No muss, no fuss, and plenty of food: Native perennial food plants for the Tucson desert garden | Home + Life + Health

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The Sonoran Desert has supported human settlements for at least 12,000 years. The area’s incredible biodiversity meant the indigenous peoples had plenty of food to harvest. Many of these foods are still available to us today – it’s just a small step out of our comfort zone.

The plants listed are a small selection of the indigenous foods that we can grow in our area. All of these plants are extremely drought tolerant, ideally adapted to our desert conditions and require little care after they have been established. They are all perennials, which means you only need to plant them once. They are a great option if you want to grow your own food but don’t want to mess with vegetable patches and the high maintenance that comes with that – fertilizing, watering, transplanting, shade cloth, and all that jazz.

Prickly pear (Opuntia spp.) Prickly pear cacti offer two options for delicious food: pads (nopales) and fruits (tuna). The young, green pods have to be harvested very gently, otherwise they will be tough. They can be grilled, sautéed, fried, pickled and marinated. If you want to try them out, you can usually find them in grocery stores in the spring. They taste similar to green beans but have a slimy texture like okra. The fruits can be processed and made into syrups, juices, jellies and sauces.

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