Hey Shotgun. never tried the juice except to seal a parfleche. If you are an NCOWs member, I just put an article in the last Shootist on making a parfleche, you can read it the old fashion way in the Historical Society Page here at Cas City. The juice of the prickly pear was used to seal the parfleches. Here is a salsa that can be made from them as well.
Nopales Salsa:
1 pineapple, cleaned, quartered, grilled, chopped
~1 lbs Nopales, cleaned, quartered, grilled, chopped
2 fresh ears of corn, grilled, removed from cobb
1 red onion, chopped
6 really plum tomatoes, quickly grilled to remove skin, and seeded.
2 pablano peppers grilled, peeled and seeded
1 jalapeno, chopped and seeded
3 limes
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Carefully clean the spines from the cactus. Then using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler, remove the nubs that held the spines and trim the edges. Rub the cactus with a little vegetable and season with salt and pepper. Do the same to the pineapple slices and the corn.
On a hot grill, grill the cactus for about 15 minutes, turning after 8 minutes. Cactus should be bronwned and reduced in size. Cook the corn and the pinapple until both have some nice brown grilling on them.
While grilling, throw the poblanos and tomatoes on the grill. For the tomatoes, char the skin and pull them off the grill. For the pablano peppers, char the skin and then place the peppers in a container with a lid. Close the lid and let the peppers “steam” for ~ 5 minutes. Remove the peppers and scrape the skin off with the back of a spoon. Once the tomatoes and peppers are skinned, seed and chop them into ~¼” pieces.
Remove the corn from the cob and chop the pineapple and nopales into small, ~ ¼ “ sized pieces. The Nopales will have a brown shriveled appearance but have a tangy and tart, with a touch of smokiness flavor.
In a large plastic container with a lid, zest and squeeze the juice of three limes, add a healthy dose of salt and pepper, then whisk in an equal volume of vegetable oil. Add Nopales and pineapple, tomatoes, pablanos, onion, corn, and jalapeno and chopped fresh cilantro. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve with chips or as a side to some fish tacos.