If you live in Southern Arizona, chances are that you have some varieties of cacti growing in your yard. The Sonoran Desert is home to many unique types of cacti, which not only offer distinctive visual appear in Tucson landscapes, but can also be nourishing with their delicious fruits. Though they may appear intimidating on the outside, some cacti offer tasty edible returns, which you can harvest and utilize in your kitchen. Here’s a look at a few of the most common edible cacti you might have right in your backyard.

Prickly Pear

Prickly pear is the most well-known of the edible cacti, and it is famous for its bright pink fruits, which are often made into jellies and syrups. The actual leaves of the plant can be eaten as well, and they are a common feature of Sonoran Mexican cuisine, often served grilled and sliced thin or chopped and roasted.

Saguaro

Though they require some special tools to harvest—often made from the spines of other saguaros—saguaro fruits are edible. Due to the extreme heights at which these fruits are grown, they are often eaten by local birds before they can be harvested. If you do manage to harvest the ones in your yard, they can be eaten in a variety of dishes once the fleshy pulp is removed from the rough outer skin, which should have pink markings when the fruit is ready to eat.

Barrel Cactus

A much lower-effort fruit bearing cactus is the barrel cactus, which may have very large spines along its body, but it produces fruit that has no spines to contend with along with edible flowers. This makes harvesting and using the fruit much easier, and it means that you can bite into the fruit raw—though it may taste better blended into a smoothie or sweetened in a jam.

 

To create a stunning desert landscape for your Tucson home or schedule landscape maintenance to keep your plants in great shape, call Complete Landscaping at (520) 323-8918. Our professional team understands the unique desert climate and plants that make the area so beautiful, so you can trust us to provide the best care for your yard.