A taste of these black beans with nopalitos reveals a deceptively simple and extraordinarily earthy dish. In Mexico, nopalitos are always sold “de-spined.” If you are unlucky enough to have to buy ...

Some summer foods beg to be eaten: fresh tomatoes, sweet corn on the cob. But one virtually screams, "Leave me alone!" Nopalitos are the pads of the prickly pear cactus. In Mexico and the American ...

This is “You Gotta Try This,” The Bee’s series featuring one particular must-have dish at a local restaurant. Each featured dish is nominated by a reader and chronicled at sacbee.com. Got a menu item ...

Press releases are posted on Independent.com as a free community service. Santa Barbara, CA — A dreamy new children’s picture book is bringing warmth, tradition, and tamales to bedtime. Where ...

Prickly desert cactus sounds like the last thing you’d want to eat. But -- surprise! -- once the spines are off, cactus is juicy and tender, great in anything from salads and soups to main courses and ...

“This is different than Tex-Mex food,” says Betty Gonzales, describing the dishes she and her chef husband, Alejandro, make and serve at Cascabel Mexican Patio on St. Mary's St. The restaurant, owned ...

They're definitely an acquired taste. If you didn't grow up eating nopalitos, you could hardly be blamed for not thinking the spine-covered pads of the prickly pear cactus are delicious. And if you ...

Cactus seems like the kind of food one discovers under duress. Modern-day ranchers use “pear burners,” a sort of blowtorch on steroids, to scorch the spines off prickly pear cacti so the cattle can ...

Uniquely is a Sacramento Bee series that covers the moments, landmarks and personalities that define what makes living in the Sacramento area so special. Awards and Western-style decor adorn the ...