Opuntia Cactus Pickles Update

Well yesterday I popped open that apothecary jar of cactus refrigerator pickles.....DAMN they are good! Nice and crisp, the pickle juice did not become slimy as I expected, and great flavor. The taste is close to bread-and-butter pickles but much less sweet and with a ton of garlic and a fair amount of hot peppers. I took a small tub to my gym for folks there to taste and they loved them. The success of this first batch insures I will be making more, plus inspires me to re-look at the pickled fish recipes I've been collecting as someone who LOVES pickled herring. Now that the mullet are running and spawning I may well try my hand at making pickled mullet for the first time. For me, there is a near-spiritual satisfaction that comes from intimately growing and harvesting and preparing my own food. I just can't imagine living off of processed "food"! John