Prickly pear vs cotton yarn pear

So many different types of pears and neither of the ones featured in this post are actual, real live pears!

I've recently conducted a comparison of the prickly pear which is the fruit of an edible cactus and the little cotton pear that I recently crocheted. So far the prickly pear wins for tastiness and the little crocheted pear wins for cuteness :)

So, obviously I am not actually comparing these "pears" but it sure was cute to set them next to each other for a photo. This was, in fact, my very first experience with buying, prepping and eating prickly pears. 

When I saw them at my favorite grocery store, I just knew I had to try them. I love buying new, to me, fruit and this was about as unusual as I've ever had.

Turns out they are just the loveliest color ever(my favorite color) and they taste a little bit like pomegranate, because of the earthy, seedy taste. Basically, I blended the flesh of the fruit and then strained it to mix with sugar and water for a light syrup. This syrup went into margaritas and bubbly water. I only used this to make a few delicious beverages because the other things people tend to make with prickly pear(jelly, candy) require many more prickly pears than I had purchased. 

Maybe prickly pear jelly can be a "someday project" which I will make if I ever have more prickly pear fruits than I know what to do with, until then, I think it's fun to enjoy their contribution to making fun and unusual beverages.