Make Prickly Pear Syrup For Halloween Drinks & Cocktails

Prickly Pears are the fruit of a desert cactus. They're lightly sweet taste like watermelon & bubblegum.

Known as "tunas" the fruit is a small oval, about the size of a plum tomato. Look for fruit that's heavy for its size.

Use care when handling the fruit as it has tiny hairlike barbs called glochids which can irritate the skin. If you harvest tunas yourself, they're there. However, most grocers remove them

The flesh of prickly pears is a neon magenta pink. It's loaded with tough seeds, which are edible, but for the prickly pear syrup, we'll strain them out.

Use a spoon to scoop out the flesh of the prickly pear to make the syrup. Don't worry about the seeds, you'll strain them out later.

Use a potato masher to mash the fruit into a pulp. Add sugar and water and bring the mixture to a low simmer. Cook 15 minutes.

Remove the prickly pear syrup from the heat & let it cool for 15 minutes.

Strain out the seeds using a mesh strainer.

Strain with a fine mesh strainer to remove excess sediment and achieve a beautiful clarity for the prickly pear syrup.

We like to make a simple prickly pear soda by mixing the syrup & sparkling water.

It's lightly sweet, refreshing and delicious.

The color makes it perfect for Halloween and you can make lots of prickly pear drinks and cocktails with this easy prickly pear syrup.