This is my version, which is simply made with (fresh!) nopalitos, chopped or diced bacon, diced onions and a little salt and pepper. At times a scant bit of fresh chopped cilantro, maybe a little bit of chopped mild jalapeno.

"What's a nopale and what's a tocino?" You might ask. Tocino is Spanish for bacon, and Nopales (or nopalitos) is Spanish for edible cactus pads. Opuntia ficus indica, or nopal, is massively cultivated in Mexico for food, and has been a beloved food staple all over Mexico, Central and South America and many other places around the world for thousands of years. It's a veggie like any other.

Nopales have a liquid somewhat akin to that of okra, and that will cook away. The flavor is like a cross between asparagus and fresh green beans. Nopales can be eaten fresh as a salad veggie or cooked in countless ways. They're highly nutritional.

If fresh nopale pads aren't available, this can easily be made with canned nopalitos sold in the glass jar. Just drain and rinse them very well before using.

On to the recipe: chop the onions, toss in a large pot or skillet, stir. Toss in the bacon, stir around with the sizzling onions. Let this cook out a little bit of oil, not lots, about 2 minutes. Then toss in the fresh nopalitos or rinsed, drained jarred nopalitos. Give that a stir to coat everything in bacon oil.

Now let it sizzle while you rinse and chop about a teaspoon of cilantro and perhaps some sort of chili pepper. The last two are optional. Add to the pot and mix it around.

I usually sizzle this about 10 minutes on medium high heat, then turn down the heat and put on the lid. That simmers on low for another 10 minutes then serve. The nopalitos are cooked once they turn from a bright green to an olive color, and are tender.

I like to eat this with a spoon as is, or fill a tortilla and eat it like a burrito or taco. It's great as a side dish to the main dish, or topping a tostada, added to burrito fillings or enchilada filling. There's countless ways to enjoy this stuff!

In Mexico, nopales con tocino has myriads of ways and methods of preparation, this is simply mine.

Tocino: "toh-SI-no", Nopale: "no-PAH-leh", Nopalito: "no-pah-LEE-to".

Many grocery stores sell fresh nopale pads already cleaned of the spines. Once home with them, put on rubber gloves, and scrape the pads with a sharp knife or veggie peeler under running water. Also slice off and discard the outside edges all the way around the pad, plus cut away and discard the thicker, tough stem end.

Another way to de-spine them would simply be to toss them on a hot grill over fire, allowing the fire to burn off all the spines of every type and size.

I grew and ate the "thornless" variety a few years ago. However they do have very tiny hairlike barbs that are difficult to see before they get stuck in your skin. It usually took about 3-4 days for that hairlike barb to finally get out of my skin. I'd rather deal with the cactus varieties that have barbs I can clearly see.

Handle them with long handled tongs and rubber gloves until you get more acquainted with handling them.

Allergies: People can have allergic reactions to almost anything! The list is mind-blowingly long. A simple peanut or kiwi fruit can cause anything from mild, itchy rashes to a full-on rush to the ER with anaphylaxis. So be aware that if someone is allergic to cactus fruits of any type, such as "Peruvian apples" dragon fruit, "pitaya" or "pitahaya" fruits, then don't eat nopales.