People may not think of cactus as a tropical plant exactly, but it frequently grows in tropical areas. And what many don't realize is that you can eat both the pads, and any fruit that grow. The Florida Keys actually have 3 native species of cacti. I bought a few others to add to my collection. I don't really care for the look of cactus personally, but they are certainly drought tolerant, interesting looking, and a good choice for survival needs.
So for the moment here are the species I have that I know to be edible:
*Opuntia Cochenillifera, Slim Jim Cactus - slim, mostly spineless pads, with abundant red flowers
*Consolea Moniliformis (a.k.a. opuntia ferox), Hawaiian Lights - thicker pads, frequent bloomer, yellow and orange/red flowers, flowers from a small size
*Opuntia Splendens, Giant Wavy Blue - large relatively thornless bluish pads, large yellow flowers
*Opuntia humifusa - native Florida prickly pear
*Acanthocereus tetragonus, Barbed wire cactus - native Florida species
*Consolea corallicola, Semaphore cactus - native Keys species
*Opuntia triacanthos, Keys Jumping cactus - native Keys species
*2 thus far unidentified Opuntias just labeled as "prickly pear"
If the unnamed Opuntias don't turn out to include them, I will probably add Opuntia ficus-indica (indian fig) and Nopalea Karwinskiana.
Generally speaking, Opuntias are considered to be edible, and here is a huge list of them with some common and alternate scientific names:
http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Cactaceae/Opuntia.htmlNot all of them though are going to be tolerant of the humid conditions of the tropics, and of the excessive rain we get, particularly in a rainy season. So be mindful of whatever your local conditions are if you're looking to bring outside species in.
I want to see what does, and does not, do well in my local conditions. And also what does, and does not, taste good. I haven't eaten much in the way of cacti pads, or fruit. Maybe 10 years ago was the last time I tried any, and that was pickled pads, which I remember as being slimy and edible but not great, and prickly pear fruit being again edible but not as sweet or tasty as I was hoping for.
The problem with any of these is glochids, the tiny nearly-invisible hairs that latch onto skin and are quite painful - more of a concern to me than cacti spines which are easily seen and thus fairly easily avoided. So handling and preparation are to be thought about. Generally speaking, you need to peel them - maybe with gloves. I think they need to be cooked - I'm not sure if you can eat any pads in a raw state. From what I understand, usually you want to eat pads when they are young and don't have many spines on them yet.
I hope you'll share your recipes and methods of preparation here. As a vegetable, the pads apparently can be thrown on the grill, and I've heard of people eating them in place of burgers. Never tried it yet, but I'd like to.
Opuntia are noted for multiple strong health benefits, both from the fruit, and the pads. So aside from being easy in drought-prone areas, it certainly has other things to recommend it.
My plants are all still very young, but I will say that the Hawaiian Lights already had its first flowers, which was exciting. Would be cool if it made fruit. All of my plants are still too young for me to want to cut off pads to try them as a vegetable yet. But it's a nice dry season option for harvest, when all the fruits and many of the vegetables are still waiting for their rainy season prime.
Of course, keep in mind that dragonfruit and pitaya are great to grow too, although I'm unsure about their edibility as a vegetable.
Please share what edible cacti you have growing, and your experiences so far with them as a vegetable!