The Perfect Prickly Pear Margarita

One of my favorite cocktails in the world is the Prickly Pear Margarita at Anejo in Falmouth, Massachusetts. While they’ve taken it off the menu since I first started ordering it, they will still make it for you if you ask. However, I can’t always get out to The Cape. I’ve tried making them from fresh prickly pears and prickly pear juice and they just don’t turn out the same. Plus, it’s a pain to deal with the seeds and I can’t always find them in stores. Last year I finally asked the bartender what they use to make the margarita. The secret? Prickly pear syrup. Then the hunt began. I checked both local stores and online and came up empty-handed. One day I randomly decided to check Amazon again and found some. When it came I got right to work recreating this cocktail. There is no artificial food coloring or ingredients for that matter in this recipe. The gorgeous fuchsia color comes from the prickly pear fruit. If you’ve never had it, it’s usually described as a cross between bubble gum and watermelon, which I think is pretty accurate.

Ingredients:

Makes 1 margarita

• 2 oz silver tequila of your choice

• 4 oz Ripe Bar Juice Agave Margarita Fresh Lime Sour

• .5 - 1 oz of prickly pear syrup (depending on taste)

You can, of course, use whatever your favorite margarita mixer is but I highly recommend the Ripe Bar Juice version. It’s made with cold-pressed juice so it tastes really fresh. There are no preservatives, artificial colors, corn syrup, artificial flavors, or juice concentrates. It’s just four ingredients: water, cold-pressed lime juice, cold-pressed orange juice, and 100% agave nectar. Also, it’s perfectly balanced. I find a lot of margarita mixes are very sweet, but not this one! All of their bar juices are fantastic. If you want to see if a store near you carries it check their store locator here. Another option is to make your own margarita mix from scratch. I’m also going to link to the exact prickly pear syrup that I used here. There are other prickly pear syrups and drink mixes on the market but they contain artificial colors and flavors.

Directions:

1. If desired, garnish a glass with salt or sugar by running a lime wedge along the rim and dipping into a saucer of salt/sugar. Then fill the glass with ice.

2. Add tequila, margarita mix, and prickly pear syrup to a cocktail shaker. The more syrup you add the sweeter and darker pink your cocktail will be so if you want a sweeter more fuchsia cocktail go with 1 oz of syrup and if you want it more on the sour side (my personal preference) go with the .5 oz. Fill the shaker to the top with ice, cover, and shake vigorously.

3. Strain and pour into glass over ice.

4. Enjoy responsibly.

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