Many years ago I read that there were thousands of edible foods that we never eat in our regular day-to-day diets. Part of the reason is that they are regional foods. However, I was interested in the micronutrients supplied by foods I would normally not either have access to or ordinarily eat.
In 2019 I went to Tucson, Arizona, for the book launch of LOSS, SURVIVE, THRIVE: Bereaved Parents Share Their Stories of Healing and Hope (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019, I had contributed the chapter “Waking Up is Hard to Do.” While there I discovered a local co-op store and inside found a jar of dried cholla cactus buds. These are loaded with calcium and help regulate blood sugar levels.
I excitedly brought them home, only to learn they needed to be boiled for an hour. So they sat in their jar until this week. With nearly a foot of snow on the ground, I decided it was time to cook them. Afterward, I pulled one out of the pot and gave it a try. Hmmm. It was like lemony asparagus. Most online recipes call for cooking them with other vegetables. However, cholla buds are fruit, and according to ancient Indian Ayurvedic wisdom, fruit should be consumed with other fruit, nuts, and seeds, but not vegetables.
I put half the boiled buds into a food processor and whirled. I poured that into a bowl and added a tablespoon of dried wild sea buckthorn berries, which are sour. Annie Achee with the National Leiomyosarcoma Foundation had told me she was ordering them online, so I had a packet on hand.
Then I added poppy seeds, sprouted chia seeds, and monk fruit. Breakfast!