Harvest guide
When to harvest engelmann's prickly pear
How to harvest engelmann's prickly pear
Hold the stem with one hand and pick with the other, or snip with scissors. Pulling one-handed tears the brittle stems and can uproot the whole plant.
Storing your harvest
Best eaten within a couple of days — sugars turn starchy fast. For longer keeping, blanch briefly and freeze on the day of picking.
The mistake to avoid
Letting pods fatten up on the plant. A few mature pods tell engelmann's prickly pear to stop flowering, and the crop ends early.
More engelmann's prickly pear care
Harvesting engelmann's prickly pear — FAQ
When is engelmann's prickly pear ready to harvest?
Pick young and tender, while the pod snaps cleanly rather than bending. Engelmann's Prickly Pear produces more the more you pick. Once the plant sets mature seed it reads that as its job done and slows or stops, so harvesting young and often is the whole trick — a plant picked every couple of days can crop for weeks longer than one left to fill out.
How do you harvest engelmann's prickly pear?
Hold the stem with one hand and pick with the other, or snip with scissors. Pulling one-handed tears the brittle stems and can uproot the whole plant.
How do you store engelmann's prickly pear after harvesting?
Best eaten within a couple of days — sugars turn starchy fast. For longer keeping, blanch briefly and freeze on the day of picking.
What is the most common engelmann's prickly pear harvesting mistake?
Letting pods fatten up on the plant. A few mature pods tell engelmann's prickly pear to stop flowering, and the crop ends early.