Ahhh perfection! My greatest weakness. It gets me into so much trouble. But I had an aha moment today in my quest for prickly pear jelly. A quest that I started over a week ago and I dreamed about for over a month. If you've never had cactus jelly, you are missing out! It's kind of like grape jelly, but has it's own distinct flavor. It's a lovely purple color; my favorite. And if the jelly fails, which it is prone to do, you have the most divine pancake syrup you've ever tasted. Kind of like the blueberry and raspberry syrups.
Anyway, I knew I was behind schedule just picking the fruit which is an adventure in itself. By the time I got into the desert last week, I found mostly barren cactus plants. This picture is of the one lone fruit that I found on this and many other cacti. I was literally praying, 'cause I had a business deadline to attend to. "Please help me find just a few with lots of fruit." With only ten minutes to spare before I headed out of the desert, I found three lovely cactus with lots of fruit and filled my bucket. Oh, please do not attempt to pick the fruit without gloves and tongs or you WILL have lots of fine prickles in your hands, not to mention plenty of pokes from the spines. I learned the hard way, that leather slip-on pumps are not appropriate footwear. Two days later, I was having a broken off spine removed from my foot at the Dr's office; an injury inflicted by an angry cactus intent on making me pay for stealing it's fruit. That's what I call a low blow.
I was able to get the fruit boiled and turned into two gallons of the most lovely juice. Then I was derailed by life again for five days before I got back to it. I couldn't find a good recipe but just went for it. The first batch was a failure as far as jelly goes. It is obviously syrup, but I have high hopes for the second batch which appears to be jelling only slightly. The last triple batch? I know, you shouldn't triple. I think it's all syrup too. Darn. But, I have a gallon more juice in the freezer, because I know it will be at least five more days before I get back to it.
Oh yeah. The AHA moment. Life is a lot like making prickly pear jelly. You really have to want to be successful first of all because you have to go out in the desert to find it. You may get injured in the process and it might be painful, especially if you are not properly equipped. There may be delays, but when you eventually get around to it--the reward. About the reward...you follow the instructions, and they may actually vary slightly, but it does not always turn out as planned. No one told you that the wind had to be blowing just right, the angle of the sun mattered, and you have to hold your breath just so. But how can you be disappointed that you don't get jelly, when the syrup is so tasty? Try, try again. I'm not going to correlate all the obvious. Just my random thoughts about prickly pear. :-) I think I'll get Brother Green's recipe.
