Alex the Forager

a long horned bee from yesterday...

It’s cactus season here in my neck of the woods. I’ve been foraging the youngest paddles for a month or two now, with my biggest harvest on Johnmas/Midsummer Night when I discovered a new (and large) patch in the woods.

The prickly pear I worked with for this project was one of my nine healing plants gathered according to Czech custom on St. John’s Eve when the plant’s benefits are at their peak. According to tradition “In order for the herbs to retain their magical power, they must always consist of nine species (regional Czech custom).”

This was a two day process. To start I cut off the bottom end of each paddle and sliced around the edge. Then I scraped off the spines and rinsed them well to make sure all the stabby bits were gone. I then “butterflied” each paddle and cut it into approximately one inch pieces.

I placed each piece with the internal side down in a dish, and covered with a shallow layer of distilled water and then placed it in the fridge overnight.

Today it was oozing thick, snotty, sticky gel.

I scraped the gel and the cactus solids into my food processor, blended it into a liquid, and then strained out any remaining solids.

To preserve the gel I used a recipe I found for aloe vera gel (I lost the page or I would link to it):

“To preserve aloe vera gel without refrigeration you can use gelatin- you can mix one cup of aloe vera gel with one and one fourth cups of distilled water and three and one fourth teaspoons of gelatin. boil the water, mix in the gelatin, and let it cool before adding the aloe vera gel. This mixture can last for six to eight months without refrigeration.”

This is an experiment for sure, with me making the assumption that the two succulent gels are similar enough that it will work. 🤞

From top to bottom left to right: winged sumac, blackberry leaf, pepperweed, yellow wood sorrel, sheep sorrel, mimosa blossom, and bottom two are shiso (and I still have 4 jars of shiso on top of that!).

I’ll be putting it all in zip lock baggies in the drawers in a few weeks, but I’m giving it some more air for now.