Making prickly pear jelly

If you have been out into the brush lately or just driven down the highway, you will have noticed that we are having a good crop of prickly pear this season. We owe that to the wonderful rain we had prior to the bloom and during fruit development and ripening. In the August 2002 issue of LareDOS I shared my prickly pear jelly recipe, so I thought it would be a good idea to re-print it during this year's abundant pear season. The fruit is quite tasty and is high in protective anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, which are good for eyesight, capillaries, and the prostate gland as well.
Making any kind of jelly is an involved process to begin with, and making prickly pear jelly is just a little more work. But don't let that discourage you. You will end up with a delicious and healthy jelly when you are all done. If you have never made any type of jelly before, I recommend that you either read up on it and become familiar with the process, or get together with someone who has experience making jelly. Jelly-making is part science and part art. I will be interested in hearing from anyone that makes the jelly. It's always better to make prickly-pear jelly with a friend, so you can share the jelly, the work, and the experience. Plus, if you mess it up, you can blame the other person. Have fun!

South Texas Prickly Pear Jelly
Yield: 1 quart prickly pears will make about 5 cups of jelly
Harvest about one quart of prickly pears (tunas) to make 2&1/2 cups of juice. It is best to harvest the pears in the cool of the day, before noon. Use tongs or protective gloves when harvesting the fruit to avoid the cactus spines. Include some under-ripe fruit to add pectin for the jelly process. Clean the pears with a stiff brush to remove the spines; rinse, slice length-wise, and put into a large pot. Don't worry about the thousands of little spines called glochids that you didn't remove. They will be filtered out later. Add just enough water to cover the fruit. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer until fruits are tender and soft. This is necessary to extract all of the flavor and pectin.
Press the cooked fruit through a strainer or colander, and then strain juice through a double layer of cheesecloth or filter paper. Allow juice to settle overnight to make a clear jelly. For each 2&1/2 cups of juice, add one package of powdered pectin. Bring to a fast boil, stirring constantly. Then add 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, and 3&1/2 cups of sugar. Bring to a hard boil for three minutes or until gel stage is achieved. To check for gel stage, periodically place a little bit of the juice into a large metal spoon and allow it to cool slightly. Then slowly pour the juice back into the pot and see if it pours off in sheets, and not in drops. As soon as the juice is sheeting, it is ready to put into jars. Be sure to achieve good sheeting or the jelly may not set properly. If this happens, you can re-cook the juice to thicken it further. Remove the pot from the stove, and pour the juice into sterilized jelly jars or glasses. Apply seals or a layer of melted paraffin wax to jars.
Allow to cool and set at least 24 hours. If the jelly fails to firm up, you can either re-cook it or enjoy it as a prickly pear syrup. The final product makes a nice gift, especially for friends and relatives that don't live in cactus country.