Eat cactus? For people living in Mexico and the Southwest, the answer is a resounding yes. Nopal, also known as the prickly pear cactus, grows plentifully there and its health benefits and versatility ...

While many see versatile maiz as the foremost plant in Mexican cookery, cactus occupies a more symbolic role for many Mexicans. You can literally see this by examining the Mexican flag, which depicts ...

Have you ever noticed a stack of fresh cactus paddles at your local market, but were unsure how to use them — or at least how to keep from getting stuck? The paddles of the prickly pear cactus are ...

Cactuses aren’t just part of the scenery in South Texas. For centuries, the fruit and paddles from the prickly pear cactus have fueled the people who live there, and they’re still easy to find on the ...

My fondness for nopales - the paddlelike leaves of the prickly pear cactus - began early on. I spent a lot of time at my family's historic home at Rancho Los Tularcitos in Milpitas, where a cactus ...

If you are not familiar with cactus, you might be surprised by a few things: They can have as pretty a flower as a perennial plant. They often fare better when neglected rather than over watered. And ...

Down the canyon road from our house in Southern California, I pass the only remaining vestige of an old rancho -- an ancient cactus fence. I admire it and note that the tender buds and thin paddles ...

There is a big old prickly pear cactus in my garden that is a fantastic fruit producer. It features few spines and glochids on the paddle-shaped stems so it's easy to harvest. These fruits are the ...

They call me a whitewashed Mexican. I’m a third­-generation Latina, and more traditional Mexican- Americans call me whitewashed because, according to them, I act more white than I act Mexican. But ...

My fondness for nopales - the paddlelike leaves of the prickly pear cactus - began early on. I spent a lot of time at my family's historic home at Rancho Los Tularcitos in Milpitas, where a cactus ...