Queso de Tuna (Prickly Pear Paste)

Despite its name, queso de tuna contains no cheese: it is a dark, dense sweet made by boiling and beating the juice of the tuna cardona, the fruit of the nopal cactus, until it sets in moulds.

It is typical of San Luis Potosí, on the arid high plateau where wild nopal is abundant and its fruit has been harvested since pre-Hispanic times.