So I picked a bunch of prickly pears, they are difficult to eat (spines, and lots of seeds) so I decided to make something from them. Here's my steps, it tastes delicious, not sure if the consistency is right or not yet.
Remove prickles from pears, cut in half lengthwise and soak in cold water overnight.
Cut fruit into 1" pieces, put fruit and water in a pot, water should just cover fruit.
add juice of 3 oranges
Bring to boiling, mash fruit with a potato masher
Strain through cloth, dispose of fruit matter
combine with sugar, at a 1 to 1 ratio. I had 15 cups of juice so I added 15 cups of sugar, half was regular half was powdered (I ran out of regular sugar)
bring syrup to boil, boil for 10 minutes
At this point I put the syrup into pyrex in the oven, which was preheated to 350, left it for 10 minutes and then turned the oven off. I left it there until my girlfriend came home. The hope was that it would gell, it did not. I was gone for 5 hours, she put the pyrex in the fridge when she got home, this step can probably, ad should probably, be eliminated
Bring syrup to boil, add 2 packages liquid pectin.
Heat to soft ball stage, this should be 235 degrees, this is not what my thermometer read, but I do not trust it.
pour back into pyrex and let cool until comfortable to touch
Refridgerate over night.
I am in the midst of this last stage, as far as I can tell the texture is like a soft caramel. I plan on cutting it into cubes and wrappig them in wax paper. The taste is remarkable
