Cactus Pear Fruits (Opuntia spp.): A Review of Processing Technologies and Current Uses ♦ Markus R. Moßhammer, Florian C. Stintzing, and Reinhold Carle Address correspondence to: Florian C. Stintzing Hohenheim University Institute of Food Technology Section Plant Foodstuff Technology August-von-Hartmann-Str. 3 70599 Stuttgart, Germany e-mail: stintzin@uni-hohenheim.de Phone: +49 711-459-2318 Fax: +49 711-459-4110 1. ABSTRACT Crops with additional health-promoting and nutritional benefits, such as cactus pears, are increasingly gaining momentum both for health professionals and consumers (Feugang et al., 2006). Cactus pear fruits are rich in betalains, taurine, minerals, and antioxidants, and thus fit well this trend. Hence, it is considered and are predicted a promising future crop for commercial food applications. In this light, a sound knowledge of the physical and chemical characteristics of cactus pears as well as their current and potential future uses are needed. However, data are scattered and often difficult to access. Therefore, the present review summarizes data from the literature and points out promising areas of research. Key words: Opuntia spp., cactus pear, processing technologies, juice concentrate, coloring foodstuff, fruit powder 2. INTRODUCTION The Opuntia cactus is a xerophyte of about 200 to 300 species and grows mainly in arid and semiarid zones. Due to their remarkable genetic variability, Opuntia plants show a high ecological adaptivity and can, therefore, be encountered in places of virtually all climatic conditions (Stintzing and Carle, 2005). Whereas Opuntia cacti originate from Mexico, they are cultivated in both hemispheres and on all continents except Antarctica (Inglese et al., 2002). Although cactus pear fruits and stems were traditionally utilized for medicinal and cosmetic purposes, as forage, building material, and as a source for natural colors (Stintzing and Carle, 2005) their use is mainly restricted to fresh fruit consumption in their countries of origin (Sáenz and Sepúlveda, 2001; Sáenz-Hernández, 1995), but are also exported to the European fresh fruit market (Mizrahi et al., 1997; Sáenz-Hernández et al., 2002). In the future, declining water resources and global desertification may even increase Opuntia spp. importance as an effective food production system including both fruits and vegetable parts (Stintzing and Carle, 2005). ♦ Received 28 July 2006 J. PACD – 2006 1