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I've been invited to a party next weekend...my hosts are from Mexico and, as is traditional in their family, they celebrate the Epiphany. They're great friends and terrific neighbors and I'm looking to bake them something special and would love to make rosca de reyes for them. I've done "King Cake" before, for Mardi Gras, but this is really not the same recipe at all (more of a sweet yeast dough, flavored with anything from orange flower water to anise (I'm guessing these are regional variations) and then decorated with candied fruits. It certainly sound delicious.

Several of the recipes mention decorating it with "biznaga" (candied cactus) and I'm wondering if it's likely that I'd be able to find it at one of my local Mexican grocers here in Berwyn, or if this might be a more exhaustive hunt. I'd never even heard of this until I started looking at recipes.

If anyone knows SPECIFICALLY where (in the Berwyn/Oak Park area) I might be able to pick some of it up, it'd be appreciated.

Or, if any of y'all have your OWN recipe that you love and would be willing to share, that'd even be better.

Thanks so much!

HI,

In the last week, I have candied orange peel and ginger (Louisa's Chu's link. Both conclude with cooking in a sugar syrup, then rolling in sugar. (The gelatin in the peel recipe is there to create a sticky surface for sugar to cling to.)

I would guess if you cooked the cactus in a sugar syrup, you will have the candied cactus for a fraction of the price of purchasing and of higher quality.

Regards,

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
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Thanks, Cathy!

So it's just that flat cactus I see in the produce section? I wasn't sure if was a specific TYPE of cactus. Having never cooked/made anything with cactus before...do you peel it first?

A few of us had lunch at La Chaperrita yesterday, and the owner gifted us with some Camotes de Santa Clara de Pueblo from their candy selection. I would recommend paying them a visit and checking out the candy selection in the little store attached to the restaurant. They've got quite a bit of stuff and there's a good chance that biznaga is among the offerings, since they include cactus on their menu. A real bonus is that you can also order some of the very finest tacos in town.

La Chaparrita Grocery
2500 S Whipple
Chicago, IL 60623
773-254-0975

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Steve Z.
Photographer/Pseudojournalist

"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook." - Julia Child

Here's an actual recipe forcandied nopales (Prickly Pear paddles). Sounds time-consuming, but not terribly difficult.

It's interesting that the word "biznaga" is used here, as that refers specically to several species of barrel cactus, not a candy. Both Prickly Pear and barrel cactus do produce a fruit; the fruit of the former, called "tuna," can be found around here, too. I've had a jellied candy made of the juice of Prickly Pear juice; it's not bad. In that nopales taste rather like green beans, I'd go for the jellied candy, but that's your choice!

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Food & Flowers: Late spring at the Shakespeare Garden, Northwestern University; new views of the Fargo/Hoyne Bee & Butterfly Garden, Rogers Park, Chicago