Can you eat a cactus

Yes, many of the fruits can be

eaten fresh. For example, the yellow fruit of the prickly pear

[Opuntia spp] has the sweetest flavor of the cactus fruit's color

range. It's eaten fresh. Additionally, other body parts also can be

eaten. For example, the prickly pear cactus' jointed pads may be

peeled and boiled, to make Mexico's popular nopalitos. In the way

of another example, the flesh of the candy barrel cactus

[Ferocactus wislizeni] may be made up into sugary candies.

But whatever the cactus or the

cactus body part, it's important to remove the plant's modified

leaves. The modified leaves take the shape of thorns, spines,

spikes, quills, prongs, needles, hairs, or bristles. Even the

smallest, shortest, or finest of these modified leaves and modified

leaf parts can be irritating if not downright painful to bite into,

chew, and swallow.