Eating Prickly Pear Cactus

Photo shows fruits in bowl, skinned pads (nopales) in plate. I was defeated by this plant a few years ago, just could not get stickers out, especially from skins of fruit. This time, with help from Nature’s Gardens — Edible Wild Plants by Samuel Thayer, I got more serious. Used tongs to hold, scrubbed with stiff brush, used heavy duty potato peeler on pads. Still difficult, but was able to eat fruit without mouth punctured with stickers — nice mild sweet taste, lot of seeds — and last night sauteed the pads along with garlic and onions, pretty good.

Any one got tips on cleaning, eating? These are so abundant, at least on the West Coast.