Lots n lots of Prickly Pears

When we moved here there was a huge...and I mean huge, prickly pear cactus out the back which to me was...and always has been an absolute eye sore.  Not being the gardening type though, unlike my sister who loves to spend time in her garden, I don't ever have much say about what goes, what stays and what gets brought in and planted.  Not that I mind, mind you because although I love a pretty garden and can admire all the beauty around me, I just can't get down and dirty so to speak.  I blame my parents for my mindset about gardening, for if I had been given a nicer job in the garden when I was younger, other than weeding the rockery, then today I may be more interested...big tongue in cheek here and lots of lol's.........

In our front garden in KZN, we have an absolute monstrosity of a wild banana plant, just at the top of the steps which is taller than the house....and as much as I hate it with a passion, Johan loves it to bits.  I always joke that if he dies before me, I will have it dug out before he is buried....hehe.  Anyway the prickly pear is for me in the same category and the thing is we hardly ever eat the fruit!!!!!  It's just too finicky for my liking, firstly because you have to be careful how you pick the fruit to make sure you don't get any of the thorns in your fingers, and then you have to burn the thorns off before you can peel and eat it.  Then don't let me get started on how you have to find space in the fridge to make the fruit cold before you actually eat them, because if not then you can expect the runs in a big way (and I have first hand experience with that let me tell you).... The birds have a go at it long before we do, and in the past, before we erected fencing around the house, the sheep and August would munch in delight at the fruit.

Two days ago we were doing 'whatever', each of us minding our own business, when the dogs rushed outside and started barking frantically.  They were each of them looking to the corner and we none of us could immediately see what it was upsetting them.  There wasn't a strange cat in a tree, or the cattle next door, nor a bird flapping around - then suddenly NiQi realized that the prickly pear had broken and fallen over...  My word what a thing, when we went to investigate properly.  The cactus isn't rotten to have made it break, but the sheer weight of all the fruit on it made it top heavy and it collapsed under the strain.

Now I feel really guilty that there is all this fruit lying going to waste, so yesterday I searched for a recipe on Google for prickly pear jam or jelly.  Now I have one, I better go outside and pick up all the fruit and turn it into something palatable.....