Agua de Tuna - Fresh Prickly Pear Water

Oh the stories I've heard about what happens when you eat too many tunas.  I'm not going to share the specifics, because can I just say...it's not pretty.  When Mexi was just a wee niño, he and his cousins had tunas at their fingertips (not to mention the nopales/cactus paddles that go hand in hand...how cool! ...says the girl raised in the Midwest).  Tunas, otherwise known as cactus fruit or prickly pears are fabulously juicy and refreshing hot weather treats.  The purple variety stain your hands as if you were handling peeled beets or berries, yet they taste like a cross between a watermelon and a cucumber (to me, at least).  The pesky part comes in the seeds that run throughout the fruit.  Usually you just swallow them...but to make some long stories short, if you're going to swallow the seeds, don't eat more than a couple of tunas at a time.  Or your drain will get clogged.  Which may lead to painful doctor visits.  I've always heeded this warning because said stories conjure up some painful thoughts...and I am NOT going there.  That said, if you blend them and strain out the seeds, you have nothing to fear.  No little hard pellets to get stuck anywhere unpleasant.  Enough said?

Agua de Tuna
Fresh Prickly Pear Water
yield: ~2 qt.

1½ lb. tunas (prickly pears), purple or green
~8 c. cold water, or to taste
~1 c. superfine sugar, or to taste

Peel your tunas (prickly pears), halve them and throw them into the blender with a couple of the cups of water; purée until smooth. 

Strain through a sieve into a pitcher to remove the seeds and pulp.  Stir in remaining water and sugar.  Adjust water (and/or serve it over ice) and sugar amounts to suit your tastes.

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Tasty Tuesday at Naptime Creations