tuna by any other name

Yes, this is a prickly pear cactus. The fruit is also known as tuna and the pads as nopalitos.

A neighbour's garden has an impenetrable hedge of prickly pear cactus which every year flowers with pretty little blossoms that fatten up into plump bigger fruit. Every year a small, elderly Italian fellow arrives on a big, black framed bike. Clad in oil skin coat (regardless of the temperature) and leather gloves and with long barbecue tongs he plucks the fruit layering them oh so gently in a cardboard box strapped on his bike.

I know that harvest time is just around the corner as the 'pears' are red and the spines are looking ferocious and pointy . Even tweezering the wee spines can be a hazardous affair as bits usually remain in unsuspecting flesh but apparently they are well worth the effort.
Perfect is jams and jellies, ice creams and sorbets, mojitos and margueritas..and while you are in the patch, slice off a pad or two, slice again, grill and toss in a salad!

It has been a VERY prickly day with a cloudless sky and 39C. At 8.30 it is still high 20s.
No 'tuna' sorbet in the fridge as yet..what a shame!