by Elizabeth Smith
There are so many amazing wild plants that we can eat here in the Sonoran Desert. As you go out foraging for interesting foods, be sure and wear long pants, closed toed shoes and protective gloves because there may be little critters hanging out as well as lots of thorns and spines. Be aware of your surroundings at all times and as always, if you are not 100% sure of a plant, do not eat it. Another caution is to only harvest from areas that you have permission to do so and not from plants that have been sprayed with herbicides or other chemicals. There are many beautiful prickly pear cactus along Rita Road, for instance, but the city does spray them so they are really not safe to eat.
This time of year is a great time to go out and pick those prickly pear fruits (called “tunas”) to make juice and jelly. Look for brightly colored magenta fruits on the tops of prickly pear cactus pads. Bring a bucket and long handled barbarque tongs to pick them. You’ll know they are juicy ripe when they “bleed” when you harvest them.
Another popular food in the desert that comes out with the monsoon rains is purslane. Purslane is referred to as a weed by gardeners who don’t realize it’s edible. Nutrition wise, purslane contains vitamin E, beta carotene, omega 3’s, vitamin C, magnesium, riboflavin, potassium and phosphorus. In fact, it provides six times more Vitamin E than spinach and seven times more beta carotene than carrots. Do not confuse purslane with spurge, an inedible weed that looks similar. To learn the difference, go to this link and read the article Purslane, the Underappreciated Weed: https://www.communitygardensoftucson.org/wp-content/uploads/July-2017.pdf
One of the most historically sustaining foods is the acorn nut from Emory Oak trees. These can be harvested as soon as they fall to the ground. Of all the acorns, these are the “sweetest” with the least amount of tannins so they do not need leaching. They can be ground into a course flour and made into a flat bread, added to stew or just eaten raw. Native Americans to this day still make the trip to different areas of the state to collect these acorns, often called “bellotas” or “pinons” (not to be confused with pine cone seeds).
