Hedgehog Cactus Fruit

Today I had a wonderful, unanticipated culinary discoverey. I was out at my spot in the Colorado Desert, off the Hayfield Road exit of the I-10, and found numerous hedgehog cacti with ripe fruit.

A closeup of the ripe fruit.

The hedgehog cactus flowers

bloomed several months ago.

I found one of the fruits that had been opened and the inside looked much like the inside of dragon fruit or red pitaya, which is also the fruit from a cactus.

I decided I needed to try some.

The tricky part is getting the fruit off the cactus and then the outer skin and spines off the fruit.

However, the payoff was amazing.

I'd not had any breakfast and the cool inside flesh was lightly sweet, very, very tasty.

The black seeds are edible and crunchy, much like sesame seeds.

I had five or six of the fruits

and would have had more if the process to obtain them was not so time consuming.

A newly discovered delicacy! What a treat!