mexican dish for Lent, although I make it whenever I’m hungry for it.”

One note of caution is important to remember. Although most Indian fig cacti lack the long spines characteristic of many other cacti, even the so-called spineless varieties produce tiny, rudimentary spines called glochidia. These appear as small bristled tufts on both nopales and tunas and can be so irritating that they were once collected and sold as itching powder.

To remove glochids, wear rubber gloves and carefully scrub with a stiff brush under running water, or use a small knife and scoop out the small tufts of spines.

The flowers are large and clear bright yellow, although orange, pink and apricot-colored varieties can sometimes be found. Flowers are arranged in a line along the top edge of the pad. Although individual flowers are short-lived, they open sequentially, and will provide color in the garden for several weeks in late spring.

The tunas, which follow, ripen to a bright red and remain on the pad until late winter, providing a needed source of color in the January garden. Opuntia flowers will continue to open even after the pad has been removed from the plant. Flowering pads are often sold in flower shops in Europe.

Some cacti found growing around California’s missions are descendants of plants brought by the first padres. Many Latino Californians treasure Opuntia grown from nopales brought from farms and villages in Mexico and Central America.

Growing these plants is easy. Be sure to obtain one of the nearly spineless varieties known as “Burbank’s Spineless,” or obtain pads from a plant of known quality. Let the base of the pad dry for several days and then set it out in the garden. Plants root readily in the spring and summer, and will quickly send up new pads. Plant size can easily be controlled by harvesting nopales.

Opuntia have few pests and can easily survive on rainfall alone. However, if you are raising cacti for the table, provide a low nitrogen feeding in the early spring and an occasional deep watering in the summer. Remember, cacti survive on neglect but they thrive on love and attention.

Those who want to try tunas or nopales, but don’t have room to grow cacti, will find many Southern California markets now stock them. The best selections are found in Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles and in small family markets in East Los Angeles.

In a 1975 article in the American Cactus and Succulent Journal, James Curtis of UCLA reported that commercial prickly pear farming in California was at an end.

Now, thanks to a growing Latino population in Southern California, cactus farming has begun to make a small comeback. Recently it was reported that actor Larry Hagman had purchased a small cactus farm in the California desert and was going to market tunas as a delicacy throughout the Southwest and in Japan.

Whether purchased or home-grown, cactus can add variety to your table and your garden.

NOPALES CON TORTAS

DE CAMERON

(Cactus with Shrimp Patties)

2 cups of boiled, diced nopales.

2 separated eggs

1/2 cup dried powdered shrimp

1 cup red chile sauce

Mix boiled, diced nopales into red chile sauce and let simmer in a skillet. Beat the egg whites until stiff and then fold in yolks. Slowly sprinkle the powdered shrimp into the egg mixture and gently fold until completely blended.

Mold the shrimp mixture into small patties, then fry in three tablespoons of hot oil. When the shrimp patties are brown, drain off the excess oil and add the nopales and chile sauce. Simmer for five more minutes and serve with rice.