Wild Foods of Tucson

Our Sonoran desert has one of the most varied selections of wild foods anywhere on the planet.

Desert Flowers

It is spring in the Sonoran desert. The cacti are blooming . . .
Read the entire post here

Sonoran Desert – Our Home

What would happen if the Sonoran desert changed? Well, isn’t it always changing?
View full posting here:

http://desertortoisebotanicals.com/?p=548

Spring is Here!

Before this late freeze came through we were experiencing classic Sonoran spring weather . . .
Follow this link for the complete post: http://desertortoisebotanicals.com/?p=526

Eat Mesquite!

Exciting news! The first authoritative cookbook on our native Mesquite has been launched from Tucson, AZ. In it you will find creative recipes to entice omnivores, vegans, sweet-tooths and wild food enthusiasts. From Sonoran Baklava and Mesquite Ice Cream to Southwest Mesquite Beef Stew and Lemon Ginger Mesquite Cupcakes, there’s a variety of flavors to explore.

Mesquite has been a food staple amongst the people of the Sonoran desert going back millennia. Today, there is an emergence of interest in reviving this abundant, local food resource.  The Mesquite tree (Prosopis spp.) is native to much of the Southwest U.S. and is found natively down into South America.  It flowers in the spring and begins to produce long pods in May which ripen in the intense dry heat of the Sonoran summer.  The pods are naturally sweet and ready to eat right off the tree.  The seeds are extremely hard and resist digestion even by large ruminants so the tree has spread over vast expanses of the Sonoran desert since the introduction of cattle grazing over 200 years ago.  Everywhere you look, there’s Mesquite.  Get to know the tree if you live in the Southwest and find some pods to gather next spring.  Taste one.  If it’s sweet then harvest up some bags and bring them to a local Mesquite milling event.  For more information on Mesquite milling and where to purchase the newly released Eat Mesquite! cookbook, visit:  http://www.desertharvesters.org/mesquite-in-the-kitchen/eat-mesquite-cookbook/

Below is an excerpt from Eat Mesquite:

“Mesquite, and its various parts, – leaves, pods, flowers, inner bark, thorns and sap, or chucata – is a simple and widely applied home remedy for a variety of ills.   The pods, leaves or flowers can be used to make an excellent eyewash to treat inflamed conjunctiva, sore eyes, pink eye, etc.  This medicine could be of great help to diabetics who frequently incur eye inflammation.  The black sap, or choohoo viduj in O’Odham, can be used to heal cataracts.  The leaves were a common medicine being chewed, and the juice swallowed, to help indigestion, or eaten fresh to help inhibit dysentery or diarrhea when necessary.  A tea of the leaves was used to treat headache, stomachache and fever.  The tea, held in the mouth, was used to lessen painful gums.  An infusion of the bark was given to children to stop bedwetting.  The Tohono O’Odham used the inner bark as a tea for indigestion as well as an emetic or cathartic, and it could be used as a food when necessary.”

 

Verdolagas – Purslane

As I write, we are at the height of Verdolaga season in Tucson, AZ. This seasonal green can be had from Mexican supermarkets just about year-round, but to pick this delicacy (we don’t like to say “weed”) fresh from your garden, or purchase it inexpensively from your favorite local farmer’s market is a delight of the summer season. How many have tread upon it, allowed their dogs to urinate on it, pulled it from their well-manicured gardens whilst cursing it all summer long, and never to know the hidden treasure it is. Known as Verdolagas amongst the spanish-speaking Mexicans, Purslane by the Anglo population, and ku’ukpalk by the O’Odham who still remember what it is, this garden green can be found growing at the edges of roads, all over your yard, in city drainages and the edges of old homesites all over the state.  Known as Portulaca, botanically, and from a family of the same namesake (Portulacaceae), this genus covers Arizona with six different native species, either annuals or perennials, all of which like relatively dry, sandy soil which drains well.  To find it is to find soil which has been dug up, disturbed, or trod upon.

In Tucson, if you have Purslane growing in your garden you want to gather the yellow-flowered variety for any of your culinary explorations. This species is known as Little Hogweed, Portulaca oleracea, (P. retusa is nearly identical) which is native to Europe, and has become naturalized here.  Its tiny yellow flowers open in the morning and begin to close hours after dawn.  If you gather it in the morning it will have more malic acid, and therefore be tangy in taste.  Gathered in the afternoon it will be sweeter in taste, as the malic acid is transformed into glucose.  Consider yourself fortunate if you have it in your garden, and if you pull it out then at least share it with a friend if you’re not going to eat it.  Purslane is edible, delicious raw or cooked and has a high nutritive value.

Purslane also has a variety of medicinal applications.  It is Cooling & Moistening with a sour flavor.  These qualities hint at some of its traditional medicinal applications.  The Cooling aspect is welcomed by most in this hot climate, but due to the increased moisture in the air during summer rains, symptoms of Dampness prevail (edema, loose stool, fatigue, depression, skin eruptions, for example) usually accompanied by Heat, which can be a pathway toward illness.  Purslane, consumed in abundance, will likely exacerbate such symptoms.  So eaten in moderation most will be safe from any negative effects.  Please don’t confuse this as a statement to caution against its use in particular!  The same could be said for glutenous grains, sugar, bananas, rice, pineapple, etc.  It is a reflection of their nature as foods and the given environmental factors, which combine with each individual’s constitution.

Portulaca oleracea - Purslane, Verdolagas

If you know what Purslane looks like, but you’re not sure how to distinguish between species, I will give you some clues as to what you’re looking for.  First, the leaves of P. oleracea will be elongated, but fatter at the end and rounded.  The flowers will be yellow and the tiny black seeds will appear within a cup resembling what you may be served a cafe au lait in, in Paris.  If the stems break easily when you pull on them and the leaf nodes are somewhat flattened and look airbrushed magenta, then you have the wrong Purslane (for eating).  This “wrong” Purslane will also have more egg-shaped, opposite leaves, not as elongated as our delicacy, P. oleracea.

Looking into the chemistry of P. oleracea opens up some new perspectives on this plant.

- contains norepinephrine, potassium salt, calcium, magnesium, iron, dopamine, catecol, pyrocatechol, and DOPA, antioxidant vitamins a-tocopherol, ascorbic acid, b-carotene, vitamin C, and glutathione, betalain, betacyanins, and betaxanthins; amino acids found in Purslane are of the following:  isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, cystine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, threonine, and valine; essential fatty acids (EFAs) EPA, DHA, ALA.

Interestingly, it contains the precursor to dopamine and norepinephrine and epinephrine in L-DOPA, in addition to containing quantities of dopamine and norepinephrine.  This would indicate a usefulness in estrogen-dominant menstrual irregularities and perhaps, also, with hyperprolactinemia. Essential fatty acids (EFAs), EPA & DHA, are both found in Purslane, and it is considered one of the highest sources of non-fish EPA.  This is in addition to alpha-linolenic acid which is also found in quantity in Purslane.  The significance of the EPA is that this is what our bodies need in order to regulate inflammation system-wide.  If we are to consume EFAs from say, chia seeds or flax seeds, which contain no EPA or DHA, only alpha linoleic/linolenic acid (ALA) then we need to convert that into EPA for our usage.  The problem is that humans can only convert about 5% of that into EPA in a 3-stage process, and only when the necessary micronutrients (magnesium, vitamin C, zinc, etc. – all of which we are commonly deficient in) are readily available.  So the presence of EPA & DHA in Purslane is very significant for vegetarians or those who have limited access to grass-fed or wild meats (ruminants and fish).  EPA & DHA have beneficial effects for the circulatory system, immune function, brain health, nervous system health, and female reproductive health.  This can translate into diminished PMS symptoms, reduced systemic inflammation, allergies lessened, skin problems lessened, arthritis improved, etc.

P. oleracea has been used traditionally in Taiwan for enteritis, gastritis, diabetes, inflammation and hepatitis, as well as for improving overall liver function.  In traditional Chinese medicine it is used for bleeding of the genito-urinary tract and dysentery.

Cautions and considerations for Purslane:  It contains oxalic acid which can aggravate urinary tract infections, and tendencies to develop kidney or bladder stones.  It is of some debate as to whether cooking plants which contain oxalic acid (spinach, rhubarb, raspberries, etc.) may diminish or eliminate it.  However, oxalates are highly water soluble so cooking the purslane and straining it would be a wise attempt at removing the oxalic acid.  Another wild edible and tasty sour green known as Lemon Sorrel, or Oxalis spp., is the plant by which the name oxalic acid was first derived.

Different ways of preparing Verdolagas includes boiling, sauteing, soups and salads.  As stated earlier, you may be able to reduce the oxalic acid content by boiling it and then discarding the water.  Hence, in a soup it would still be present in the broth.  A delicious recipe for preparing Verdolagas is as follows:

Chop up 4 cups of Verdolagas, and in the meantime have 4 chopped strips of bacon and half a yellow onion, chopped, sauteeing in the bacon grease.  Shortly add some diced cactus pads, or nopalitos, and continue to cook adding some sea salt and black pepper.  You may choose to add some chopped tomato or summer squash and perhaps some Wild Oregano, or garden Oregano.  Once the bacon and onions are nearly cooked through add the Purslane and simmer covered for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently.  This is a delicious side-dish or eaten as a simple meal along with corn tortillas or fresh tamales.  This recipe should serve 2 people as a small, simple meal.

References

Kearney, Peebles.  AZ Flora, 1951.

Li, Thomas S.C.   Taiwanese Native Medicinal Plants, 2006.

Palaniswamy, U.R., B.B. Bible, and R.J. McAvoy. 2002. Effect of nitrate: Ammonium nitrogen ratio on oxalate levels of purslane. p. 453–455.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-DOPA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_oleracea

Agha-Hosseini F, Borhan-Mojabi K, Monsef-Esfahani HR, Mirzaii-Dizgah I, Etemad-Moghadam S, Karagah A (Feb 2010). “Efficacy of purslane in the treatment of oral lichen planus”. Phytother Res. 24 (2): 240-4

Gathering Sonoran Sweetness

Fresh-picked Saguaro Fruit

The cherished time of year in the Sonoran desert is now upon us.  While the desert heats up to temperatures above 110 F, many run for cooler, moister climes and foreign visitors are scorched in short time.  This heat is necessary, it is a natural process inherent in our desert’s ecology.  To eliminate it in some way would be to lose one of the greatest gifts this desert has to offer us.  Without the intense heat the fruit of our Saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) would not mature properly.  Not many people today know the characteristic sweet taste of the fruit of the Saguaro cactus, known as bahidaj in the Tohono O’Odham (native peoples of the Sonoran desert region) language.  It is the O’Odham people (often referred to as Papago) who have preserved the knowledge on how to prepare such things as Saguaro syrup (bahidaj sitol), Saguaro jelly, and Saguaro wine (navait).

Baby Saguaros with ripe fruit ("bahidaj")

Before the arrival of honey bees from Europe and Africa and processed sugar from refineries in the Caribbean, Saguaro, or haashan, fruit and syrup were the main natural sweeteners available to the people of the area surrounding Tucson.  Traveling another 100 miles south, one begins to enter the terrain of the Organ Pipe cactus, or pitahaya, as it is known in Mexico, which also produces a very sweet edible fruit which can be processed into a natural syrup.  These treasures were once coveted by all inhabitants of the desert – humans and animals, alike.  The sweet flavor, as it is described in the Chinese cosmology, is cooling and moistening.  What more could one look for during the hot & dry seasons of the Sonoran desert?  It is a medicine in itself simply for this virtue.  Long before the omnipresence of sweeteners in our diets, we would covet a natural sweet.  Sugar or honey was said to bring a patient back from the dead in northern Africa.  Even the most acclimatized desert dweller is affected by daily temperatures above 105 F with zero humidity.  Understandably, worth more than gold to hunter-gatherer, agriculturalists seeking to live in harmony with their surroundings.

"Bahidaj" - Fresh Saguaro fruit

As the summer heats up the Saguaro fruit begin to ripen.  First turning slightly red at the top the fruits soon burst open with the most luscious, deep purplish-red tone one can imagine, seducing man and woman alike with its sweet moistness.  Now is the time for gathering.  But if it should rain, ‘it eats the fruit’ as was said by the elders from past times. Moisture will cause the sugary liquid to quickly spoil in the hot sun.  There are two basic methods for gathering the Saguaro fruit.  1) You can simply pick up whatever has fallen to the ground (gakidaj or joon), as all non-winged animals do, or 2) dis-lodge the mature fruit (bahidaj) from the top of the cactus.  This may seem like a lot of work to someone who has not seen a good ku’ipad  (see below) put to work.  Well, it still may seem like a lot of work even after one has seen it, however, this is the main tool of the harvest.  A ku’ipad is made up from the internal skeleton, or ribs, (vaapai) of the Saguaro.  Two or more are spliced together with another rib, normally fastened together with baling wire.  A cross piece (mastsig) is used near the top and fastened at an angle.  This piece can be Mesquite as it is hard, and resists breaking.

A ku’ipad ready to harvest

Even the ripe fruits can be very resistant to coming off and often require some pushing (hemchkwua) or pulling force (od) to get them off the cactus.  Putting it on at an angle makes a kind of hook for trapping the fruit before you pull on it.  Once the fruit is knocked off, you can pick it up off the ground or have somebody there to catch it in a bucket or basket as was once done by the O’Odham.  If you’re making syrup, either way works fine.  Any sand or plant debris picked up will be skimmed off or filtered when you cook it.  If you find any fully dry fruit, save them separately.  This joon, as it is called, is a most delicious treat and will keep fresh for over a year on the shelf.  Combining it with other dry desert fruits and roasted wild seeds and nuts can make a fine Sonoran trail-mix.  Traditionally, it was moistened and mixed into water to make a sweet drink – the original desert Gatorade.

Cooking the "iada"

Straining the seeds and "kivc" (fiber)

Before boiling the fresh, juicy fruit water is added – not too much, not too little.  As it is being brought to a boil it will begin to froth up.  This froth is scooped up with a slotted spoon as it will carry the lighter plant debris up to the surface where it is easily skimmed and discarded.  The heavier sand and pebbles will settle to the bottom.  Once it has been sufficiently cleaned, it can be poured through a strainer to remove the seeds (kaai) and the fiber (kivc, “guts”).

Seed and fiber ("kivc") cakes

The seeds are stored away for later use.  They were traditionally combined, ground, with wheat flour to make what’s called ku’ul, and likely, before that, with ground corn, roasted, ground saltbush seeds, dry, ground cholla buds, pamita (Tansy Mustard)/ shuu’uvad seeds, etc., to make a gruel, or atol, or atole. The seeds were also used by nursing mothers as a galactagogue, perhaps as a nutritional aid.  They were a food source which was nearly always on-hand.  The fiber, or “guts,” are separated from the seeds and used to make jelly combined with the juice.  The fiber must contain pectin as it is used to “firm up” the juice into jelly, or jam.

Fine Straining the Juice

Once the seeds are strained and the last bit of juice is poured off leaving the small stones and sand behind, one more fine straining is done before cooking off the remaining water.  The added water must be cooked off in order to preserve the finished syrup; similar to honey’s low water content which preserves it.  The finished syrup can remain on the shelf for years when done properly, even once opened.  Through time it may thicken and develop a consistency and strong flavor similar to rich molasses.

"Bahidaj sitol"

Haashan bahidaj harvest was once a major event in the life of the Tohono O’Odham people.  Its significance so great as to mark the beginning of a new year when the harvest was complete and the navait prepared for another year-end celebration.  There was song and there was dance done as the bahidaj sitol was set to ferment inside clay pots set into the warm ground for 4 days.  This was a sacred time for them.  As a people highly dependent upon the summer rains for their welfare and the continuance of their nation they must’ve put a lot into these ceremonies as calls for rain.  A mindset which likely few of us have ever experienced in our lifetimes.  Dependent upon, and completely at the mercy of Mother Nature and her blessings for us.  In the harsh severity of the pre-monsoon Sonoran desert summer, the sweetness of the Saguaro peaked and the people let go of all restraint in their wine feast (goimeri) as if to induce the clouds to do the same.

There are many options on today’s health food store shelves to improve your antioxidant intake, and none of them too inexpensive.  Well, nature has to work hard to produce them!  But think for a second about where mangosteen comes from, or acai, or green tea for that matter.  All are from ecosystems thousands of miles away from our home in the Sonoran desert.  Yet, we have a multitude of native plants producing fruit throughout the year which are high in potent antioxidants.  Saguaro fruit is a rich natural sweetener, and, additionally, is super-rich in antioxidants.  If you’ve ever seen acai paste it is a deep purple, not too dissimilar from bahidaj sitol . . . same as Elderberries, Prickly Pear fruit, Greythorn berries, Serviceberries, wild Raspberries, etc. . . . all strongly pigmented fruits, which equals high antioxidant content. If you want to limit free radical damage, help prevent cancer, improve digestion and micronutrient absorption, heal wounds rapidly, protect and heal the eyes, improve arterial elasticity, etc. increase antioxidant intake! It’s all right here.  Get out, get to know your environment, bring a friend, take a class on wild foods preparation and share it with your family.  The ways which we can harmonize ourselves with our immediate environment are very simple, and profoundly healing for the body, mind and spirit.

References

Cross, Lambert  Personal Communication, June-July, 2010.

Rea, Amadeo M.  At the Desert’s Green Edge, 1997.

Tucker, Stella  Personal Communication, June, 2010.