Table Of ContentSOUTHWEST
Foraging
SOUTHWEST
Foraging
117 wild and flavorful
edibles from barrel cactus
to wild oregano
JOHN SLATTERY
TIMBER PRESS
Portland, Oregon
Frontispiece: Manzanita berries are among the Southwest’s favorite foraged edibles.
Copyright © 2016 by John Slattery. All rights reserved.
Published in 2016 by Timber Press, Inc.
Photo credits appear on page 309.
The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations
are made without guarantee on the part of the author or Timber Press. The author and publisher
disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information. In particular, eating wild plants is
inherently risky. Plants can be easily mistaken and individuals vary in their physiological reactions to
plants that are touched or consumed.
The Haseltine Building
133 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450
Portland, Oregon 97204-3527
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Printed in China
Text and cover design by Benjamin Shaykin
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Slattery, John, 1974- author.
Title: Southwest foraging: 117 wild and flavorful edibles from barrel cactus to wild oregano / John
Slattery.
Description: Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015047857 | ISBN 9781604696509 (pbk.: alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Wild plants, Edible—Southwestern States.
Classification: LCC QK98.5.U6 S53 2016 | DDC 581.6/320979—dc23 LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2015047857
To all the indigenous peoples of the land we now call the Southwest,
and their legacy of plant knowledge which has carried on.
Contents
Preface: Land of Abundant Beauty 8
Foraging in the Southwest: A Wild Path of Discovery 11
Harvesting with the Seasons 24
Wild Edible Plants of the Southwest 48
algerita 49 evening primrose 121
alligator weed 51 farkleberry 123
American bulrush 53 filaree 125
apple 55 firethorn 127
banana yucca 57 fragrant flatsedge 129
barrel cactus 60 gooseberry 131
beautyberry 63 graythorn 133
bellota 65 greenbrier 135
biscuit root 69 ground cherry 137
black nightshade 71 hackberry 139
blue dicks 73 harebell 141
box elder 75 henbit 142
bracken fern 78 Himalayan blackberry 144
bull nettle 80 horseweed 146
capita 82 Indian tea 148
cattail 84 ironwood 150
chia 87 jewel flower 153
chickweed 90 jojoba 155
chiltepín 91 juniper 157
chokecherry 93 lamb’s quarters 159
cholla 95 lemonade berry 161
cocklebur 98 London rocket 164
dandelion 100 mallow 166
dayflower 102 manzanita 168
desert hackberry 104 mariposa lily 170
desert willow 106 melonette 172
devil’s claw 108 mescál 174
dewberry 110 mesquite 177
dock 112 Mexican palo verde 181
elder 115 milkvine 183
epazote 119 miner’s lettuce 185
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monkeyflower 187 serviceberry 250
Mormon tea 189 sheep sorrel 252
mountain parsley 191 Siberian elm 254
mulberry 193 smartweed 256
nettle 195 snakewood 258
New Mexico locust 197 Solomon’s plume 260
ocotillo 199 sotol 262
oreganillo 202 sow thistle 264
palo verde 205 Texas persimmon 266
pamita 207 thimbleberry 268
pápalo quelite 209 thistle 270
pecan 210 Turk’s cap 272
pellitory 212 violet 274
pennywort 214 walnut 276
peppergrass 216 watercress 278
pigweed 218 wax currant 280
pincushion cactus 222 whitestem blazing star 282
pine 224 whortleberry 284
pony’s foot 226 wild grape 286
prickly pear 228 wild onion 288
purslane 232 wild oregano 290
red bay 234 wild plum 292
red date 236 wild rose 294
red raspberry 238 wild strawberry 296
Rocky Mountain bee plant 240 wild sunflower 298
saguaro 242 wolfberry 300
salsify 246 wood sorrel 302
saya 248
Metric Conversions 305
Useful Internet Resources 306
Further Reading 307
Acknowledgments 308
Photography Credits 309
Index 310
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Preface
Land of Abundant Beauty
Firethorn, resplendent with fruit. A spiral of barrel cactus buds emerge in the
midsummer heat.
Early spring harvest: cholla buds, graythorn berries, and blue palo verde blossoms. Whortleberry’s sweet-tart fruit is a foraging favorite.
8 /
My path to wild plant foods is perhaps different than most. The idea of there
being desirable, useful, or easy-to-find wild plant foods was not part of my
upbringing. However, I strongly gravitated toward the use of local plants as med-
icine while traveling for a year throughout Central and South America. Meet-
ing with indigenous healers and herbalists throughout this journey, I began to
appreciate the concept of developing relationships with plants—not just herbs
as a capsule, tincture, or other product to be purchased off the shelf.
This was one experience among many that opened my eyes and heart to what
was available. Although my interest in wild plant foods and wild plant medi-
cines occurred simultaneously, foraging initially took a backseat to botanical
medicine. At first, I saw the pursuit of wild foods as a survival technique, a way
to live as people once lived long ago. With limited opportunities to explore this
style of living, I wasn’t implementing many wild foods into my diet other than
major foods such as mesquite meal, cholla buds, saguaro fruit, prickly pear fruit,
and palo verde beans—certainly more exotic ingredients than the average person
employs, but I wanted these foods to become an even bigger part of my life. I
began adding them to my diet in novel and unconventional ways, parting with
the traditions I had learned, and fueling my passion for wild foods with my
A spiral of barrel cactus buds emerge in the creative impulse to cook—an impulse I’ve had since childhood. New creations
midsummer heat.
were popping into my mind as they once did with cultivated foods. I was
grinding barrel cactus seeds for flour to make bread or cooking its fruit into a
chutney; combining flowering stems of wild plants to make sauerkraut; frying
mesquite-breaded New Mexico locust blossoms with cinnamon in butter,
topped with saguaro syrup. My perspective had shifted!
I was not alone in this new viewpoint. It seems there has been an increased
interest in this direction for a certain segment of our population, and the
enthusiasm continues to grow. Of course, it’s far from accurate to characterize
this trend as new. Mesquite pods, prickly pear pads and fruit, chia seeds,
amaranth greens, and other superfoods have all been part of the local cuisine in
the southwestern United States for thousands of years. The region, with its
tremendously varied terrain, flora, and fauna, and its rich cultural tradition of
interaction with the land, has the longest continual history of agriculture within
our nation—4000 years in Tucson, Arizona. And wild plant foods, prized for
their dense nutrition and rich dietary attributes (not to mention their unique
Whortleberry’s sweet-tart fruit is a foraging favorite. and delicious flavors) have long been widely known across the globe, cherished
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