The ‘superfood’ eaten in Mexico since the Aztecs — and which in Brazil became food

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Known as one of the most traditional ingredients in Mexican cuisine, nopal can be found almost everywhere. It is a nutritious food with centuries of history. In Mexico, the consumption of nopales dates back to pre-Hispanic times GETTY IMAGES When Rita García gets up, the sky, dotted with stars, seems painted with black paint. Silently, she grabs a small flashlight from the bedside table, puts on her shoes, and steps out into the hot desert air. She enters a makeshift kitchen that was covered. Inside, she sits on a plastic chair, reaches into a large bucket and carefully picks up the first nopal – a type of racket-shaped cactus – in the right place to avoid getting hurt by the thorns. Using a small pocket knife, she deftly makes quick movements and lightly twists the nopal to cut the thorns cleanly. When finished, García throws the cactus into a bag and continues with the next ones. It’s only 3am and there are three more hours until the truck arrives at his family’s farm to pick up his precious cargo: 11 bags in total. Your destination: the market. Like his ancestors, García continues a long tradition of harvesting nopales, one of Mexico’s most beloved staple foods. In Brazil, where it is known as forage palm, the species has become quite popular in the Semiarid region, being used mainly as animal feed. Read also: Shrimp among the tastiest in the world is more than 30 cm long and costs R$400 per kg Bonsai can bear fruit, live hundreds of years and grow taller than a person National identity What García did in five seconds, it took five minutes for me, the inexperienced guest, and I still didn’t do it right. Even García laughed when I showed him my cut cactus. Despite its appearance, it served as part of the cactus salad we prepared for lunch at her family farm, El Barranco, located about 30 miles north of Cabo San Lucas on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. The Azcatitlan Codex, where the Aztecs are seen crossing mountains covered in vegetation, among which nopales can be seen GETTY IMAGES Known as one of the most traditional ingredients in Mexican cuisine, nopales are back. This nutritious food can be found almost everywhere, from homes, taquerias, restaurants and cooking classes in Mexico to infiltrating the cuisine of the American Southwest. “The nopal cactus comes from a Nahuatl word [língua indígena da civilização asteca], ‘nohpalli,’ which dates back to pre-Columbian times,” says Danny Pérez, our guide with Dharma Expedições, a Los Cabos-based tour company that connects travelers with farmers and the local community for a traditional cooking class. Ingredients traditional Mexican cuisine: corn, pepper and nopal. Photo taken at the Casa Cuubi farm in San Antonino Castillo Velasco, near Oaxaca INPHO “This cactus is deeply rooted in our culture and national identity,” notes Danny, as we visit the family farm García. “It can be found in our flag, in art and even in ancient mythology based on the founding of Tenochtitlán, the ancient Aztec capital and modern-day Mexico City. It’s very symbolic for the Mexican people.” Walking past goats, native desert shrubs, and a small family garden, it’s easy to see why cacti have become so ingrained in Mexican life. They grow everywhere, reproduce easily and flourish even in adverse climates like the Baja California peninsula. In a place where there is very little rain, cacti not only survive, they thrive, just like García and his ancestors, who lived and worked in this arid and inhospitable land for centuries. Vitamins While García shows us how to select perfectly ripe nopales – those that are young and vibrant, bright green in color – she tells us that they are usually at their most tender and juicy in the spring, but can be harvested year-round. With their very particular flavor and ability to be part of almost every meal, nopales have been an important Mexican staple for centuries. Nopales sellers at the San Miguel de Allende market, Mexico GETTY IMAGES They are extremely healthy, nutritious and versatile. Packed with vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber, each nopal paddle can fill a hungry stomach for hours, explains García. That’s why they are a dietary mainstay in almost every Mexican home. “You can do anything with this cactus,” says García as he helps us prepare the food. “You can cook it, grill it, eat it raw, as a juice, add it to stews, sauces or eggs.” “It’s a Mexican ‘superfood,'” says her daughter, Joycelyn. A vendor cleans nopales at the Central de Abasto wholesale market in Mexico City ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES In addition to the racket, nopales also carry a small-shaped fruit oval shape called prickly pear, which has a sweet flavor similar to watermelon and is used in juices, cocktails and jellies. As we gathered the tomatoes, onions, garlic and cilantro for the salad, all fresh from the farm, Jocelyn quickly shows us how slice the nopales. “Hold them firmly as you cut, first lengthwise and then widthwise,” she instructed us. Nopales are sticky and viscous because they are full of mucilage, a thick substance that is the guardian of the cactus fiber. Nopales are sticky and viscous because they are full of mucilage, a thick substance that is the guardian of the cactus fiber. GETTY IMAGES We cook our nopales on a traditional charcoal grill and wait. Ten minutes later they were perfectly cooked, drained and ready to cool. We prepared the salad while Pérez played the guitar. It was finally time to assemble our first taco. I took a freshly prepared corn tortilla, filled it with nopales salad, red and green salsas (two spicy sauces typical of Mexican cuisine) and fresh goat cheese made on the farm that day. “This is the true meaning of food that goes from field to table,” smiles García as we hear the goats bleating. Read the original version of this report (in English) on the BBC Travel website. Find out how food is produced in Brazil Where does what I eat come from: edible flowers Where does the tangerine come from? Cachaça has a head, heart and tail; know which part can be consumed

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