Accidentally saw someone on the Internet eating cacti, eating old and fragrant...
Cacti are generally treated as ornamental plants in our lives, but in foreign supermarkets, cacti are sold as ingredients on vegetable shelves like cabbage. Mexicans, in particular, cannot give up on it...
In the past, when I thought of Mexico, I first thought of agave, and I inadvertently knew that the founding myth of Mexico was related to cacti, and they had cacti around their national emblem, which was a country inseparable from cacti.
Due to geography, Mexico's rainfall and moisture content in the soil are not high, and this climate is obviously not conducive to vegetable cultivation, but it is very suitable for drought-tolerant cacti growth.
The tuan fan cactus originates from the Mexican plateau and its history dates back 10,000 years. In the pre-Columbian era, the indigenous peoples had learned to make good use of tuan fan cacti as ingredients and medicinal herbs.
As a must-have "cabbage" for every household, every spring and summer, Mexicans begin to reclaim land to grow cacti. Although cacti can grow casually, they prefer alkaline soil and want it to grow faster and stronger, but it will grow much better in fertile places.
The owner places the cacti diagonally one by one in a loose soil ditch, and the workers apply fertilizer evenly to the roots of the cactus and cover it with a layer of soil, so that it can be done.
The cactus is drought-tolerant and does not need to be watered for the next month, and it is only watered 2-4 times a month in the future. After a year, the cactus grows to a meter tall, and if it is eaten as a vegetable, it is ready to be picked.
The owner plucks the newly grown cactus and puts them in baskets to be shipped to the local market for sale. At this stage, the cactus thorns have not yet grown hard, and the thorns are peeled off, and the outer skin looks as tender as bitter melon, and can be eaten raw.
In the wet market, cacti are wholesaled to various hawkers, sold in different channels and ways. A little processing of the crust can be used as an ingredient.
Not a dark dish, the cactus taste is really fragrant!
Therefore, Mexicans choose to use cacti instead of regular vegetables. From external skin care products, nutritional products to people's daily dishes... In Mexico, its shadow can be found almost everywhere you go.
Cactus soup, cactus salad, cactus burritos, cactus lasagna, cactus sandwiches, and finally cactus jelly and cactus cheese. It's a country that can't wait to change even the staple food to cactus, ha ~
After the cactus grows until the third year, the first flower blooms, and after the flowers are pollinated by bees, the pods will slowly grow and become prickly "small bumps". After a while, the fruit ripens and the cactus fruit begins to harvest.
But picking fruit at this time is much more dangerous than collecting cactus slices, so the cactus here has grown tall and covered with hard thorns. Workers wore rubber gloves and hoods to pick, but despite this, they could not avoid occasional stab wounds.
Cactus fruit is either red, yellow, or yellow-green, and is one of the most precious fruits in Mexico's arid highlands. The taste is somewhat similar to that of dragon fruit, sweet and sour, but the taste is more intense than dragon fruit. However, only good-looking fruits can be sold as fresh fruits, and those with bad quality will be processed with gough jam or cider.
Due to the limitations of the natural environment, there are very few vegetables that can be grown in Mexico, and growing cacti can be described as worry-free and labor-saving, as for the taste, it has the taste of cucumbers, but there is also a mucus like okra. Although I haven't tasted it, I think the taste should still be under a lot of vegetables.
However, limited to the local suitable vegetables in Mexico, there are not many vegetables, cacti are easy to grow and the taste is not bad, and few people plant them on the mainland, after all, there are too many substitutes. But in Mexico, that's all there is to it.
PS: However, not all cacti can be used as a daily ingredient or medicinal herb, and some cacti contain a lot of alkaloids, which are harmful to the human body. Inedible varieties, such as those commonly known as peyote, have been classified as poison by the Mexican government.
Today's sharing of "ornamental plants in our eyes, in foreign countries is a must-have "cabbage" for every household" to come here. this paper. The image comes from the network, if there is infringement, please contact to delete, thank you.