Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 2 Jan 2026

Velvet Nopal tacos: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

Velvet Nopal tacos

Velvet Nopal tacos

Opuntia cochenillifera - Velvet Nopal Cactus, Prickly Pear

Opuntia cochenillifera - Velvet Nopal Cactus, Prickly Pear

🍴 Velvet Nopal Tacos

Ingredients

  • 2 to 3 tender velvet nopal pads (Opuntia cochenillifera)
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 small tomato, diced
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • Salt to taste
  • Corn tortillas

Instructions

  1. Remove spines from nopal pads and slice into strips.
  2. Boil the sliced nopal for 5 minutes, then drain well.
  3. Heat oil in a pan and saute onion until soft.
  4. Add tomato and cooked nopal, season with salt, and saute until tender.
  5. Serve warm in corn tortillas.

🌵 About the plant:
Nopal Opuntia (prickly pear cactus pads) is a cornerstone vegetable in Mexican cuisine and a long-standing staple across Central and South America. It is valued both as food and medicine. Traditionally eaten sauteed, grilled, or stewed, nopal is rich in fiber, minerals, and antioxidants. It is especially well known for its role in blood sugar management - many people who eat it regularly report significant improvement in diabetes control.

🌱 In the garden:
Prickly pear is a fast-growing, tough desert plant with showy red flowers. It thrives on neglect, tolerates drought, and also handles Florida rain surprisingly well. Easy to grow, productive, and edible, it is one of the most practical food plants you can add to your landscape.

🛒 Add Nopal Cactus to your kitchen garden

📚 Learn more:

#Food_Forest #Recipes #Remedies

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Date: 22 Apr 2020

PeopleCats saving us from COVID-19!

Cat owners have higher immunity for COVID-19?

In our previous newsletter, we were talking about cats fighting the coronavirus and how to help them to recover.
The research made by Sabina Olex-Condor, a Polish doctor who works in a clinic in Madrid, showed that due to cross-immunity (cats are a known reservoir of coronaviruses) cat owners have milder sympthoms of COVID-19! Perhaps this is due to the fact that in a cross-reaction antibodies are produced to the virus, and owners of cats are more protected from COVID19... Read more)
Now that quarantine has been introduced almost universally because of coronavirus, dog owners are also in a better position - they can officially go outside for a short while. But the benefit of dogs (and other pets) is not only that. Scientists from the Italian city of Catanzaro found in the course of the study, that those who have a four-legged pet, have very mild symptoms of the COVID-19. A similar effect was observed in those in contact with cattle... To find an explanation for this phenomenon, the researchers compared viruses. It turned out that the disease of bulls, cows and other cattle is similar to Chinese coronavirus by 38.4%, and the virus of dogs by 36.9%. This means that owners of animals already have some kind of immunity. So the owners of cats and dogs, as a rule, tolerate coronavirus easier or completely asymptomatic. Read more...

Stay safe and healthy with your PetPeople!

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Date: 13 Sep 2025

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