Prickly Pear Shrub (Skin, Seeds, & Pulp)
When the season for Prickly Pear arrives, get ready to use it as a replacement for passionfruit in cocktails! This is a fruit that tastes just ok on its own, but when juiced or made into jams and syrups tastes truly amazing! Today we are going to make a shrub without wasting any part of the fruit.
Prickly pears are from the cactus family and are ready to be eaten in late summer. An unripe prickly pear is green but then transitions into a yellow/orange color until it finally fully ripens into a shade of ruby.
The pear becomes very sweet and loses some of its tartness once it has that dark red color.
For this recipe, I’m using an orange-colored prickly pear which once transformed into a shrub, may remind you a bit of a Passion Fruit Pulp/Cordial and can be a great swap for it especially for anyone who can’t get seasonal/local passion fruit around.
Ingredients
- 1 Prickly Pear
- 1/3 cup of Sugar
- 50ml Apple Cider Vinegar
- Blender
- Fine Mesh Strainer/Cheesecloth
Part I:
Prepping the Pear
The first step is to remove all the mini thorns that are on the surface of the prickly pear. There’s actually a very simple and easy way to do this, which is to burn them off!
While holding your prickly pear with a pair of metal tongs or pierced to a fork, use your stove to burn just the outside of the skin. This process takes less than a minute and if done correctly, won’t cook your fruit.
Fortunately, the outer skin protects the inside very well, so you will be able to avoid cooking it.
Just make sure to do this all around the surface.
Once the skin is smooth and free from thorns, it’s time to chop it up.
Slice your Prickly Pear in half and continue to chop into cubes.
Part II:
Oleo Saccarum
Place everything in a jar and pour 1/3 of a Cup of Sugar for each sliced Prickly Pear.
Shake your jar up vigorously to make sure the sugar coats all of your prickly pear, then let sit for at least 6 hours.
You’ll notice a liquid starting to form. That is your prickly pear syrup! If you would like to use just that part, separate it using a fine-mesh strainer and use it in your cocktails.
However, if you want to make a shrub, proceed with the next step.
Part III:
Turn into Shrub
Now that you have your prickly pears in an orange-colored syrup, put everything in a blender.
Combine 50ml of Apple Cider Vinegar for every prickly pear Saccharum and Blitz it all up using your blender.
Once everything is finely blended up, you can proceed by straining it in a fine-mesh strainer, or better yet, using some cheesecloth.
You’ll end up with a sweet & sour bright orange shrub that tastes delicious with a full glass of soda water, or even better in some cocktails and mocktails!
Try it in a Pornstar Martini by swapping out the Passion Fruit Pulp, or better yet, try the recipe I have for you down below!
Featured Cocktail:
Prickly Pear Fizz
- 60ml Vodka
- 60ml Prickly Pear Shrub
- 15ml Lemon Juice (optional for more acidity)
- 20ml Aquafaba
Dry Shake, then Wet Shake
- Top off with Prosecco
- Use a HAY! Straw!
Details:
Sweet, Sour, Tart, and Refreshing! This cocktail is delicious as well as elegant!
If you are ready to ditch the plastic straws and go more sustainable, visit https://www.haystraws.com/ to get some biodegradable, durable and gluten free straws yourself!
I’m using the Stir Stick straw in this photo which is way more durable than it looks! Highly recommended!
