Tonight, I cooked up the nopal, or cactus paddle, that I bought the other day.

I took Melissa’s advice, cut it up like a fan leaving the bottom attached, and then seared it in my cast iron pan.

Removing the spines wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I just scraped a sharp knife along the top and then wiped the nopal on both sides with a damp paper towel.

Searing nicely next to a really good pork chop.

Tomate, carne de cerdo con limón y pimienta negra, nopal y arroz.

I thought that my palate had been around the block once or twice, but it had never met nopal before. My first reaction to the stuff was that it could not possibly be of this world. Both the texture and taste were complete alien. The texture is so odd, both mucilaginous (slimy, like okra) and crisp. The taste doesn’t even come close to green beans. It’s fresh, but a little sour.

Truth? I have no idea what I think of nopal, but I was not able to finish what I had on my plate. My taste buds were in complete overload.