As I was driving out of the Fort Jackson recycling center, I noticed a large prickly pear cactus loaded with ripe fruit. It beckoned to me enticingly. No one else was around, except a lady further back still unloading her recyclables. I couldn't resist the purple beauties.
I donned my cloth work-gloves, thinking those would protect me from the cactus barbs. Boy, was I wrong. The fruits had tiny little hairy stingers that went straight thru the gloves into my fingers. Fruitlessly, I tried to pull the stingers out with my fingernails. That only caused the ends of the stingers to break off, leaving the barbs still under my skin. I ended up with one in my thumb, one in my forefinger, and one in my middle finger. I realized I'd have to wait til I got home to deal with them.
Not willing to give up my quest for the juicy ripe purple goodies, I warily took a thick plastic bag to protect my hand, and twisted 2 fruits off. I placed them in a box in the trunk of my car.
By the time I got home, 2 of the stingers seemed to have come out on their own. I took a needle to the remaining one... I seem to have got it out, but I'm not sure.
Then I looked up how to deal with those suckers... Wear a thick rubber glove, and hold the fruit under running water while using an old toothbrush to brush off all the hairy barbs. Then cut off the ends and peel. Then eat.
Such a pretty pink color, the juicy juice. So lovely. So beautiful. The fruit itself had a lot of small seeds.... opinions differed on whether the seeds could be eaten or not, based on what I had read on the internet, so I decided it'd be safer not to swallow them.
Now that I know how to handle them, I think that next time I'd rather make juice from the prickly pears.
I foolishly put the gloves back on later, and ended up with more stingers in my hands. Luckily, those came out fairly easily using tweezers. I threw the gloves away.
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