I recently came across this article on the internet about a student research team at the Colegio de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos de Hidalgo who have found a way to purify water using mucilage from nopal, a type of cactus that grows throughout the Americas and is particularly common in Mexico.  My first thought was, how cool! and my second thought was, is there anything nopal can’t do?

Let me provide some context.  Nopal is ubiquitous in Mexico.  You can find it everywhere from taco stands to gourmet restaurants, from street-corner vendors to fancy super markets.  It’s so closely associated with the Mexican identity that a nopal cactus is found on the Mexican flag, and a person who exudes Mexican-ness – however the speaker defines that – might be described as having a nopal on their forehead (tiene el nopal en la frente).  (If you’re visiting Mexico or chatting with your Mexican friends and want to use this phrase, please proceed with with caution, it can be offensive.)

The health benefits of eating nopal have been claimed by everyone from nutritionists to my mother-in-law, who has a green smoothie every day made with whole nopal, parsley, ginger, lemon and water, because she says its good for detox, weight loss, preventing cancer and getting rid of stubborn belly fat.  A quick Google search yielded similar claims – nopal is antibiotic and can be used topically or ingested for this purpose; nopal helps to prevent and reduce cardiovascular inflammation and might even reduce existing plaque buildup in the arteries; due to it’s high levels of soluble and insoluble fiber, it is good for digestion, nutrient absorption and preventing colon cancer; nopal contains vitamins A, C, K and B vitamins, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, riboflavin, chlorophyll, and amino acids.  In summary, nopal is a cheap super food (according to my quick Google search) that is ubiquitous in Mexico.

If you ask, most people will tell you that they love nopal or that they hate it.  My husband, for example, hates it, but drinks his mother’s concoction because of the health benefits – all in one gulp and as fast as possible to avoid the unmistakable nopal flavor.  On the other hand, many girlfriends claim to love it, and will happily finish off any remnants of nopal salad or nopal soup before allowing a waiter to clear their plate; it is, however, unclear whether they actually love it or claim to love it because it’s low calorie, high fiber and supposedly good for weight loss.  Personally, I used to down my mother-in-law’s green smoothie daily, but recently I prefer to cook my nopal instead – and let me be honest, since Mario can’t stand it I rarely make it.

If you want to give nopal a try, the mucilage – basically nopal slime – is nopal’s most offensive characteristic, and precisely the thing that absorbs the toxins out of the water according to the research carried out by the students at the Colegio de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos de Hidalgo.  Luckily, a well-prepared nopal salad is not slimy at all, it just depends on how it is made.  And if you want to give the green juice a try to see if it will help you with that stubborn belly fat, here’s a trick I learned from a family friend in Oaxaca: blend the ingredients for the green juice for several minutes (2-3 at least), it will become less slimy and much more palatable.  Adding pineapple helps with the flavor, too.