watso was flicking through the channels last week sometime - and there was a story about the part of the prickly pear which was edible ... maybe it was the flower.
All prickly pear varieties are edible, saguaro cactus fruit is edible (though not easy to come by), organ pipe cactus and barrel cactus fruit is edible, as is dragon fruit, which grows on a cactus. There are several other types of cactus which are eaten throughout the world, but these are some of the most common.
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Prickly pear cactus has been a staple of the Mexican and Central American diet for thousands of years. In parts of the U.S. it has been gaining popularity as an exotic, gourmet and healthy addition to one's diet. The prickly pear plant has three different edible sections: the pad of the cactus (nopal), which can be treated like a vegetable, the petals of the flowers, which can be added to salads, and the pear (tuna), which can be treated like a fruit.
the aloe vera plant was also mentioned - as being edible .
