A Treasure from the Desert: The Nopalea Superfruit

Do creaky knees and aching joints sound all too familiar? You’re not alone. Arthritis affects more than 6 million Canadians — more than diabetes, heart disease, cancer and stroke combined. One in five adults across the nation deals with joint pain or chronic inflammation, and the numbers are on the rise.1

If you’re looking for hope beyond surgery, neverending pain medication or giving in to a lifetime of pain, you may want to try Opuntia ficus-indica, more commonly known as the prickly pear or nopal cactus.

The Nopal Cactus in History & Culture

Today, the nopal cactus with its fruit is a national symbol of Mexico. It appears in the national coat of arms and on the country’s flag, where a proud Golden eagle stands perched on a flowering prickly pear cactus. Both the green nopal pads and its colorful fruit are edible, and numerous recipes can be found on the internet. The pads may be cooked or eaten raw, as long as one is careful to remove the spines and barbed glochids. The fruit also may be eaten raw, though it, too, has spines, and it is often used to make juice, jelly and jam.3

Resilience in the Harshest Conditions

Native to Mexico, the nopal cactus thrives in the arid and semiarid regions of the Sonoran Desert.2 Discovered centuries ago by the Aztecs, this ancient Mesoamerican culture used the nopal cactus for food and medicine, as well as in their rituals. After Columbus made his way to the New World, sailors began using nopal to treat scurvy, and the prickly pear cactus made its way back across the globe aboard European ships.3

To call this amazing plant hardy would be a considerable understatement. Not only does the nopal cactus thrive in extreme heat and drought conditions, it also survives freezing temperatures and soil lacking in nutrients.

Another name for this incredible flora is la planta de vida, or “life-giving plant,” as even its fallen leaves become new plants.4 It is prolific, able to produce fruit year round, and an old Mexican adage says, “Whoever has a nopal in his house, will never go hungry.”5

It’s no wonder that people living in extreme desert climates looked to the nopal for sustenance.