By Julie Etra
For starters, let’s be clear: all cacti flower and produce fruit if their flowers are pollinated. But that doesn’t mean all cactus fruits are edible — or tasty by human standards. And there are a lot of cactus species (family Cactaceae) in Mexico and the southwestern United States.
Tuna
The most common edible cactus fruit comes from the nopal cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica), known in Mexico as “tuna” — no relation to the fish (atún). In English, they’re called prickly pear cactus, and yes, they are spiny. The nopal is the most widely distributed and economically important cactus in Mexico and appears symbolically on the Mexican flag: a golden eagle perched on a nopal pad (penca). Its tender shoots and fruits are eaten throughout the country.
It’s also a common genus in the southwestern U.S., including the Mojave and Sonoran deserts and the Great Basin. There are numerous varieties of nopal; one source suggests 220 species of Opuntia, with 60–90 in Mexico. In Plantas Mexicanas: Catálogo de nombres vulgares y científicos (Martínez, M. 1979. Fondo de Cultura Económica), I counted 31 species of Opuntia. I didn’t research how many, beyond O. ficus-indica, are widely consumed in Mexico.
The red and white prickly pear fruits are the most popular, with white tuna being the most recognized nationwide. They grow throughout much of central and northern Mexico, flowering and fruiting from April to October. Both red and white varieties are loaded with seeds — making prickly pear jam a true labor of love (I’ve done it exactly once!). Look for delicious tuna nieves (ices) and aguas (fruit drinks) at the Mercado Orgánico de Huatulco and elsewhere. Prickly pear candy is another product, and in Arizona, you can even find a lollipop shaped like a prickly pear.
By the way, nopal pencas have been a staple of the Mexican diet for centuries. The plant has been bred so that cultivated varieties have fewer spines; farms around Huatulco commonly grow these. Walk by Los Parados along Carrizal in the morning, or elsewhere in La Crucecita, and you’ll see people peeling and slicing the pads for salsas and tacos. They’re highly nutritious.
Xoconostle
Another edible cactus fruit is the xoconostle (Opuntia joconostle), whose name comes from Náhuatl: “xococ” means sour or bitter, and “nochtli” is the word for the fruit (tuna). True to its name, it’s distinctly bitter and commonly used in stews, sauces, and moles. The taxonomy can get confusing, as I discovered in Plantas Mexicanas.
Pitaya
This fruit is known in English as dragon fruit, and in Mexico as pitaya, pitayas, or pitahayas. The word derives from an Antillean (Caribbean) language meaning “scaly.” The plant itself is a large, candelabra-like, drooping cactus with thick, fleshy branches.
Pitaya refers to the fruit rather than the specific plant; there are 23 entries for pitaya in Plantas Mexicanas. The main species are Selenicereus undatus and Stenocereus queretaroensis (the genus was formerly Hylocereus). Unlike nopal, this cactus is spineless. It’s native to southern Mexico, Guatemala’s Pacific coast, Costa Rica, and El Salvador.
The flesh is rich in vitamin C, iron, calcium, phosphorus, and fructose. Pitaya is versatile — used in smoothies, juices, and jams.
Biznaga
Biznaga is the common name for barrel cacti, and there are 26 references to it in Plantas Mexicanas. These squat, round, barrel-shaped cacti get their name from the Náhuatl “huitznáhuac” (surrounded by spines), which became “biznaga” when adopted into Spanish (and yes, the Spanish struggled with Náhuatl pronunciation — as do I).
There’s more than one genus of biznaga, and the edible species is most likely Ferocactus wislizenii (fishhook cactus), which produces small pineapple-like fruits called guamiche — known as the “drunken” fruit because they can ferment naturally as they ripen. Native to northern Mexico and the southwestern U.S., they’re quite distinctive.
Another notable barrel cactus is Echinocactus platyacanthus, known as the giant barrel cactus, golden barrel cactus, giant viznaga, or biznaga de dulce. Its Náhuatl name is huitzli nahual. Native to central Mexico and the Chihuahuan desert, its spongy pith is boiled and crystallized to make acitrón, a traditional Mexican candy.
However, due to overexploitation, biznagas are now endangered, and it’s illegal to harvest them — plus, their preparation is complicated. Like most cacti, they grow extremely slowly: young plants can grow about an inch per year, but growth slows with age.
The red biznaga (Ferocactus histrix), also called acitrón barrel cactus (biznaga barril de acitrón), yields a delicacy called cabuches (aka chilitos) — tender buds of the fruit, collected at precisely the right moment. These buds, found in the highlands of San Luis Potosí and near Matehuala, look like colorful asparagus tips and taste a bit like tiny artichokes. Needless to say, they’re hard to collect thanks to the long protective spines.
A third, less common barrel cactus genus is Melocactus, known as the Turk’s cap cactus. Its tiny fruits aren’t significant in the Mexican diet or culture, but they resemble chiltepin peppers — the wild chiles found throughout Mexico — though they aren’t spicy.
Garambullo
There are nine references to garambullo in Plantas Mexicanas. The garambullo cactus most associated with edible fruits is likely Myrtillocactus schenckii, native to Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Puebla, or M. geometrizans. The small, sweet red or purple fruits can be juiced for aguas, jams, and nieves. While it makes an effective dye, processing it in quantity is tedious.
Zapotitlán Salinas, a pueblo in Puebla, is renowned for its alcoholic beverage made from macerated M. geometrizans fruits. Small quantities of the fruit are found in local markets in Mexico’s arid regions, where they’re said to taste like blueberries.
Whether enjoyed fresh, candied, juiced, or preserved, cactus fruits are deeply woven into Mexico’s culinary and cultural landscape. Their diversity reflects the country’s rich biodiversity and traditions — a reminder that even the most unassuming plants hold surprising flavors, stories, and significance.