Re the way I cooked up the prickly pear pads,  I should
mention that I did flame off the spines over a gas burner
before slicing them up!! The spines were tiny as though they
had been reduced by cutting for shipping I suppose but there
was still a stub left that would not be good,  I don't
think, to ingest;  one more type of plant defense that
doesn't seem to stop other critters so why should we avoid
them.