..Plants of the desert feed many creatures. I've decided to join the feast. In the past, I've made a few tinctures from desert plants and sampled a few cactus products. Starting with mesquite pods and barrel cactus this winter, I'm trying a year of harvests from the various pickings around here.
Email me your local culinary finds and recipes.
Barrel Cactus
..I have been harvesting barrel
cactus fruit and experimenting with it in the kitchen.We made
a mincemeat-like cooked chutney with the
fruit. It tends to be slimy, so jelled things makes sense. I tried jam
sweetened with fructose and honey. Drying the halved and deseeded fruit
a little reduces sliminess; so does vinegar and citrus juices. I've
also used chopped or blended fruit in soups, smoothies and salsas.
.. The seeds are hard and
require blending well or powdering, but they are not bitter and have
a mild nutty flavor that is high in protein. I have blended them in
smoothies and added the powder to a raw foodist version of a cracker
that is dehydrated rather than baked. I also added seeds to sauces and
smoothies with good success. With all the seeds in the fruit, I wonder
why I see no baby barrel cactus.. maybe a long drought cycle.
Herb
Tea 101:
My "whole teapot" method and favorite herbs .
Mesquites
beans turn yellow from green any time during the summer. Their tasty
pods may have peaked so try and pick before the creatures do as they
turn yellow. I picked some yellow pods and made a few baked goods
to experiment. Very tasty, the pods taste like caramel, naturally
sweet. The hard small bean-shaped seeds are very hard and high in
protein. One author advised toasting the pods before blending, but
I processed them raw in my Vita-mix for as long as I could stand the
noise and before my meal heated up. Then I strained out the remaining
seed pieces.
...I used the mesquite meal in some cooked recipes like cornbread and Boston Brown Bread, substituting it for part of the cornmeal/flour mixture.