Consumer awareness regarding health and improved food quality has promoted the investigation of novel active functional food ingredients. The native mucilage of ‘Algerian’ and ‘Morado’ cultivars of Opuntia ficus-indica Mill is considered for its feasibility as a functional hydrocolloid for industrial scale application. The native mucilage (NM), generally containing various fractions, is considered. A powdered form of the native mucilage was also investigated by subjecting NM to a freeze-drying (F.D) process, as to established freeze-dried, native mucilage (FD.NM). FD.NM powder was reconstituted (R) to a 5% (w/w) concentration forming a R-FD.NM solution and compared to NM liquid for functional differences. A pH range of 4.61 – 4.90 was recorded for all native mucilage. All treatments investigated showed typical non-Newtonian, pseudoplastic flow behaviour. However, viscosity measurements (at shear rates of 30 s-1 to 230 s-1) highlighted clear differences between the NM and R-FD.NM mucilage solutions. NM solutions produced superior viscosity enhancement potential at low shear rates (30 s-1) when compared to the freeze-dried mucilage solutions. Overall, ‘Morado’ showed a higher sensitivity to the freeze-drying process than ‘Algerian’ mucilage. Varying the concentration of FD.NM in solution was further investigated. At concentrations of 2.5 and 10 % (w/w), both ‘Algerian’ and ‘Morado’ showed an obvious dependency on concentration as higher concentrations (10%) resulted in improved viscosity enhancement potential. ‘Morado’ mucilage solutions at 10% reported the highest overall viscosity (at all shear rates tested), however, at a 2.5% concentration only slight difference in viscosity were reported between the two cultivars as the shear rate was increased from 80 – 230 s-1. Lastly, the effect of calcium chloride (CaCl2) inclusions at 30 and 60 % (with respect to mucilage weight used) was investigated. Both ‘Algerian’ and ‘Morado’ showed sensitivity to the calcium inclusions as variations in viscosity measurements were noted between different treatments. Differences in cultivars and mucilage forms (NM vs FD.NM), which both showed to alter mucilage functionality, must carefully be considered for potential applications.