The Mija Chronicles

Mexican food and culture, on both sides of the border

Agua de tuna (prickly-pear agua fresca) with lime and chia

by

When I was a baby, my mom used to sing me a song about the moon eating a prickly-pear cactus fruit, and throwing the skins into a lagoon.

Ahí viene la luna
comiendo la tuna
tirando las cáscaras
a la laguna!

(Note: after the word “laguna,” you’re supposed to tickle the baby’s stomach.)

Growing up, I knew the word “tuna” meant prickly-pear cactus fruit. But I had no desire to try them, because the idea of eating a cactus fruit seemed too weird. Even when I started to get more serious about food, I ignored them. Funny what moving to Mexico does — this summer, surrounded by an abundance of tunas because of the rainy season, I realized that I’d misjudged them.

Tunas are some of the juiciest, most naturally sweet fruits around. They have the wet, porous flesh of a watermelon, speckled with tiny hard seeds. In fact, an agua de tuna — the juice of the tuna, mixed with water and sugar — is one of the sweetest aguas frescas. Sometimes the drink can verge on cloying.

Yesterday at the tianguis, I found a vendor who was practically giving his tunas away. His sign said as much:

These tunas cost 12 pesos for two kilos' worth. That's about 4 1/2 pounds for less than $1.

I bought a kilo, peeled…

What tunas look like naked

…and decided to make an agua fresca de tuna that’s less sweet than the ones I’ve tried. Mine would have lime and chia seeds to tone things down. Well, actually, the chia wouldn’t really affect the sweetness factor, but it would add a healthy boost.

The agua turned out even better than I hoped. It was a pretty pistachio color, and the taste was kind of like a melon-lemonade. I drank a glass after finishing up a tennis game (I’m taking classes, so this was my first game ever), and I couldn’t have asked for a more refreshing drink. This agua was way better than Gatorade.

Recipe below.

Agua fresca de tuna (prickly-pear cactus fruit) with lime and chia
Makes about 1 1/2 liters

Ingredients

9 pieces of tuna fruit, peeled
1 tablespoon sugar
water
juice of three limes
2 tablespoons chia seeds

Cut your tuna fruit into chunks. They don’t have to be very small, because you’re going to pop ’em in the blender anyway. If you’re lucky enough to own a Vitamix or another extra-strong blender, you can toss them in the blender jar whole.

Working in batches as to not overwhelm your blender, add your fruit chunks to the blender jar and pour just enough water to cover. On the first batch, add the two tablespoons of sugar. Blend until smooth. Strain into a pitcher using a fine-mesh strainer.

Repeat with the remaining fruit, and add the lime juice on the last turn. At the very end, when you’ve got your pretty pitcher of green juice, stir in the chia seeds. The drink is fine at room temperature, but it’s much more refreshing when it’s served cold.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ok what is the name of the tuna that is red? Which cactus is it from? I thought that was from the prickly pear cactus. I am confused.

    The peeled tunas look ashen. Is that some of the cascara remaining? Akin to the white membrane that remains on a peeled orange?

    Thanks! I know, I have too many questions.

    • Joan: The red tunas are also cactus fruit. They’re just a different color. The peeled tunas at the tianguis weren’t really ashen looking, it was just the light. Same thing for pieces of pith you thought you saw — there’s nothing attached to the peeled tuna fruit, just the flesh and the seeds. I’ll link to a better photo so you’ll know what I’m talking about.

      • It seems to me the Red Tunas she could be talking about could also be Pitaya(por Jonacatepec/Tepalcingo) or Pachona(La Costa Grande), smaller than the standard red tunas, with a more berry flavor to it. Also cactus fruits, but with tiny black seeds.

    • They are pitayas and the name of the cactus is the same as the fruit you can find those fruits in Sonora, Mex. maybe in AZ. too but I’m not sure of that.

      Good Luck!

  2. What should the proportion of water to fruit end up being–the usual 2 to 1, or something different? Gracias.

    • Hi Luisa: I think less. The tunas are really juicy on their own. As I mentioned in the recipe, once you put the fruit in the blender, you want to add just enough water to cover the pieces. Then blend and strain. The consistency is of course up to you — if you wanted something slightly thicker, you could add less water.

  3. I love tunas and they sell them here also, but then again Edinburg , Texas is pretty close to the border so we have a great selection. . I love the color and the addition of chia seed does give it a pop.

    sweetlife

  5. That’s amazing. We don’t really have the range of prickly pear here in Australia you guys do, but believe it or not…., we have them. Its great you can make this fabulous drink. Better than Gatorade huh?

  6. Here in Northern Cyprus they call them Babutsa (there is even a music group here named after them!). I tried one for the first time this summer they are delicious, at one stage the local ice cream chain was selling ice cream made from them! Oh and so no one makes my mistake, don’t pick one up! I wondered why they had tongs next to them in the supermarket, i was picking the hairs out all day. Definately book marking this to make next time they are in season 🙂

    • Neat! I had no idea the tuna could be found in Cyprus. Thanks for sharing. 🙂 You should definitely make the water, it’s super refreshing.