4 prickly pears, prickles removed
3 tablespoons simple syrup
1 tablespoon tequila
1 tablespoon key lime juice
Directions:
Cut each prickly pear in half length-wise, scoop out the insides. Discard the skin. Place the pulp in a blender and pulse until smooth. Pour through a sieve to remove the seeds then return to the blender. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse for 10 seconds. Pour into an electric ice cream maker and churn about 25 minutes or until frozen. Serve immediately or freeze in a freezer safe container.
Yield: about 2 modest servings
My thoughts:
I had never had prickly pear before but I don’t know why not, they taste sort of like a tart watermelon and are a vibrant magenta. I wasn’t sure what to make, but in this heat only making something cool makes sense. The resulting sorbet is really creamy, slightly tart and a breeze to make. The only tricky thing about prickly pears are the seeds, they are really had and spread throughout the flesh, so pureeing and then straining is really the only way to go but luckily the seeds are so hard, they don’t crack or chip even when in contact with a powerful blender blade so the task isn’t too arduous.
Ooh, it’s like a prickly pear margarita! Yum!
I’ve had a prickly pear margarita before, having no idea what a prickly pear would even look like should it cross my path! The color is so pretty. Did it stain everything like beets do?
Wow, sounds quite unusual. In the Middle East (where prickly pears are common and considered a summer time treat), they have prickly pear ice cream. I never thought about it in Baltimore (where I grew up). They are a major pain though, I usually get the vendors to prep them for me.
I have tried prickly pear jelly before and it was pretty good, but I bet this will be 10 times better, especially since it’s so hot where i’m at!
ive always wondered about this fruit! what a creative thing to do!
I’ve never tried anything with prickly pear before, and now I want desperately to try both this sorbet AND the margarita everyone’s talking about.
I love prickly pear! I made a great cupcakeout of it once!
They’re out of season here in California, so this just makes me years for them even more!