We’ll keep this short, because nobody likes those recipe blogs that make you scroll past 10 pages and 100 ads to get to the recipe you’re actually there for. In short, we’ve been consuming a TON of electrolytes as we prep for a long running race (the Javelina Jundred--100 miles in the Arizona desert), and we were curious if we could make our own electrolyte drinks. We make our own meals for backpacking, so maybe electrolytes too!
A little research taught us that the key electrolytes you lose when you sweat are sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Sodium’s easy to get from table salt, bananas have lots of potassium, and we learned that prickly pear cactus have both magnesium and calcium. That was all we needed to know to fire up our freeze dryer and get to work!
Below are recipes for two electrolyte powders. Go with the cactus fruit version if you want to optimize magnesium (prickly pear fruit is very high in magnesium), and go with the cactus pad version if you are more interested in calcium. Or, do what we did and make both!
Ingredients
Cactus Fruit & Banana Electrolyte Powder
2.5 Bananas
7 Large prickly pear cactus fruits (the redder the better)
3 tsp table salt
Cactus Pad & Banana Electrolyte Powder
2.5 Bananas
4 Large prickly pear cactus pads (the part that looks like leaves)
2 tsp tablesalt
Instructions
Scorch cactus fruit/pads on a gas stove, or scrub in water, to remove all thorns.
Slice and freeze dry bananas and cactus fruits/pads. (Cactus take longer to freeze dry than most foods).
Pulverize banana and cactus flowers/pads with a mortar and pestle until they are a fine powder. Use a fine sieve/mesh strainer to ensure no large pieces remain, and re-pulverize those. Do this as quickly as possible, because the powders will start to absorb moisture from the air immediately. We pulverized in batches and put each batch in a mason jar with an oxygen absorbing packet inside.
Put banana powder, cactus fruit powder, and 3 tsps of table salt into one mason jar, and put banana powder, cactus pad powder, and 2 tsp of table salt into another. Put oxygen absorbing packets into each. Shake vigorously to mix.
The above ingredient list is enough to make approximately 14 portions of cactus fruit electrolyte powder and about 9 portions of cactus pad electrolyte powder.
Final drink prep: Mix 1 heaping tablespoon of either powder into 12-16 oz of water. Adjust powder:water proportion to match your taste preferences.
Approximate Electrolyte Contents
Cactus Fruit & Banana Powder
498 mg sodium
80 mg potassium
45 mg magnesium
24 mg calcium
Cactus Pad & Banana Powder
516 mg sodium
125 mg potassium
26 mg magnesium
83 mg calcium
We went to this completely unaware of whether or not our powders would taste good. It turns out, they’re both great! With no added sugars or artificial sweeteners, they have a much less intense taste than most electrolyte powders available from the store. They both have a mild and “earthy” flavor, which is really refreshing as a change of pace. If you’re only going to make one, the cactus fruit flavor is less risky. Have fun and let us know if you make these! We’d love to hear what others think!
So far we tried this out on a mid length hike, and it worked well for us. We have not done extensive testing on this powder versus store bought electrolytes.
PS: If you’re looking for a freeze dryer, we just got Harvest Right’s new countertop model. It’s way smaller and quite a bit cheaper than our previous version (the Harvest Right small model), but it has almost as much freeze drying capacity. We couldn’t be happier with it. It’s new and already in high-demand, but Harvest Right reports if you order now it will probably arrive before the holidays. If you buy it from one of the links in this post we get a commission, so that’s a great way to support our content if you are thinking of getting a freeze-dryer. :-)
Videos
Here are two videos of us making and trying it!
Such a fun recipe to make your own electrolytes! I assume you must find a place to pick your own cactus, unless you know of a place that sells them? Meanwhile, I'll continue to use SaltStick capsules.🙂