Cactus Tacos

Tacos de Nopalitos

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Preparation info
  • Servings:

    4

    individual servings tacos
    • Difficulty

      Easy

Appears in
My South Texas Kitchen: Traditional Recipes And Modern Tips

By Yvette Zuniga Jemison

Published 2022

  • About

My mom has an enormous cactus patch in her backyard with multiple varieties of cacti. She walks outside and snaps off a few pads to make tacos de nopalitos. Nopales are the edible pads of the prickly pear cactus. Mom insists on harvesting the pads that are long and narrow for their mild tartness, even though these tend to have more spines than the thick, wide pads. She also looks for pads that are new growth. These pads, which are about as long as an outstretched hand, are juicy and tender.