Cactus Fruit

We've had the chance to try so many new things on this adventure in Chile. 

On one of his trips up the valley Dave brought back some fruit from a copao (a chilean cactus that is common in our part of Chile).  He got 7 of them for $2.  The fruit is fairly soft and desn't have many spines like the rest of the cactus.  This fruit is a major food source for the wild guanacos (sort of like llamas) that live in the mountains.

The inside of the copao fruit is full of little tiny seeds and is very similar to the texture of the inside of the kiwi.  All of this is inside of a relatively thick skin that is not eaten.  We asked several people how they eat the fruit and they told us that you cut off the top, add in lots and lots of sugar, mix up the flesh inside the skin (as if the skin were a bowl) and then eat it.

We decided to give it a try.  We cut off the top, pulled out the flesh, and added lots of sugar.  Emily was the first to try it.   She thought it was pretty good.

It has been fun to be adventurous and try so many things while in Chile.  Who would have every though we would be eating cactus fruit soup.  Lots of fun.