Instructions: LAREDO, Texas - Nopales, the big cactuses that Anglos call prickly pears, are everywhere along the border between the United States and Mexico, growing wild along the highways and on the ranches, friendly looking despite their thorns.

Occasionally, youll see a family stop along the roadway to cut a few, especially if the plants spiked round fruit, or tuna, is in season. And why not? Both stem pad and fruit make good, healthful eating.

They dont have much taste by themselves, but the stem pads, which are considered vegetables, add texture, zest, color and vitamins to dishes. Some compare them to okra or green peppers.

So central were nopales (pronounced no-PAH-lace) to the indigenous culture of Mexico and what is now the southwestern United States that they are the root of Mexico Citys Aztec name, Tenochtitlan, meaning "place of the cactus fruit."

In cases of drought, nopales were the lifeblood of ancient cultures here, food for both people and their livestock. They also were used to soothe wounds, stiffen cloth, strengthen mortar and fence off wild animals. Cattle that grazed on the nopales were said to develop a special flavor in their meat and milk.

Mexicans and Mexican-Americans are accustomed to mixing nopales into all sorts of dishes - the cactuses are stir-fried with eggs and shrimp or maybe beef and peppers, tossed into soups, grilled with olive oil, even pickled or made into a salsa for tortillas. In some cases, the recipes have been handed down for generations.

Its only recently that the nutritional benefits have been getting attention.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the sliced pads, or nopalitos, are low in fat but high in water-soluble fiber, pectin and energy-boosting complex carbohydrates, as well as calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron. They weigh in at about 60 calories a cup.

Because they adapt well to hot, dry climates, the nopales have become an important crop in Israel and southern Italy.

Uses documented by plant scientist Luther Burbank in the early 20 th century include squeezing the sap over cuts, burns and bruises, and grinding and pureeing for use as a laxative. In central Africa, the sap from the pads served as a mosquito repellent.

Cactus at the market

Growing knowledge of the benefits has helped spur demand for the cactus, and retailers are responding. Fresh nopales are available year-round in many Mexican-American markets and some supermarkets; nopalitos are available canned, pickled or packed in water. The nations largest retail grocery chains, including Albertsons, stock them in their produce aisles or will stock them on request. Many Wal-Marts offer them from August through April.

Tony Ramirez is a Laredo herbalist who swears by the benefits of nopales. His family goes way back in the Laredo area. His grandmother was an indigenous medicine woman, as was her mother before her.

Now, Ramirez devotes his life to documenting how previous cultures used native plants for well-being.

"She had no formal education, never took her kids to a doctor, never set foot in a store even," he said of his grandmother. "She always prepared nopales."

As a boy, Ramirez would go out in the brush and gather them for his parents to cook.

Today, he chases leads, usually word-of-mouth, to elderly people who speak of old plant cures, so he can compile and investigate them. He also wants to recapture the indigenous Mexican diet, the one that predates fat-laden, fast-food tacos. Nopales, he said, are a big part of that diet.

When choosing pads for eating, pick immature ones so they still will be tender. Use tongs so as not to get spines in your fingers. Using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler, remove the areoles (the places where spines develop on the pad). Rinse and then dice, slice or pare as desired.

To avoid contact with the sticky fluid that oozes from the nopales, steam them whole, just long enough for their color to change from bright green to olive drab. Once the color changes, immediately plunge them into a bowl of cool water, then cut on a cutting board. The fluid is meant to be mixed into and enhance dishes.

Nopalitos can be cut according to preference; half inch strips in a hot wok will provide a nice texture in about 90 seconds. The thinner they are cut and longer they are cooked, the more soluble fiber they are likely to lose.

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