Cactus Fruit

Is this cactus fruit edible ? Can any one tell me the name of the plant.

Hello,

I don't know the name of this species.
However, all cactus fruits could be said "edible", because none of them are poisonous.
Most of them do not have enough pulp to be interesting, or do not taste good.
The conclusion is that you can safely taste it, and if you like it you can eat it.
Be careful to remove the spines, of course

Yann (France, Clermont-Ferrand). Serre tenue hors-gel + pleine terre un peu abritée. -10°C tous les hivers.

It looks like a fruit of Harrisia eriophora. But I can't tell you more than Yann said before...

Manu

Thank you Yann And Manu . I didnt tried the fruit as lot of the cactus plants are poisonous. Any how the fruit is gone and had produced hundreds of seeds.
I will check the name Harrisia in different books that I have.

Shahid

Shahid Munir Wrote:
> I didnt tried the fruit as lot of the cactus plants are poisonous.

???????????
Not one cactus is poisonous, as far as I know.
Do you have sources to say the opposite? If so, please share with us

Yann (France, Clermont-Ferrand). Serre tenue hors-gel + pleine terre un peu abritée. -10°C tous les hivers.

Dear Yann
You may be correct but the following answer appears on website www.answers.yahoo.com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
Most cacti are poisonous. There is a common misconception that cacti actually store water inside them, they store liquid, but it is not drinkable water. Most of the sap of cacti can be extremely posionous and sometimes it is caustic. These defense mechanisms (alone with their spines) help keep hungry desert animals at bay. Mescaline containing cacti have developed a potent psychedelic as their defense mechanism. The only way any cacti could poison somebody is if the ingested it, even then you're likely to only have stomache upset and/or vomiting
Shahid

I think we should differentiate the plant stem, that could be poisonous, from the fruits : most fruits are supposed to be eaten by animals in order to disseminate the seeds.

Fabrice (Paname)
Le Cactus Heuristique

Shahid Munir, I think the source of your information is wrong. I have most of the cactus genera here, and have sliced and diced many cactus plants and have never had a reaction. In fact, I would dare say your source confuses Euphorbias and Cactus. If the people writing the information cannot keep these genera separated, then the rest of their info is also suspect. They show their nonsense when they claim that most cacti are poisonous. That is factually wrong.
For instance, do they give any species besides the one containing mescaline? Not a trustworthy site IMHO.

And yes, I agree, it looks like a Harrisia fruit.

Dear Peter
I totally agree with you. A lot of people are confusing Cactii with Euphorbias. Most of the literature on web sites and in different forums say the same which you have mentioned but still for me there is a confusion if few are saying that lot of cactii are poisonous.
Any how thanks for this nice discussion and good information.
Regards
Shahid

Hello !
I lived in México (Baja California) and Central America for fifteen years. I just want to say that people in México eat cacti on a regular basis. Cacti grow everywhere which means cheap and easy food. I often have had some myself, sliced and grilled, in salad, cactus juice mixed up with pomelo juice as a special "cleaning " diet, etc ...
Since I wasn't that much into succulents at the time, I couldn't really tell what kind, I guess some were opuntias. Well, they are very tasty.
About "peyote", natives ( ... and others !! ) are using it with the appropriate knowledge, they get the visions without any trouble.
According to my own experience, cacti are totally edible.
Pascale
Spain

Hey Guys, actually this fruit is very popular tasty, and very sweet. Its called the Yellow Pataya, or rather the Dragon fruit. Its sister fruit also called the Red Dragon fruit is also edible and sweet, you can make a variety of things with it, from cakes, to milkshakes, ice-cream milk shakes, and even jams with them. Trust me me, once you google it, a million things will come up on it ................. I hope this helped anyone.

If anybody can provide with seeds all edible cactus fruit please contact me. I have planted prickly pear (Dragon fruit ) in my garden but not all three varieties. I need seeds of other edible cactus fruit also. Aminul Islam. Chittagong, Bangladesh. Email iptctg@yahoo.com.

fruits of most cactus are edible. some are poisionous. the best method to find the poisionous is crack their skin and see if the white milky fluid comes out that surely its poisinous.
above cacti is not poisnous. its fuit i have seen eaten and they are called so much tasty.
well still check more about them.

Muhammad Danish Makhdoom Wrote:
> fruits of most cactus are edible. some are
> poisionous.

Which species?
You probably mingle with non-cacti succulent plants, such as Euphorbia.
I don't know of ANY poisonous cactus fruit. As far as I know, there are NONE.

Yann (France, Clermont-Ferrand). Serre tenue hors-gel + pleine terre un peu abritée. -10°C tous les hivers.

I died after your advice Yann. Thanks!