Is It Safe To Drink Cactus Water?

Whether you're planning a backpacking trip through Death Valley and making sure to brush up on your backcountry survival skills or you're wondering if there's any science to back up Sokka's "Avatar: The Last Airbender" recommendation to, "Drink cactus juice! Nothing's quenchier," we're here to tell you that the world of cactus water is more complex than it may first appear. Yes, water from certain cactus varieties is safe to drink. And yes, it may even quench your thirst more effectively than a glass of water poured out from your at-home Brita filter. But there are significant risks involved, and quite a few ways for the idea that looks oh-so-simple in cartoons to go wrong. So, unless it's an emergency, you might want to stick with using your Stanley (or Yeti) to keep you hydrated.

Although fresh water comes into the desert via rain, once stored inside a cactus, it is contaminated by acids and alkaloids that, while making a modified version of photosynthesis possible for cacti, are dangerous to humans and can give you an upset stomach — plus, make you even more dehydrated. But that said, prickly pear cacti, or Opuntia (which actually encapsulates more than 300 cacti species), have been used for food and drink in Mexico and the Southwestern United States for centuries, and are safe to eat when properly prepared. In a pinch, the nopales, or cactus pads, are even mostly okay to eat raw. But unfortunately, while sometimes shaped like it, cactuses aren't actually just plant-based natural rain barrels, so that dream of sticking a straw in through one side and slurping up a refreshingly cool sip of water is likely going to remain a dream. 

You can use prickly pear cactus to make yourself a refreshing drink in a couple of ways: either by cleaning, blending and straining the juice of nopales (which, if your zip code doesn't include a desert, you can typically find at your local Mexican grocery store), or by doing the same with the colorful prickly pear fruits themselves. The most important thing to remember when you're cutting a prickly pear, however obvious it may seem, is to fully remove any barbs from the fruit before consuming it, including the large ones and much smaller, near-invisible ones protecting the skin of the fruit. You might want to wear gloves while doing this, and keep kids who have a tendency to grab things before asking questions out of the room. For the smaller barbs on the fruits, holding them over an open flame with tongs to burn off the smallest barbs is the generally accepted best way to avoid unwanted pricks.

There's a huge variety of things you can do with the cactus flesh and juice after it's safely cleaned — nopales can be eaten raw, grilled or boiled, and prickly pear can be eaten fresh, said to taste sort of like a mild melon or a kiwi, or made into jams, jellies, juices, or prickly pear mocktails. And an added bonus? This safe-to-drink version of cactus water is high in electrolytes and antioxidants, making it a naturally sweet but healthy treat fit for a desert oasis.