About

This prickly story begins with Ing. Jose Garza and his wife Elvia, they were cattle farmers for over 30 years with their Montemorelos ranch in, Nuevo León, México. Twenty years ago, after substantial research with the University of Texas A&M, on the natural properties of the Opuntia Ficus Indica, also known as Prickly Pear cactus, they decided to move to the “crop of the future” and started growing cactus in their farm in México.

The Prickly Pear Cactus also known colloquially in México as NOPAL, is a real sustainable crop and each cactus plant cleans 10% more carbon dioxide than a tree! Although you have to watch out for deer and wild boar since they also love munching on this cactus pads.

It has taken The Garza family more than 18 years to develop a procedure to remove each thorn or spine of the Nopal pad by hand (this is still an artisanal task), they also perfected the operation to dehydrate and grind the cactus keeping all the micronutrients.

They also support an altruistic social project of inclusion, teaching people how to cultivate the cactus in their region.

They have been selling their mouthwatering cactus pad gourmet snacks in Mexico and exporting their 100% cactus pad powder to corn tortilla manufacturers in USA.

It was in 2023 when Marcela, Elvia’s cousin (who has been living in London for the last 30 years) visited them and became totally obsessed with their succulent NOPAL snacks. She realised that when she ate the delicious cactus she would not put on weight! She really wanted this delicious portable vegetable & gourmet healthy snacks in London. Marcela is a foodie and loves healing through food. She was anaemic for 30 years and during the pandemic created the podcasts “Anemia in a Nutshell” & “Anemia al grano” for everyone to recover naturally from iron deficiency anaemia and try to contribute in saving the precious blood banks.

Marcela felt amazing with the natural calcium and fibre that the dehydrated 100% Nopal pad powder and snacks provided. She conscientiously investigated the benefits of the cactus herself and realised that the taste was very gentle and would not overpower if used in her recipes, she was fascinated to learn that where ever the Nopal cactus is present the glycaemic index would go down. She started using the Nopal powder in every food you can imagine, from smoothies, sauces, dips, chocolate cake, banana muffins, amaranth cookies, to power balls, chocolate truffles, merengues, crepes and even strawberry sorbet. She was determined to bring the cactus and snacks to Europe and to make sure that only the 100% Prickly Pear cactus powder would be used, so they could really help diabetics and people with osteoporosis and trying to manage their weight. They are very strict with the purity of the product, no fillers, no preservatives only the cactus pad and nothing else!

In September 2024 they were selected to participate in the Entrepreneur programme X-HEC Mission Start up, in Paris.

It has been immense dedication to grow this noble cactus and a real labour of love during many months of late nights to bring NOPAL® to Europe starting from the UK in April 2025.

We want to share the superfood hero Opuntia Ficus Indica cactus with people. We would love for you to learn to use this delicious and real functional food it in every day cooking. We are fascinated with noble NOPAL®, sharing it with friends and family while nourishing ourselves is a great blessing.

Nopal® Your healthy pal.