Ingredient
Nopales
Nopales are the flat paddles of the prickly pear cactus, eaten as a vegetable across Mexico. They taste green, sour and slightly grassy — somewhere between a green bean and a tart gooseberry — and they release a slippery liquid when cooked, which is the one thing everybody wants to know how to deal with.
What they are
The paddles are the flattened stems of Opuntia cactus — the same plant that produces prickly pear fruit, or tuna. Young, tender paddles are harvested for eating; older ones toughen.
They taste distinctly sour and green. The comparison most people land on is a green bean crossed with a tart apple or a gooseberry, with a texture between an okra pod and a courgette. They are used as a vegetable rather than as a novelty, and they are entirely everyday in Mexican cooking.
They also produce a viscous liquid, called baba, when cut and heated — the same kind of mucilage that okra produces. Some people like it; most recipes take steps to reduce it.
Preparing them
Fresh paddles need the spines off, and there are two kinds to remove.
- Hold the paddle by its thick base — with a cloth or a glove, because that is the safest part but not the safest handling.
- Scrape the flat surfaces with a knife held almost flat, working away from you, to shave off the spines and the tiny hair-like glochids around them. The glochids are the ones that cause the most trouble and they are barely visible.
- Trim the outer rim right round, where the spines cluster, and cut off the dry base.
- Rinse well, then cut into strips or dice, depending on the dish.
- Many shops sell them already cleaned, or diced and jarred in brine, which removes this step entirely and is a perfectly reasonable shortcut.
How to deal with the slipperiness
Every Mexican cook has a preferred method, and these all work.
- Grill or roast them whole and dry. The best method. Direct dry heat drives off the moisture rather than drawing it out, and grilled nopales are barely slippery at all — plus they take on char, which suits them.
- Boil with something alkaline or acidic. Boiling with a little bicarbonate of soda, or with tomatillo husks, onion or garlic, is traditional. The liquid goes green and viscous; drain and rinse well.
- Salt and rest them. Diced, salted and left for half an hour, then rinsed, in the same way you might treat aubergine.
- Dry-fry them. In a hot dry pan until the liquid they release has evaporated and they start to squeak and colour.
- Or leave it. The mucilage thickens a stew usefully, and in some dishes it is wanted rather than tolerated.
How they are eaten
- Ensalada de nopales. Cooked, cooled and diced with tomato, onion, coriander, lime and queso fresco. The most common preparation.
- Grilled whole, with salt and lime, alongside grilled meat. Excellent on a barbecue.
- In tacos, with egg, chorizo or beans.
- With scrambled eggs, which is a standard Mexican breakfast.
- In stews — with pork, in a chilli sauce, where the mucilage helps thicken.
- Pickled, jarred with chilli and onion.
- In a green sauce with tomatillo, where their sourness is entirely at home.
Buying and storing them
- Size
- Small to medium paddles, roughly hand-sized. Large ones are older, tougher and more fibrous.
- Colour and firmness
- Bright, even green and firm enough to resist a gentle bend. Limp, yellowing or wrinkled paddles are old.
- Thickness
- Thinner is younger and more tender. Very thick paddles can be woody at the base.
- Pre-cleaned
- Widely sold with the spines already scraped off, and there is no reason not to buy them that way.
- Jarred
- Diced, cooked and brined. Already de-slimed, ready for salads and eggs. Rinse them well — the brine is assertive.
- Storage
- A week or more in the fridge, wrapped loosely. They keep considerably better than most green vegetables.
Common questions
What do nopales taste like?
Sour and green — a green bean crossed with a tart apple. Not remotely sweet, and not like the prickly pear fruit from the same plant.
How do I get the spines off?
Scrape the flat surfaces with a knife held nearly flat, and trim the whole outer rim. Or buy them pre-cleaned, which most shops sell.
Why are mine slimy?
Mucilage released when cut and heated, like okra. Grilling dry is the most effective answer; boiling and rinsing is the traditional one.
Are nopales the same as prickly pear?
Same plant, different part. Nopales are the paddles, eaten as a vegetable; prickly pear or tuna is the fruit, eaten sweet.
Can I use jarred ones?
Yes. They are already cooked and de-slimed, and they are fine in salads and eggs. Rinse them, because the brine is assertive.