Wild foods
One of the things we worry about, as regards food, is human tampering – the stuff that people put on or in the items we eat. With wild foods, you don’t have to think about that as much. Plus, in the case of animals, you know the type of living conditions they are exposed to – a normal life in their natural habitat.

Within any balanced ecosystem, there are things to eat. The trick is finding and using them without upsetting that balance.

Hunting
We don’t eat meat every day, or anywhere close to that. We tend to eat it mainly when our protein levels are getting low.

Chickens and goats are one source. Jack rabbits, cotton-tails, birds, javelina and deer are other possibilities.

You can use almost all of the animal you kill, whether for meat, furs and hides, sinews, etc. The more you use, the less the life you took has been wasted.

Gathering
Here’s a few examples of the desert’s gift to the table:

Pitaya or Strawberry Cactus: during summer, this cactus produces a fruit that is somewhere between a kiwi and a strawberry. When it’s ripe, it detaches easily from the cactus (other than the thorn obstacle course). Peel off the skin and eat the flesh. It is sweet and delicious. Last year, we froze a bunch of the fruit we picked, and then put them, some tequila and lime in a blender...wow!

Fish-hook: has a similar fruit to Pataya.

Yucca: are useful for so many different things, one of which is food. You can eat the blossoms – not too many if raw, as they can irritate the throat, but cooked they pose no problem and taste a little like cabbage. The fruit is also edible, and kind of resembles a cantaloupe in flavor, but you have to beat the critters to it.

Persimmon: there’s a wild persimmon here that’s small, black/purple when ripe, and sweet. There’s trees all along the dry creek beds. We gather them in summer, cook them down some, and then strain off the seeds and skins. We use them for pies, jellies and sauces.

Ocotillo: this strange-looking plant has a red flower in the spring and after good rains. It makes an excellent tea, kind of like hibiscus.

Prickly pear: you can eat the pads, especially the young, tender ones – burn off the spines and use in a stir-fry or omelet. The fruit is also good for jellies.

Mesquite beans can be ground down for flour.

Additional Resources:

• Forbes Wild Foods - Canadian company that supplies wild foods, primarily to restaurants and food stores.