Mr. Salsich's Class
Third Grade Explorations in Learning
Eating Prickly Pear Fruit
Last week we ate fruit from the prickly pear cactus. Prickly pears grow in the dry habitats of the southwestern United States.
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Prickly pear cactus with fruit
We first learned about prickly pears when our classmate Cole brought back some prickly pear pads and fruit from his trip to Arizona.
Prickly pear pad
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Then we connected with Mrs. Fraher’s third grade class in Arizona to learn more about the deserts of the southwest. We skyped with them and they told us some amazing facts about prickly pears.
Skyping with Mrs. Fraher’s class
Mrs. Fraher’s class also sent us some prickly pear jelly (which was delicious!) but we wanted to try to the real thing.
Mr. Salsich got some prickly pear fruit from the supermarket for us to try. When the fruit is sold in a store, the spines and stinging hairs (“glochids”) have all been removed, so they are safe to hold and to eat.
Here is a video of us trying the fruit, with our reactions to it, and some of the things we learned from eating it:
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February 13th, 2013 at 5:37 pm
Dear Mr.salsich,
I really like your post.
I used to have a cactus it lasted A long time. I ve heard that a cactus is full of protein. Arizona looked really cool.
I have a blog it’s sort of new. Here’s the link
http://www.arisafari.edublogs.org
From,
Ari In Mr.Averys class
February 15th, 2013 at 3:17 pm
Dear Class,
It was funny when I ate the whole prickly pear slice and Mr. Salsich asked me if I wanted to finish it and I crushed one of the seeds and spit it out.
From,
Kali
February 20th, 2013 at 10:22 am
Dear Mr. Salsich’s class
I have never eaten a prickly pear fruit,what does it taste like? Does it taste sour or sweet?Also have you ever had Kiwano Melon? It is very tart around the edges, but very sweet in the center.
Sincerely, John
March 16th, 2013 at 8:03 pm
Dear Mr Salsich and his class,
I am learning to be a teacher at university in Australia. I was looking at edublogs for some inspiration for an assignment I have to complete, when I found yours. I loved your prickly pear tasting video! It made me laugh a lot and got me in a much better mood to work on my assignment.