Cactus Blog 

I previously blogged about how you could now find cactus pads in fancy London groceries, but I was wrong. They’re in fancy London-based groceries in Arizona. Who knew. And yet, <a href="https://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1693&amp;entry_id=1496" title="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=501177&in_page_id=1774&ito=1490" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=501177&in_page_id=1774&ito=1490′;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">the Daily Mail is telling Londoners</a> that cactus pads can cure hangovers. I don’t know how that will work if you can’t actually get the pads in London. Oh well. It’s a good story.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Discovery Sliced Cactus, £1.29 per jar<br />
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Waitrose and Morrisons<br />
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How it works: Extracts of prickly pear cactus have been shown by one U.S. study to alleviate the symptoms of hangovers, though it’s not clear why.<br />
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Tester’s verdict: Eimear O’Hagan, 26, from Belfast, says: &quot;Waking with a dry mouth and a sore head, I ate a few pickled cactus slices and went back to sleep.<br />
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&quot;They were OK if you like pickled food, but had no impact on the hangover. I had acid reflux later on.&quot; 0/10<br />
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Expert’s verdict: &quot;Extract of cactus is rich in antioxidants that can neutralise damage caused by free radical cells. Better taken before drinking not afterwards, so the body’s defences are primed.&quot; 8/10<br />
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Overall rating: 4/10 </span><br /></div><br /><br />

It’s winter in the U.S. which means it’s aloe gum season in Kenya.

I don’t know what this means. Do you? I thought not. But I am nothing if not a complete succulent blogger, including all kinds of things that you never knew you needed to know about. Like this aloe gum issue. Now you know.

You can now buy cactus pads at the finest grocery stores in London, so says the<a href="https://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1690&amp;entry_id=1491" title="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article2987996.ece" onmouseover="window.status=’http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article2987996.ece’;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;"> Times of London</a>.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">You won’t find spotted dick pudding and you can search in vain for a tub of Marmite, but Tesco’s stores in the United States do a nice line in patas de puerco – pigs trotters….<br />
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Take a quick walk down the aisle and…. among the fruit and vegetables sit prepacked cactus leaves.<br />
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It’s not exactly your local high street Tesco, but Britain’s top supermarket chain is looking at the bigger picture.</span><br /></div><br />OK, so it’s not in London after all. It’s a British grocery chain come to the US, and they have all those American delicacies we so love that the Brits won’t touch, like pigs trotters.<br /><br />

<a href="https://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1688&amp;entry_id=1489" title="http://media.www.fchornet.com/media/storage/paper921/news/2007/12/05/Local/Arboretum.Spikes.Interest.In.Cacti.At.Third.Annual.Show.Sale-3135058.shtml" onmouseover="window.status=’http://media.www.fchornet.com/media/storage/paper921/news/2007/12/05/Local/Arboretum.Spikes.Interest.In.Cacti.At.Third.Annual.Show.Sale-3135058.shtml’;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Fullerton Arboretum</a> hosted a cactus show, and they got a surprisingly good turnout.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">&quot;There have been about 3,000 people in total to visit this weekend,&quot; said Cliff Meng.</span><br /></div><br />They like them some cactus in the OC. Plus it was free.<br /><br />

It seems that the White House christmas tree has a saguaro ornament. This is big news in Tucson, as <a href="https://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1687&amp;entry_id=1488" title="http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=7457804&nav=HMO6HMaW" onmouseover="window.status=’http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=7457804&nav=HMO6HMaW’;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Channel 4 KVOA</a> is on the story.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Today we got a look at the ornament submitted by Tucson’s Saguaro National Park. It’s an artist’s version of a saguaro cactus.<br />
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Park Superintendent Sarah Craighead says, &quot;It has the spines that run down the ornament when you look at it.&quot;</span><br /></div><br />You know, this is such a yawner, that I can’t imagine what the TV report must have done to their ratings as thousands of Tusconians turned off their sets. Just imagine what its doing to you, my faithful blog readers, as you turn off your computers to avoid this dull report, and head out into the sunshine. So I guess it’s all good.<br /><br />