Prickly pear benefits

If you’ve never heard of Prickly pear, you’re in for a treat.  This amazing fruit is delicious and the Prickly pear benefits are amazing!  Learn about the benefits of this odd fruit here.

Have you heard of?

The prickly pear has many names.  You may have heard of some of them but not sure exactly what it is.  Here are just a few of the names this prickly fruit has been called:

• Prickly pear
• Cactus pear
• Cactus fruit
• Nopal
• Opuntia

Where does the prickly pear come from?

This may or may not surprise you, but this oval shaped fruit is the fruit of a cactus.  I don’t even remember when I first discovered this fruit – I think it was at our West Side Market…

But, after I tried it, it became one of my most favorite fruits.  It’s sweet and I don’t even mind the seeds, which are too hard to bite into.  I know I’m not painting a good picture here but you do have to try this fruit – just to get the prickly pear benefits!

This is what it looks like on the actual cactus:

Prickly pear benefits

This superfood has been getting attention lately because of the benefits to people suffering a hangover.  I can’t attest to it but if you have recently had a night of drinking (which I don’t recommend 🙂 ), you may want to give this fruit a try.  Other benefits:

• Help for high cholesterol
• Anti-viral
• Anti-inflammatory
• High fiber
• Contains antioxidants
• High carotenoids