WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE CHUMBERS!

   In the cool morning air the other year, our neigbours beckoned us over. He was whittling a piece of wood, she was lovingly peeling'chumber fruits', chumbers are the big juicy fruits of the most commonly seen true cactus (Opuntia ficus), the prickly pear or barbary fig. Once seen planted around the family  home acting as a convenience and rubbish tip, but it is also a valued source of food both for animals and humans.


   Having collected them using a long-handled pair of tongs, the greener fruits are the best, be careful, they are covered in little pricks and have to be rolled on the ground and washed to break them. Our neigbour gently picked one up on the end of a sharp knife, holding it carefully between finger and thumb she cut the tops and tails off, then slit them down one side and pulled back the fleshy skin to retrieve the hearts from within, succulent and full of large dark seeds. These were piled onto a plate and put into the fridge to cool.


   "Ah chumbers" they said. They are so good to eat, she could eat only one or two, they have a moving effect on the intestinal track, but he would eat ten to twenty in one sitting "Stong stomach" he said patting his pornch. A friend once said that maybe they have  other qualities,  after all they are cacti !?


   They then went on to tell me that pigs, goats, chickens etc all love to gorge themselves on them. Tha leaves or 'palletas' are also edible, baked or made into a soup. They told me that when the train used to run they would board it at Almanzora with a big bucket full and then walk up and down the carriages selling them for a few cents each, as a thirst quenching snack to fellow passengers. On arrival at Baza they would turn around and catch the next train home. "Very important those chumbers" they said. You could even get denounced to the Guardia for taking someone else's.


   It was the conquistadors who bought the 'opuntia 'from the 'New world' and with them came the cochineal  beetle. Well less of a beetle  more a plant sucking scale bug,closely related to aphids and cicadas. Some time ago I was up in Murcia and noticed that all the chumber/palletas were covered in a white mould, which was smuthering them and killing them. It turns out that this is caused by the cochineal bugs. They produce this  mould like web to stick themseleves to the cactus. Now it has arrived in our area and is turning a once spectacular plant into a mouldy mess.