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Wild Blessings
Wild Blessings

Wild Blessings

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

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    • The Most Important Message You Will Ever Hear
    • My Foraging Prayer
    • Meditating on Scripture
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    • The Hands of the Carpenter
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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

Chickweed Recipes

April 24, 2023

Befriending Knotweed

April 14, 2023

Hiking Habit

January 26, 2023

2022 Year in Review

January 4, 2023

Archive

Chickweed Recipes

April 24, 2023

Befriending Knotweed

April 14, 2023

Hiking Habit

January 26, 2023

2022 Year in Review

January 4, 2023

An Eye for Wild Blessings in 2023

January 3, 2023

Wild Preparedness – Water

December 3, 2022

Befriending Jerusalem Artichokes

December 3, 2022

Sharing the Magic

June 2, 2022

Asian Cuisine Forage to Feast

July 27, 2021

Asian Forage to Feast – Saturday

July 21, 2021

Wild Fiesta Forage to Feast

July 11, 2021

The Wildly Preserved

March 11, 2021

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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