Saguaro Cactus Fruit: Dr. Graham’s Favorite Dried Fruit
Saguaro Cactus Fruit: Dr. Graham’s Favorite Dried Fruit
The wild desert fruit that just knocked mulberries out of my number one dried fruit spot
I just ate a fruit I had never tried in my 22 plus years of being raw vegan, and it happened on camera with Dr. Douglas Graham putting it in my hand himself. That does not happen every day, so let me tell you about saguaro cactus fruit.
If you picture the classic cactus from every western movie, arms up, sombrero optional, that towering desert giant is the saguaro. My reaction to trying this cactus fruit for the first time is exactly what you would expect from someone who thought they had already tried every interesting dried fruit out there.
What is saguaro cactus fruit
Saguaro cactus fruit grows on those towering cacti across the southwestern deserts of the United States. Every summer the cactus fruits, and the fruit drops to the desert floor and dries naturally in the heat, no dehydrator required, just sun and sand doing what they do best.
American Indians ate this fruit for thousands of years. Doug pointed out that it stores for a year easily and there are, in his words, gabillion trillions of them out there every season. It is a wild food system that has been feeding people in that region for generations, sitting right there on the ground, free for the taking.
What it actually tastes like
I have tried dragon fruit, sabra, and a handful of other cactus fruits over the years, so I figured I had a decent baseline. Saguaro cactus fruit is not like any of them. Doug told me straight up that this is by far the best cactus fruit he has ever tried, and he puts it pretty high on his personal top 10 list of all time favorite fruits. Coming from someone who has eaten fruit all over the planet, that is not a small statement.
The texture got me first. Crispy, almost like a dried snap, packed with a million little seeds. It is not super sweet, but somehow still incredibly rewarding to eat. The flavor reminded me of sesame snaps, that same toasty, slightly nutty quality, with hints that made me think of peanut butter. Doug described the flavor as tremendous and the fruit as rich in antioxidants and phytonutrients, and with all those tiny seeds comes a solid dose of essential fatty acids too.
Mulberries have been my favorite dried fruit for years. After trying saguaro cactus fruit, I have a new favorite. It is that good.
Why this fruit matters
Part of what makes saguaro cactus fruit special is not just the taste, it is the whole picture. This is a food that grows itself, dries itself, and stores itself, with no orchard, no packaging, and no supply chain. One can walk the desert floor and pick it up for free. There is something deeply satisfying about a fruit that abundant and that self sufficient, especially in a world where so much of what we eat travels thousands of miles before it reaches us.
Trying this fruit also reinforced something I already believe after two decades of doing this. There are still foods out there I have never tasted, still flavors and textures the natural world has waiting for us if we stay curious enough to try them. Getting to have that experience alongside Doug, someone I respect enormously as a nutrition researcher, longtime raw fooder, and friend, made it even better.
Thank you, Doug
Massive thanks to Dr. Douglas Graham for introducing me to saguaro cactus fruit and for letting me react to it in real time, seed bits and all. If you are not already familiar with his work, he has spent decades researching the intersection of diet, health, and human physiology, and he shares a huge amount of that knowledge on his website at foodnsport.com.
You can also find him on Youtube YT – @foodnsport and Instagram @drdouglasgraham.
Now we both need to find someone in southern Arizona who can collect and ship saguaro cactus fruit, because mulberries just got demoted. If you know a source, send it my way, seriously this could be an amazing business idea!
As Always
Wishing You Much
PeaceLovenSeasonalFruit ck
