Abstract:With the development of China's economy，people's life is getting better，and people pay more and more attention to the diversity of food types and the health function of food.It has become a research hotspot to select new food materials that are beneficial to health and develop new food.Each organ of cactus was edible and rich in various active ingredients.These active ingredients endowed cactus with certain functional characteristics such as hypoglycemic effect，bacteriostatic effect，antioxidant effect and anti-inflammatory effect.Therefore，cactus had great potential for food development，which was not only beneficial to human health，but also could broaden consumers'product choices.Taking cactus as the research object，this paper summarized the active ingredients of cactus，expounded its functional characteristics，explored its food development progress in alcohol，beverages，flour and baking products，and analyzed and prospected its food development and application.