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Wild Blessings
Wild Blessings

Wild Blessings

A learning resource that can help you get outside and connect with nature.

  • Home
  • About
  • Classes
  • Blogs
  • Jesus
    • God’s Love For You
    • Wild Blessings Advent
      • WB Advent – Day 1
      • WB Advent – Day 2
      • WB Advent – Day 3
      • WB Advent – Day 4
      • WB Advent – Day 5
    • The Most Important Message You Will Ever Hear
    • My Foraging Prayer
    • Meditating on Scripture
    • Holding Up a Light
    • The Hands of the Carpenter
    • The Star Of Bethlehem
  • Contact

Prickly Pear Jam or Syrup or Jelly…

The red fruits in the center of the counter are Prickly Pear 'Tunas'

The deep scarlet maroon fruits of the Prickly Pear (called Tunas) are magically full of flavanoids and anti oxidants.  It is considered a super food or rather fruit.  You can read about their nutritional value here:

Collecting and preparing these red wonders is a real piece of work, and though I’ve done it before and was determined this time to come away unscathed I still ended up being skewered with many tiny hairs called, glochids.  So small they are hard to even see and very hard to remove.  The only thing I have heard works is painting clear nail polish over the porcupined skin and allowing it to dry completely then peal off and the hairs will peal with the polish.

Here is a video on how to collect and deskin them.  I put them into a blender (seeds and all) and pureed the whole red mess into juice.  Then strained the juice.  I put the seeds back in a pod and simmered them to release more of that yummy juice then strained again.

Blending the fruits to extract their juice
Working the juice through the sieve while keeping the seeds out
Prickly Pear Syrup

 

 

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About Wild Blessings

Welcome to my website. My name is Holly Drake and I love to study, teach, and talk about wild foods. I live in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina with my husband Jason and my dog Max where I explore the beauty of God’s creation to learn as much as I can about wild foods that are available to us for free.

Latest Blogs

Befriending Plants: Magnificent Mullein

September 16, 2024

Mullein offerings I am a connector!  Introducing others to our Creator’s world of plant wonders is my passion. The common Mullein is anything but mundane,

The Honorable Harvest

September 15, 2024

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Just as an expectant mother prepares for her soon to be born child, God prepared

Witches Shoelaces, Devils Guts…. A Scarey Plant

July 30, 2024

The below monologue is not about an edible plant, though it does resemble spaghetti, it isn’t even about a plant that I like.  I have

Curses and Blessings…BURdock

May 21, 2024

A study of Arctium lappa….common Burdock   “I passed by the field of the sluggard and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense, and

Archive

Befriending Plants: Magnificent Mullein

September 16, 2024

The Honorable Harvest

September 15, 2024

Witches Shoelaces, Devils Guts…. A Scarey Plant

July 30, 2024

Curses and Blessings…BURdock

May 21, 2024

Befriending Hawthorns

October 24, 2023

Befriending Chestnuts

October 14, 2023

Template Blog – Email

October 3, 2023

Befriending Acorns

October 3, 2023

Chickweed Recipes

April 24, 2023

Befriending Knotweed

April 14, 2023

Hiking Habit

January 26, 2023

2022 Year in Review

January 4, 2023

Support Wild Blessings

PATREON – Support me on Patreon.com. Go to the site and search for Wild Blessings and sign up for any amount to be a regular contributor.

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A learning resource that can help you get outside and connect with nature.
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