Tuna. Not that kind, this kind

Posted by Ben On August - 14 - 2008 Under Ingredients

It is very confusing when you are learning a new language and find out that one of their words is exactly the same than a word in your language, but they describe completely differnt things. That is exactly what happens when you are from Mexico and learn that the word tuna in English is used to refer to a kind of fish, but you grew up using the word tuna to refer to the fruit of a cactus. Confused yet? Good, I’ve done my job :D Anyway, this is what we know as tuna in Mexico:

That’s just the fruit of the prickly pear cactus. You might remember nopales, the pads of the same cactus that I used for this salad. Well, these little guys are the sweet counterpart of the pads. I saw them at the Mexican market last Monday and I immediately picked some up. It’s been a long time since I’ve had tunas (not the fish, we are clear on that) and I just wanted to remember their sweet flavor and their crunchy and slimy texture.

If you want to try them you have to eat them cold. Throw them in the fridge for a couple of hours before eating them and they will be perfect for a hot summer day. Prickly pears have a very thick skin. The easiest way to cut them is to cut the ends and then make a cut lengthwise through the skin. Pull apart the skin where you made the cut and the edible part will stare right at you. Make sure that the prickly pears have been cleaned. It’s not fun when a thorn gets in your skin.

There you have it. Another delicious and nutritious Mexican ingredient that will refresh you this summer. I think agua fresca de tuna (prickly pear juice) sounds perfect right now.

¡Buen provecho!

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15 Replies

  1. Peter G Said,

    Interesting Ben (as usual). I’ve only ever heard of these but it’s good to be advised about how to prepare and eat them.

    Posted on August 14th, 2008 at 5:33 pm

  2. Vicki Said,

    Mmm, I love both kinds of tuna (but not together!).

    I’ve seen the same problem with taco (tako is octopus in Japanese) – an elderly Japanese man thought he was going to get octopus, and ended up with something he didn’t recognize!

    Posted on August 14th, 2008 at 6:46 pm

  3. Christina Said,

    I learned something new today! I’ve only ever heard it referred to as prickly pear even though I have Hispanic relations — :( I feel sad. It looks really refreshing, like a mango, but not.

    Posted on August 14th, 2008 at 7:16 pm

  4. courtney Said,

    The ones I see are always pink /red.Is there a diffrence in the flavor?

    Posted on August 14th, 2008 at 7:23 pm

  5. kat Said,

    how about a prickly pear margarita!

    Posted on August 15th, 2008 at 8:33 am

  6. Adam Said,

    So that’s what a tuna looks like? Well that just blew my mind.

    Quick question though… I see two hands in the last pic… so who’s holding the camera? Do you have a third arm? If so… I want to party with that guy

    Posted on August 15th, 2008 at 8:51 am

  7. kittie Said,

    Your turn for the language lesson Ben! I didn’t know that, interesting :)

    Posted on August 15th, 2008 at 9:07 am

  8. Cynthia Said,

    I’ve never heard of or seen this fruit before. Thanks for the introduction.

    Posted on August 15th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

  9. Natashya Said,

    I have never seen a prickly pear before. I guess they don’t make it all the way up to Canada. Looks good, although the thorns sound scary.

    Posted on August 15th, 2008 at 6:05 pm

  10. Helen Said,

    Ooh, how interesting, I didn’t know about the ‘tuna’! I am in the process of swopping my subscriptions over to google reader and so you will get a notice saying I have unsubscribed from your updates (maybe). Don’t be offended, I’m still reading.

    Posted on August 16th, 2008 at 4:29 am

  11. Olga Said,

    Too funny :) English is my second language too; when I moved to USA I used to say things like flat and lift instead of apartment and elevator

    Posted on August 16th, 2008 at 2:56 pm

  12. Jen of a2eatwrite Said,

    The inside almost looks like kiwi. What is the taste like?

    Posted on August 16th, 2008 at 8:23 pm

  13. pixen Said,

    Oh wow Ben! That’s one I have to taste…:-( Is the little dots on the fruit used to be thorns? Language wise… I can trick my friends about Prickly Tuna :-D especially my Japanese friends :-P Also, I never taste the nopales.. even though back in my country, we have something like a park where you can find all sort of tropical plants from various countries from cacti to fruits like durians, rambutans, bread fruit,etc. Now, we even planted commercially Pitaya aka Dragon fruits especially the red type which a local company made wine out of it and also sort of fruit enzyme with honey. I haven’t taste the Red Pitaya Wine though … :-)

    BTW is there any dried version of this fruit? I tasted dried kiwi before ..i love it!

    Posted on August 17th, 2008 at 2:20 pm

  14. Tom Aarons Said,

    I haven’t had these in ages, and they are so delicious. Thanks for reminding me!

    Posted on August 18th, 2008 at 6:49 am

  15. Mikky Said,

    wow… learned and saw something new… too bad wasn’t able to taste it… thanks for sharing :)

    Posted on August 22nd, 2008 at 9:59 am

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