FREE: 25 seeds....thornless prickly pear seeds)

The listing, 25 seeds....thornless prickly pear seeds) has ended.

Luther Burbank’s Spineless Cacti. I have a very large prickly pear cactus I been collecting seed from.


Uses for Spineless Cacti

Mostly adapted from suggestions by Luther Burbank, circa 1914

Plants – can be grown as hedges and fences

Woody skeletons – can be used in construction of houses, rustic furniture, and to make trinkets such as fans, etc.

Stems – have sap that can be extracted to make chewing gum

Thalli (“pads” or leaves”)

can be used for fodder (and drink) for livestock and poultry
can substitute for a hot water bottle
can be split open and used as poultices to relieve inflammation; when soaked in water they release viscous juice that promotes healing of wounds and bruises
Juice from thalli

can be used to manufacture candles
can be spread on water, like petroleum, to smother mosquito larvae (lasts up to a year, according to tests in central Africa, reported in Scientific American, 1911)
can be boiled down to use as mucilage, or to mix with whitewash (increases durability) or mortar (increases stickiness)
Young shoots ( “nopales” or “nopalitos”)

can be boiled and fried like eggplant
are mucilaginous, like okra, and when boiled with garlic and onions, can be chopped and cooked with shellfish, pork, and eggs; can be flavored with chopped tomatoes, chilies, or coriander
can be pickled with spices
can be pulped and dried for future use
Fruit (“tunas” or “prickly pear”)

can be eaten raw or chilled and served with lemon juice
can be cooked into jams, and preserves like apple butter
can be cooked down into dark red or black paste called “mile coacha” and fermented into a drink called “coloncha”
can be dried for future use, or made into flour that is baked into small sweet cakes called “queso de tuna”
can be dried and made into candy
Fruit juice

can be used as food coloring
can be used as a natural dye for yarn
Seed

can be eaten in soups
can be dried and ground into flour