cactus fruit / tuna

My mom loved fruit. She always had plenty of fresh fruit at home for all of us. lots and lots of fruit. She had the typical fruits like oranges, apples, grapes, cantaloupe, watermelon....and she also had the 'exotic' fruit. I guess you can call it exotic. I guess the not so 'popular' fruit. Well at least not well known or not known at all to some cultures. To Mexicans, yes known, especially if you had a mom that came from a tropical place, a place by the ocean. A place where the temperatures never drop too low and lots of wonderful things grow in that climate. Now tuna, I don't know for sure what part of Mexico where it is grown, maybe we ate tuna because of my dad, don't remember. Just that I remember my mom when I see lots of fruit and when I enjoy eating it. my mom. She was from Veracruz, Mexico. Aw, I want to go visit where my mom comes from. I've never been there. I will go one day.

Back to the fruit:

The other day, I tried eating a tuna. I used to eat them as a kid pretty often, but I hadn't tried to eat one since. Jenny bought one a few months ago, but I don't remember trying it. I was kind of afraid of it. Anyway, I miss my mom lately, and when I was at Fiesta with Tammy one day last week, I decided to buy one tuna, and  this time I was going to eat it! I was going to have to figure it out. I had forgoten how to eat it. Do you peel it? Do you cook it? Do you eat with salt? I don't remember. I decided to peed it and slice it and eat! yum. I never forgot the flavor. and the little seeds. It was a little sweet in the middle and lots of little round seeds, that you eat, and the outer part tasted like a cucumber.

Let me tell you and show you a little bit about the tuna. The proper name in English is Oputia, or cactus fruit. In Spanish, we call it tuna. Here's a picture of them growing on a cactus plant, and a group of them.

Tuna: sweet prickly pear (Opuntia ficus indica)
The fruit of the nopal cactus, eaten raw or made into agua fresca. In the markets in Zacatecas, assorted colors of prickly pear fruit, from purple to green to white, are attractively arranged next to each other.

 Cool, isn't it? I ate a green one, or maybe it's called a white one. They come in other colors....I think. Anyway, I enjoyed it and I remembered my momma. I miss her. I miss her more lately since little baby Sarah came to us.  ***sigh***



Here are more pictures of my tuna adventures and here is another  link if you want to read more about the wonderful fruit from Mexico:

Here's Tammy at Fiesta grocery store, where I bought my tuna. That's one month old little Sarah too, in the "mobywrap" - warm and cozy, next to mommy.

Ok, these are onions. Nope, not talking about onions today. I just  thought they looked so pretty and fresh, that I took a picture of them for you. your welcome.