Can you consume cactus plants?

[legendarytroy]

I know that hoodia comes from a cactus. Is it the flower or like another part? Anyway, that's not actually what I'm wondering. What I want to know is that can you actually eat cactus? Not just the hoodia plant but the cacti that actually grow in American desserts? If they can be consumed, do they offer any nutritional benefits?

[treehuggertodd]

Uh...maybe if you're in the desert and your desperate you could give it a try, but I don't think it's really something you should consume. I would imagine it might make you sick or maybe its even poisonous... I think the only edible stuff from a cactus is fruit and even that I think you need to be careful.

[legendarytroy]

Uh...maybe if you're in the desert and your desperate you could give it a try, but I don't think it's really something you should consume. I would imagine it might make you sick or maybe its even poisonous... I think the only edible stuff from a cactus is fruit and even that I think you need to be careful.

Okay cool. I was asking mostly out of curiosity. Don't worry, I'm not planning on eating cactus or serving it for Christmas dinner or anything LOL. It's just there are so many plans that you can eat the fruit but you don't eat the plant itself. I was just wondering if it was the same for a cactus (the prickles aside of course).

[1000kw]

I don't blame you for wondering, there's a lot of things that people eat these days and many of them are quite faddy. Seriously, if people will eat cotton balls for weight loss...why not cactus? Honestly, I'm surprised there isn't a poison ivy diet