Top cacti fruit

[SDPirate]

So I have been getting a little more invested in different cacti species and it has me wondering what people's opinions are on their favorites/best tasting.

Currently I have some different varieties of dragonfruit going, bilberry cactus, eulychnia acida (sprouts).  Dragonfruit I feel is probably the most obvious as there is a fair amount of sweetness/juice.  Trying to currently germinate lepismium ianthothele which I barely know anything about.  Prickly pear doesn't taste bad to me but I find it sometimes too mild and gritty (prefer red to green).  I'm also interested in melocactus genus but don't know if it is worth the wait, seem to be a boutique kind of fruit. 

Is there anything else worth possibly chasing? 

[tru]

pitaya! (organ pipe cactus) but you're gonna have to wait quiteeee a bit

[Jaboticaba45]

Anyone one growing pereskia species? I have no idea on fruit quality…
Someone gifted me a cutting and it’s pretty cool to see a cactus with leaves lol.

[Pandan]

Various stenocereus, echinocereus and Gymnocalycium saglionis is claimed to have a delicious fruit though i havent tried it

[nullzero]

Pitaya, Stenocereus queretaroensis. Its the sweetest with the best flavor, its like eating raspberry jam. A good dragon fruit is hard to be though, and consistently ranks high up in cacti fruits.

[Bush2Beach]

There are really good Opuntia to grow for fruit and they are quickest and most productive, and graftable. Orange kinds are good too and some no gritty and less objectionable seeds.

[tru]

I can second the prickly pear, my neighbor has one that is full of dark red/purplish fruit when it's in season, they look really nice when they start branching too

[JoshuaTilaranCR]

Anyone one growing pereskia species? I have no idea on fruit quality…
Someone gifted me a cutting and it’s pretty cool to see a cactus with leaves lol.

I have Pereskia bleo. It hasn't fruited yet for me but there's plenty of fruiting ones around me so I've tried the fruit before. It's super sour, they call it Panamanian star fruit here. It's good in a drink but you have to drink it right away or it gets slimy and thick. I bet with a miracle fruit it would be awesome.

[Caesar]

I was actually thinking about this topic last week, so it was a welcome surprise to find this thread.

I did some searching, by no means exhaustive, but I did focus on those cacti that are used predominantly for fruit production, not those that are incidentally edible-fruited (with good flavor).

The best for edibility (in no particular order) seem to be Prickly Pears (Opuntia spp.), Bilberry Cactus (Myrtillocactus geometrizans), Apple Cacti (Cereus repandus/peruvianus; also C. jamacaru, C. hildmannianus), desert Pitayas (Stenocereus queretaroensis, S. thurberi; also S. griseus, S. stellatus, S. pruinosus, S. marginatus, S. gummosus), Dragonfruit (Selenicereus undatus, S. costaricensis/polyrhizus, S. megalanthus, and hybrids), and Barbados Gooseberry (Ora-pro-nobis as a leaf vegetable, Pereskia aculeata).

Honorable mentions include Saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea), Cardón (Pachycereus pringlei), Leuenbergeria (Pereskia) bleo, Rhodocactus grandifolius (leaf vegetable), and Epiphyllum hybrids (Disocactus; there was a thread here that singled out “Argus”, “Padre”, “Daybreak” and “Fern La Borde”).

Here’s a Spanish article about the fruiting Stenocereus:
https://huerto-en-casa.com/pitayas/

Here’s the video that convinced me to seek out Stenocereus (queretaroensis is depicted, though they don’t mention that):
https://youtu.be/g1s1RhnrIfM

With an additional (Spanish) video showing an orchard that grows several species of Stenocereus for commercial production:
https://youtu.be/RQ9UlZYJq3c

Here’s the thread on Fruiting Epiphyllums:
https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=15813.0;all

Here’s an article that mentions several named prickly pear fruiting cultivars (among other cacti), but I haven’t found any of them (most net searches lead me to believe that practically any random opuntia can prolifically bear tasty fruit, though I don’t know about that):
http://jamesenterprisesoftexas.com/pear.htm

I myself have an unnamed spineless Opuntia, three Bilberry Cacti, several unnamed Dragonfruit (and some Palora yellow megalanthus), Argus and Padre Epiphyllum (I can’t find “Daybreak” or “Fern La Borde”). All are still small.

Note: even spineless Opuntias have glochids. Handle with care.

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I also tried to grow another succulent, Carpobrotus glaucescens, a few years back, as the fruit is said to be quite good. But despite being advertised in almost weed-like terms, it failed to thrive once it hit adulthood. The dryness hurt it, water hurt it more, the sun hurt it even more, and the shade seems to have been worse. I haven’t the foggiest idea what went wrong that time... but if there’s a chance at success, I’d like to try again. I got my seeds from Fair Dinkum Seeds, and shipping used to be cheap, but I don’t know if that continues to be the case.


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Edit: Mammillaria fruit seems to be a popular forage in Zacatecas, Mexico. Not sure on the species though. The fruit is called “Chilitos” (little chiles).

[Pandan]

On a side note:
Stenocereus queretaroensis is frustrating hard to source online and when you do find it its typically a red cultivar and none of the other amazing colors.

[nullzero]

Growing Stenocereus queretaroensis out the white is actually the weakest seedlings. The Purple and Red were the most vigorous, also the purple and red turn redish/purple hue during the winter cooler periods.

[Radoslav]

Rare cacti profesional seller and collector from Czech republic said, that the best fruit he ever ate was from cipocereus minesis in Brazil.

[SDPirate]

I am going to have to take a second look at Opuntia. They grow naturally like weeds here.  May pick up a Melocactus out of curiosity because they are relatively cheap and endangered, though looking at some specific species I noticed a fair amount of them hardy to zone 11 so they would probably have to be brought in during winter here in So Cal.  I think the beauty of fruiting cactus is that at least here they can be mostly care free of their needs and let the sun and rain do the work.

[SHV]

Rare cacti profesional seller and collector from Czech republic said, that the best fruit he ever ate was from cipocereus minesis in Brazil.

Ok, now that’s a cool looking fruit. I think I want to see one in person as much as taste the blue fruit.  Any sellers in SoCA with this cactus?

[Pandan]

Rare cacti profesional seller and collector from Czech republic said, that the best fruit he ever ate was from cipocereus minesis in Brazil.

Ok, now that’s a cool looking fruit. I think I want to see one in person as much as taste the blue fruit.  Any sellers in SoCA with this cactus?

Another tragically hard to find cactus, even rarer than stenocereus queretaroensis!!

despite being consumed in its region in its native brazil "Quiabo da lapa" (quiabo = okra, the cactus itself is eaten not just the fruit!)
https://camporupestre.blogspot.com/2013/09/cipocereus-minensis-quiabo-da-lapa.html

Is there a brazilian member who'd like to help introduce this species stateside via small seed lot permit?

IIRC there's a czech seller you could order from I think but its under a different/older genus name (assuming its the saame species which I bellieve it is)

[Muni]

https://www.etsy.com/listing/920666729/cipocereus-minensis-rare-cactus-blue
Sold out at the moment, but it is a source in the US.

[nullzero]

I am only growing Cipocereus bradei, have not had the fruit yet.

[socalbalcony2]

Anyone one growing pereskia species? I have no idea on fruit quality…
Someone gifted me a cutting and it’s pretty cool to see a cactus with leaves lol.

I've tried - Barbados Gooseberry (Pereskia aculeata) from multiple trees at a nursery locally, not a fan at all, tasted like fishy tomatos, yuck.

[Bush2Beach]

I grew stenocereus Q. From seedlings Stephen was selling years ago.
They grew an inch in some years. Never got taller than 3 inches.
What will actually grow and fruit in your location matters too.
Opuntia and cereus Peruvianas is a weed around here.

[Pandan]

I grew stenocereus Q. From seedlings Stephen was selling years ago.
They grew an inch in some years. Never got taller than 3 inches.

Maybe grafting to a larger stock would speed em up?

[greg_D]

If you think about the difference between a tasteless, out of season, bred for shelf life tomato and the best heirloom tomato you've ever had, the same range of quality exists for both prickly pear and dragonfruit. Due to ripeness when picked (non-climacteric) and genetic differences between individual plants / cultivars. I've had dragonfruit that tastes like nothing and dragonfruit that tastes like mixed berry sorbet (cv "Orejona"). I've had prickly pear that tastes like nothing and prickly pear that, when peeled and puréed, tastes exactly like a watermelon banana smoothie (cv "PCH#1"). For that reason I think "good prickly pear" and "good dragonfruit" would be high on the list, but "bad prickly pear" and "bad dragonfruit" would be low on the list.

Whereas for other fruiting cacti there is a narrower range when it comes to fruit quality. For example, from what I've been told, saguaro fruit is very tasty even if it's from a random plant as opposed to one selected for fruit quality (not even sure if saguaros selected for fruit quality exist).

[nullzero]

I grew stenocereus Q. From seedlings Stephen was selling years ago.
They grew an inch in some years. Never got taller than 3 inches.
What will actually grow and fruit in your location matters too.
Opuntia and cereus Peruvianas is a weed around here.

The Stenocereus queretaroensis seeds were collected in southern Zacatecas, were they are grown in lower elevations. They need warm nights above 70f to really grow fast.

It may be best to graft them to Cereus sp. rootstock.

[SDPirate]

Has anyone tried or has a live Rhipsalis baccifera aka mistletoe cactus? Looks pretty cool, like a mini jaboticaba cactus from africa.  Supposedly hardy down to 9b.  There's so many unturned stones out there and cacti fruit are the easiest for us who like to set it and forget it.

[Caesar]

I have Rhipsalis baccifera, and one clone at my grandmother’s house regularly bears fruit, which I share with my niece. They’re slightly firm (sticky inside, not juicy), mildly sweet and rather insipid, but pleasant. I had brought back the cuttings from a tree they were growing on in a college campus in Mayagüez. Not something you’d go out of your way to grow for the fruit, but enjoyable if you have them on hand.