This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Food and drink This article is within the scope of WikiProject Food and drink, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of food and drink related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Food and drinkWikipedia:WikiProject Food and drinkTemplate:WikiProject Food and drinkFood and drink ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale. Food and Drink task list: edit history watch purge To edit this page, select here Here are some tasks you can do for WikiProject Food and drink: Help bring these Top Importance articles currently B Status or below up to GA status: Agaricus bisporus (i.e. mushroom), Beef, Bread, Curry, Drink, Food, Ham and eggs, Soy sauce, Sushi, Yogurt Bring these Top Importance articles currently at GA status up to FA status: Beer, French cuisine, Sugar Bring these High Importance articles currently at GA status up to FA status: Apple, Burger King, Fish Participate in project-related deletion discussions. Delete unrelated trivia sections found in articles. Please review WP:Trivia and WP:Handling trivia to learn how to do this. Add the {{WikiProject Food and drink}} project banner to food and drink related articles and content to help bring them to the attention of members. For a complete list of banners for WikiProject Food and drink and its child projects, select here. Provide photographs and images for Category:Wikipedia requested images of food Consider joining this project's Assessment task force. List any project ideas in this section Note: These lists are transcluded from the project's tasks pages. Mexico Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Mexico, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Mexico on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MexicoWikipedia:WikiProject MexicoTemplate:WikiProject MexicoMexico Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. Plants Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Plants, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of plants and botany on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PlantsWikipedia:WikiProject PlantsTemplate:WikiProject Plantsplant Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. Mesoamerica (inactive) This article is within the scope of WikiProject Mesoamerica, a project which is currently considered to be inactive.MesoamericaWikipedia:WikiProject MesoamericaTemplate:WikiProject MesoamericaMesoamerica Agriculture Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Agriculture, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of agriculture on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.AgricultureWikipedia:WikiProject AgricultureTemplate:WikiProject AgricultureAgriculture Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. United States: New Mexico Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by WikiProject New Mexico (assessed as Low-importance).

The article states that "nopal" is the vegetable of the cactus plant in question, calling it a member of the prickly pear (opuntia) genus, but the biological table says it is a different genus entirely. So is it the plant, or just the edible portion thereof? And what is the true classification? Is there a biologist out there wililng to untangle this?--Rockero 18:18, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Nopalea is an obsolete synonym of Opuntia. — Pekinensis 19:57, 28 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Normally I rather dislike finding recipes or such, but this is basically a flat section of raw cactus, when you buy it fresh in the store. I went to Cancún and did not buy any to make while I was there, principally because I wasn't sure what to do with it. Might we could cover the typical use or preparation for this food? Robbiemuffin (talk) 20:04, 16 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This article talk page was automatically added with {{WikiProject Food and drink}} banner as it falls under Category:Food or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. The bot was instructed to tagg these articles upon consenus from WikiProject Food and drink. You can find the related request for tagging here . Maximum and careful attention was done to avoid any wrongly tagging any categories , but mistakes may happen... If you have concerns , please inform on the project talk page -- TinucherianBot (talk) 22:17, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What kinds and how much agricultural chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers) are used in the growing of these in Mexico? Badagnani (talk) 23:16, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

A problem that I see with this article is that it repeats information in other articles such as Opuntia and cactus. What is exactly meant by Nopal? Is the name Nopal a common name in English for Opuntia? Does it refer to a specific species? Or does it refer to any Opuntia that is used for cooking?

I would prefer the last meaning. I'd argue that the term nopal is mostly used in Latin America Spanish for the plant and the ingredient, and in American English in about the same way due to influence from the Mexican cuisine. In this regard, I would propose that the Nopal article be reserved for culinary information, or be merged into the general Opuntia ficus-indica article.

I don't think Nopal deserves its own article if its description is already covered in Opuntia.----101.127.129.80 (talk) 01:25, 12 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Your question invites creation of a useful subsection on etymology. Why not write a draft here first for other editors to contribute, then the section can be added to the article.

Nopal means 'paddle' in the Aztec language, Nahuatl, as shown on the Opuntia page. It seems to be an English-friendly descriptive term, giving the paddle-shaped cactus leaves an alternate name to Opuntia or 'prickly-pear'. --Zefr (talk) 01:54, 12 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Is there a need for this to be separate from Opuntia? I think the two pages should be merged. --70.184.83.221 (talk) 22:45, 27 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

This article is about food. Nopalito should be merged into this article for clarity. Nopalito is diced Nopal, which is the primary food purpose. 66.68.50.167 (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 17:01, 6 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]