Cactus Fruit aka Beles or Prickly Pear

Reportedly helpful in treating diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity and hangovers. Cactus fruit is also touted for its antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties.

This is the beautiful, delicious cactus fruit, known in Tigray as beles (pron. bell-less).  

Also high in fiber, antioxidants and carotenoids.

While filming in the Agamé region I have found that there is nothing more refreshing when spending the heat of the day lugging gear around than taking a break and enjoying a fresh ripe beles.   It is sweet and light and juicy and fresh.   And portable!   
  

Desertification and water scarcity are agricultural challenges throughout the region but cactus fruit is versatile, hearty and it thrives in both the rocky soils of north east Tigray and the vertisols of the lowlands.   The dominant variety in the local market has a yellow pulp and peel.

In 2006 Jacobo & Tegegne found that in Tigray "an estimate of 105.26 metric tons (of cactus fruit) are consumed daily from June to August in the three most important urban centers, a volume higher than orange and banana."  

 Remarkable  numbers considering that cactus fruit was used exclusively as  livestock fodder  for many years.   In the last decade it has become increasingly fashionable to snack on.   Restaurants and stores have started creating and selling different  cactus based products  like:  cactus fruit juice, cactus fruit marmalade and even cactus fruit salad.

Harvesting cactus fruit on some of Mama Buzu's property in Adigrat

When I was just starting  Good Evidence  I visited different community based organizations in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, filming with some and chatting with others, trying to determine whether an organization like Good Evidence and the work that it could do would be of any value.   One non-profit I filmed with (but which I unfortunately was not able to put a video together about because of audio problems) is the REMARKABLE community based organization known as Mums for Mums.   Based out of Makale, they're engaged in some innovative, inspiring community led work and you can read more about them here.   If you are in the area, I suggest popping by to see all that they do!

It was a few years ago that I visited Mums for Mums and I have fallen out of contact with the crew there, but they used to have a public awareness nutritional program through which they spread word about the high nutritional value of cactus fruit.   They also provided  facilities  for participants to  experiment  with different cactus recipes and they published a beautiful little cactus recipe book, available to the public for a small donation.   If you like cactus fruit, it is worth the donation!  

Here is a sample recipe from their booklet:

Cactus Fruit Juice Recipe

In Tigray and in the Agamé region there are seasons when there are  lots  of tasty fruits available.   There are mangoes and papaya.  Oranges and bananas are widely available.   In the highlands there are apples, apricots, almonds and plum trees that have been successfully planted.

Agamé, the land of plentiful fruit!