Edible Baja Arizona - July/August 2016

July/August 2016 • Issue No. 19 • Gratis

Celebrating the gastronomy of Tucson and the borderlands.

WILD LIFE No. 19 July/August 2016

Exploring Wild Arizona • Backcountry Eating Cultivating Caridad • Introducing Baja Brews Cover.indd 1

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Features

Contents

6 COYOTE TALKING

10 ONLINE What’s happening at EdibleBajaArizona.com?

12 VOICES Why do you keep chickens?

18 GLEANINGS Growing flowers; spinning cotton candy; rethinking hospital cuisine.

26 CALENDAR 28 BAJA EATS 36 THE PLATE 45 HOMESTEAD Ways to save space in tiny gardens; reading the stories of soil through Gardenroots; Ask a Master Gardener; rescuing a desert jewel, the Sonoran White pomegranate.

106 FILLING UP ON CARIDAD Caridad Community Kitchen prepares hundreds of thousands of meals for the hungry by providing job training for those who need it most.

58 FARM REPORT 64 THE SONORAN SKILLET Easy Sonoran cooking for our hot Baja Arizona summer.

70 IN THE BUSINESS Erika and Jake Muñoz have transformed Seis Kitchen from a tiny food truck into a full-scale business.

78 LOCAL Why shop at a locally owned business?

80 A DAY IN BAJA ARIZONA Spend a day exploring this eco-community situated in a hotspot of biological diversity.

82 FOODSHED Baja Arizona’s many bat species provide our local food producers with natural pest control.

90 BAJA BREWS In search of local hoppiness.

138 RECIPES What to eat on a backpacking trip.

146 BUZZ Arizona brewers and winemakers are exploring wild yeasts and natural ferments.

122 WILD LIFE A hundred years after the National Park Service was founded, exploring the worth of wilderness.

156 SABORES DE SONORA Wild-harvested bellotas, or acorns, are delicious baked, ground, or eaten straight from their shell.

162 LAST BITE Alan Weisman explores Baja.

edible Baja Arizona Coyote Talking and TOC.indd 5

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COYOTE TALKING

TH E DE S E RT S M E LL S LI K E R AI N

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s I w r ite this on the eve of el Día de San Juan— ome highlights in this issue, of which there are the traditional start of summer in Tucson—the many to discover: skies are overcast and the desert smells like rain We’re pleased to showcase the work of one of as tentative drops intermittently fall on a hot afternoon. the finest landscape photographers in the world: Jac It’s a comforting portent to have rain so early in June, Dykinga, a Pulitzer Prize winner who has made Tucson bolstering confidence that the monsoons will make the his home for decades. His extraordinary images of desert bloom and keep the sky islands free from fire Baja Arizona wilderness accompany Megan Kimble’s during this time of drought. feature story. In this centennial year of the National With this issue, we celebrate the start of our fourth Park Service, Megan undertakes an exploration of year of telling the story of food and drink in this singular the worth of wilderness which is, she says, “agriculregion of deserts and mountains we call Baja Arizona: ture’s source and sustenance. Every input required a territory defined as the lands south of the Gila Rive , to sustain a resilient farm begins on the level of extending between New Mexico and California, and landscape, from the wild organisms that build healthy meandering freely across the international border into soil to the pollinators that coax fruit from flowe .” neighboring Sonora. Our mission remains clear: to Lourdes Medrano takes us into the Community Food build the case for a food system in Baja Arizona that Bank’s innovative culinary education program called makes us safer, happier, healthier, and more prosperous Caridad Community Kitchen—where expectations for while celebrating the joys of eating and drinking in this qualified low-income students are high, and more tha place, and from this place, whenever possible.

9,000 hot meals The last three years have been an adventure and 5,000 sack and a privilege. Starting a print publication in this lunches are produced over-saturated digital age was, essentially, an act monthly, while also of faith. Faith that readers still had the attention providing quality spans to sit and spend time with quality bound catering services to printed material; and faith that local businesses the community. would want to reach those readers by connecting In this issue with them in our proudly analog pages when we launch Baja the siren call of social media always beckons.

Brews, an exciting So far, so good—although we’d be fooling you if collaboration we didn’t tell you that this is an undertaking requirwith the region’s ing vast amounts of human energy, patient capital, craft breweries. and the ongoing support of our amazing advertisers In addition to a and subscribers. A major shoutout to the more than new section in 20 businesses that advertised in our inaugural issue the magazine and and are still with us in this 19th issue. Thank you! a video series, we’ll be hosting And to the nearly 200 businesses that now make six tasting events this magazine possible … thank you! If you’ve ever Inaugural issue, Summer 2013 over the year to thought about subscribing, I’d encourage you to showcase the use of exercise that impulse at your earliest convenience. different indigenous ingredients by local breweries Lastly, and always, the incredible staff of Edible Baja A final shoutout to Danny Martin, the ucson artist Arizona never ceases to amaze and I must acknowledge whose illustrations graced the pages of our Homestead them, again. I’ve worked with hundreds of fine folks sinc section the last three years. We’ve redesigned the I started the Tucson Weekly in 1984, and this staff is a trul section in this issue, and want to thank Danny for exceptional group of inspired professionals who keep me his wonderful contributions. Check out his Tucson going every day. Editor Megan Kimble has been here Neon Coloring Book, available at WoodandPulp.com. from Day One and her contribution to the quality of the As always, there is much more to discover in this magazine is simply immense. Art Director Steve McMackin issue. Celebrate print! Savor the magazine. We’ll see brings vividly to life the magazine’s mission with his you around the table. indefatigable productivity, design sense, and attention to ¡Salud! detail. Thank you both. And the rest of staff: Kate and Kate John, Lyric (best of luck in Chicago), Bridget and Sally, Ford and Charity, our Brother Coyote Gary; stalwarts Steven Meckler and Jeff Smith, and the man , many other photographers and writers and illustrators with whom we have the honor of collaborating: Thanks to all. Onward!

—Douglas Biggers, editor and publisher

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Editor and Publisher Douglas Biggers Editor

Megan Kimble

Art Director

Steve McMackin

Advertising Sales Director John Hankinson Business Coordinator Kate Kretschmann Online Editor Kate Selby Senior Contributing Editor Gary Paul Nabhan Designers

Lyric Peate, Bridget Shanahan, Sally Brooks

Copy Editor

Ford Burkhart

Proofreader

Charity Whiting

Contributors

Jackie Alpers, Luke Anable, Amy Belk, Norah Booth, Page Buono, Dena Cowan, Marguerite Happe, Charles C. Hofer, Laura Greenberg, Sara Jones, Ken Lamberton, Lourdes Medrano, Wes Oswald, Bill Steen, John Washington, Alan Weisman, Suzanne Wright, Erin Zwiener

Photographers & Artists

Jackie Alpers, Adela Antoinette, Scott Baxter, Dominic Az Bonuccelli, Jack Dykinga, Casia & Eric Fletcher, Katya Granger, Aidan Heigl, Liora K, Isadora Lassance, Robert J. Long, Steven Meckler, Erica Montgomery, Bridget Shanahan, Jeff Smith, Bill Stee

Interns

On the cover: Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness.

Distribution Royce Davenport, Gil Mejias, Shiloh Walkosak-Mejias, Steve and Anne Bell Anderson

Above: A vibrant Milky Way above Council Rocks at

Photo by David Olsen

Saul Bookman, Maya Holzman, Julia Ranney

Cochise Stronghold, Coronado National Forest.

Photo by Jack Dykinga

We’d love to hear from you.

307 S. Convent Ave., Barrio Viejo Tucson, Arizona 85701 520.373.5196 info@edibleBajaArizona.com EdibleBajaArizona.com

Say hello on social media

facebook.com/EdibleBajaArizona youtube.com/EdibleBajaArizona twitter.com/EdibleBajaAZ flick .com/EdibleBajaArizona instagram.com/EdibleBajaAZ pinterest.com/EdibleBA

V olume 4, I ssue 1.

Edible Baja Arizona (ISSN 2374-345X) is published six times annually

by Salt in Pepper Shaker, LLC. Subscriptions are available for $36 annually by phone or at EdibleBajaArizona.com. Copyright © 2016.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used without the express written permission of the publisher. Member of the Association of Edible Publishers (AEP).

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Hungry for More eBA? Edible Baja Arizona is always serving up fresh content online! Visit EdibleBajaArizona.com.

From the Blog:

First Taste: Three Wells’ Mt. Lemmon Gin

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W ash ington covered the new locally sourced spirit from Three Wells Distilling Company for the blog. Here’s an excerpt: Three Wells’ juniper berries, Montgomery confided, come mostly from a single tree (the location isn’t exactly secret, but Montgomery balked at specifying). About a pound of juniper berries will make two hundred bottles. And the creosote comes from his backyard (or just “around back” if he needs a little extra—which is also where the water comes from. The “Three Wells” is a well on his own Sahuarita property. This seemingly stone-soup harvesting method, however, doesn’t limit the gin’s taste. The creosote (probably never before included in a gin) gives the spirit a wiliness, without making it taste medicinal.

It is unique right from the nose: The juniper berries are what you smell first, but if you close your eyes, you can sense the creosote halfway down your throat: Notes of an afternoon monsoon. This is a gin to savor. ohn

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ocaditos is our own weekly newsletter that packs the flavor of Edible Baja Arizona’s online offerings into tasty little bites. Sign up to receive: • A roundup of upcoming local events.

• Highlights from the eBA blog and social media.

• Great giveaways only available to newsletter subscribers, like movie tickets to The Loft Cinema and gift certificates to local restaurants.

Go to EdibleBajaArizona.com/newsletter to sign up!

O

ur Instagram account has been bursting with photos from places we visit, restaurants we enjoy, gardens we grow, and behindthe-scenes looks at how we make the magazine.

instagram.com/ediblebajaaz

Read the full piece online at: bit.ly/MtLemmonGin

(Left) Three Wells Distilling Company’s jalapeño margarita, made with their Sonora Silver, jalapeños, simple syrup, and cilantro at Arizona Inn’s Three Wells Tasting Dinner. (Center) The cupcake and wine smorgasbord at Arizona Hops & Vines in Sonoita. (Right) If you’ve ever wondered what a room full of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese looks like, now you know. This was snapped during the Tucson delegation’s trip to Parma, Italy, to meet with delegates from the 13 other UNESCO Cities of Gastronomy.

instagram.com/EdibleBajaAZ youtube.com/EdibleBajaArizona facebook.com/EdibleBajaArizona

pinterest.com/EdibleBA twitter.com/EdibleBajaAZ

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Jen Floyd and River Phi�lips

Jen: My husband, Chet, keeps the chickens. I work daily to overcome my previous chicken hating ways. Actually it’s not that hard because seeing how much joy Chet and our kids Sonora, River, and Ori Rain get from tending them makes up for it.

We are a family of five and we eat a lot of eggs. Knowing tha we are not supporting factory farming and that our children are participating in sustainable urban agriculture is a beautiful thing.

I think participating in this process is a vital way for our children to connect and engage with the natural world around them.

VOICES

Why do y�u �e�p �hic�ens?

Photography by Dominic AZ Bonuccelli

Leigh Muckey

I was born and raised in Tucson but live in Sierra Vista. I am the proud tender of a backyard flock consisting of 37 laying hens and 2 roosters of varying breeds. I started raising chickens in order to find a humane source of eggs and provide a modest form of food security for my family. Since then I have grown to appreciate the chickens themselves for their personality and entertainment value. Truth is, nothing beats a relaxing afternoon hanging out with my feathered friends after a hard day of work.

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Mary and Catherine Kolsrud

Mary: I started keeping chickens six years ago to support my son in his small livestock FFA project in high school. I got hooked, and I now have more than 30 chickens as pets. I am an assistant principal in a TUSD elementary school, and sometimes I bring chickens to school to visit the students. I have a chicken that looks just like the illustrations in the Jan Brett story “Hedgie’s Surprise,” so I bring her as a prop for a read-aloud during Love of Reading Week. This spring I helped our preschool hatch five chicks to study lifecycles. I find tha petting a chicken helps upset students to calm down—I wish I could keep a therapy chicken in my office every da

Kristen, Chloe, and Grayson Wa s

Grayson: Every day is an Easter egg hunt, and the chickens are my friends and I get to have fun with them because they are funny to watch and play with. I love them.

Kristen: Chickens are phenomenal little dinosaurs and are way smarter than anyone gives them credit for. We enjoy observing them for our entertainment, and of course are so grateful for their bountiful eggs that nourish us every day.

Our girls become part of our family, and during spring and fall when the doors to our house are open you will likely find a chicken wandering in our kitchen and dining room … they are so curious and love to be around us. Chickens make us laugh and they provide incredible bounty.

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Liane and Kyle Anderson

We have had chickens for four years, starting with three hens to now 25 that are free range. We are on five acres in northwest ucson, west of Marana High School. The chickens each have their own entertaining special character. They are beautiful and proud. And mostly they make delicious eggs!

Christian Galindo

Chickens make great friends when your human friends become boring!

Plus they give you fresh eggs, and that’s something a human can never supply no matter how hard they try.

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Nature, Cultural History, Art, Music, Wine, and Great Food. Come for the Day, the Weekend, or the Season.

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Old West culture, mining history, and ghost towns meet art galleries, Arizona’s Wine Country vineyards, world-class birding, and an outdoororiented lifestyle of health and wellness.

Circle Z Guest Ranch Patagonia, AZ

Spectacular mountain ranges soar above the desert floor creating “Sky Islands” that harbor tremendous biological and geographic diversity, rare not just in the US but in much of the world.

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Operating in the delightful Winter months.

Fine Horses… Authentic Hospitality…Rich Traditions. www.circlez.com 1-520-394-2525

Presented by SITA, the Sky Islands Tourism Association

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gleanings

Laurel Goslin fell in love with flowers while working at Sleeping Frog Farms; she now sells the organically grown blooms at farmers’ markets.

Laurel’s Florals Blossoms

Laurel Goslin sells naturally grown, local flowers at farmers’ markets.

By Erin Zwiener | Photography by Aidan Heigl

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hree years ago , when Laurel Goslin arrived at Sleeping

Frog Farms in the San Pedro River Valley as a young and eager volunteer, she had no farming experience.

But Goslin thrived, and once her WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) stint was over, Sleeping Frog hired her on as full-time employee. But as much as she loved farming, Goslin itched for a different sort of crop “At Sleeping Frog, vegetables always came first, and at the end of the day, around seven or eight, I’d just want to pick a few sunflowers,” she said In 2015, Goslin struck a deal with Sleeping Frog’s owners.

They gave her a bed, and on her off days she planted sunflowers cosmos, zinnias, cockscomb, and gomphrena. Laurel mixed her flowers with greens and other blossoms foraged from the farm—grasses, purple carrot flowers, cabbage leaves, artichoke flowers—to make bouquets that she sold at Sleeping Frog’s farmers’ market booths and to local restaurants for table decorations.

Laurel’s Florals was born.

“Seeing people’s excitement at flowers was so fun for me,” said Goslin. “Flowers bring in a whole visual element and draw people to the booth.”

This year Goslin has moved the bulk of her flower operation to the backyard of her home in Tucson’s West University Neighborhood. She built four raised beds, filled them with certified organic soil, and seeded more varieties of flowers “I started out with a list of 50 flowers, and every day I told myself that I had to go through my list and delete five flowers,” Goslin said. She added bells of Ireland, statice, baby’s breath, calendula, and Sweet Annie to her inventory. Many of her varieties are not commonly found at florists, like her favorite, gomphrena or globe amaranth, a cute clover-like blossom that

she grows in shades of pink and purple. Jars of dried gomphrena sit in her kitchen, and she makes hanging pom-pom decorations by poking the dried flowers into Styrofoam spheres “You interact with flowers,” Goslin said, as she held a gomphrena to her chin. “You hold them, you smell, you rub them against your cheek. I don’t think people understand the chemicals they’re bringing into their house with flowers.

Though not certified organic, Goslin’s plants are treated naturally. When an infestation of little white flies threatened her beds this spring, she called her friends at Sleeping Frog and together they came up with a counterattack of botanical insecticide to fight the bugs directly and beneficial microorganisms to support the plants. Now the beds are growing strong, and Goslin is grateful to her teachers.

“The owners of Sleeping Frog Farms are super knowledgeable and they’ve been so willing to help,” she said. “I set up all this irrigation by myself. I placed the sunflowers so they’d shade the other flowers in the afternoon. I learned that all at Sleeping Frog.” Goslin talks about greenhouses and partners and how this budding business could go any direction. She worries about water use and succession planting, but her enthusiasm for the flowers always shines through. “If it ever came down to water or resources, food is more important and the flowers should go first,” Goslin said. “But flowers just bring this personal happiness to me. They’re beautiful, and I think that’s important too.”

Laurel’s Florals sells bouquets and cut sunflowers at the Sleeping Frog Farm booth at the Heirloom Farmers’ Market at Rillito Park on Sundays from June through October. Businesses interested in wholesale can contact her at laurelgoslin4@yahoo.com.

Erin Zwiener is a writer and writing teacher living at the base of the Tucson Mountains.

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When Nick Breckenfeld and Kate Keelan started Spunlight Cotton Candy in 2012, they were the only organic cotton candy manufacturer in the U.S.

Spinning Sugar

Nick Breckenfeld and Kate Keelan off r sophisticated cotton candy for adults.

By Suzanne Wright | Photography by Aidan Heigl

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c o n f e s s to Kate Keelan, the co-owner and founder of Spunlight, a Tucson-based organic cotton candy company, that I have unpleasant cotton candy memories. I balked at the sticky, gritty texture and how tooth-achingly sweet it is.

“People tell me that a lot,” she says with a laugh. Keelan cofounded Spunlight with her husband, Nick Breckenfeld.

“When we do events, parents will bring their kids up for a free sample. But the adults often say, ‘I don’t like it. No thank you.’”

So what’s in conventional cotton candy, anyway? “It can be made with any kind of sugar or even corn syrup,” Keelan explains.

“It’s loaded with artificial flavors and colors Spunlight is made with organic cane sugar and without artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives. It’s also vegan and gluten-free. Keelan says Spunlight is fluffi (the company was called Fluff It Up until they lost a trademark kerfuffle than the stuff of childhood The category is growing; Keelan says that when they launched in 2012, they were the only organic cotton candy manufacturer in the United States. Competition has since popped up in Austin, Los Angeles, and Seattle. They are completing the arduous application process to become a certified organic company in hopes of expansion to places like Whole Foods.

You can buy Spunlight at Food Conspiracy Co-op, 5 Points Market, Johnny Gibson’s Downtown Market, Maynards Market, and Time Market. You’ll also find Spunlight at the Tucson Festival of Books, the Fourth Avenue Street Fairs, and 2nd Saturdays Downtown Tucson.

Cotton candy has a long shelf life. “Our bagged candy has a two-week shelf life; if it’s in a tub, two months,” she says.

I sample a few flavors. The coffee is warm and roasty on the tongue. The lavender is not cloying, more herbaceous than floral

The savory new sesame silk smells like a well-seasoned wok and tastes like tahini.

Spunlight is made to order, so it’s always fresh. Spunlight flavors have a subtle pastel tint unlike the lurid colors of conventional cotton candy. The texture is gossamer-like, not dense and sticky. The flavors are nuanced, layered, and warm.

Manufacturing happens in their modest Tucson home; they currently offer 54 flavors. Top sellers include strawberry, blueberry, peach, salted caramel, and lavender. In addition to single note flavors, Spunlight offers blends. I’m especially interested in those that reflect a Sonoran sense of place.

“One of my favorites is the chile mango,” Keelan says. “It has mango base notes and haberno for heat. It’s a little sweet and a little salty.” The Aztec chocolate is another Spunlight triumph.

“The first time I had a spicy chocolate brownie it blew me away,” Keelan says. “It’s a blend of chocolate, cinnamon and habanero.

It’s a favorite.”

They’ve had some oddball requests, like dill pickle and tamarind; bubblegum and prickly pear are in the works. Keelan hopes to create grapefruit and sage. “Nick is a high school chemistry teacher,” Keelan says. “We are both very scientifi people. You have to keep really good records, but it ultimately it comes down to taste.”

Considering her Willy Wonka-like life, is she sick of cotton candy? “No, but I don’t eat it for fun, I eat it for quality control,” says Keelan. “But some flavors, like cinnamon roll and saffron, are deadly good.”

FluffItUpCottonCandy.com.

Tucson-based Suzanne Wright cannot hike enough to work off the calorie consumed in Baja Arizona.

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The kitchen staff at Bisbee’s Copper Queen Community Hospital ( from left): Charlie Bambulas, Evan Waters, Patricia Rodriguez, Daniel Lopez, Jaime Valdivia, and Oraldo Rodriguez.

Food, Do No Harm

Bisbee’s community hospital is connecting food with medicine to support healthier patients.

By Norah Booth | Photography by Bridget Shanahan

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he first day on the job, Chef Evan Waters announced to the kitchen staff of Bisbee’s Copper Queen Community Hospital (CQCH) that they would be learning to cook. He could almost taste the resistance. “Some of the employees had been there 40 years. They had always done things one way.” And most of what they did involved can openers and prepackaged foods. That was 12 years ago. “The dishwasher back then is head cook today,” he says.

Kitchen workers provided only the first pushback to his makeover of CQCH’s food service. Next came patients, cafeteria customers, and staff demanding their familiar fare. Gradually Waters weaned everyone off foods of questionable nutritional value, like instant mashed potatoes, by introducing similar dishes incorporating “fresh ingredients, made from scratch, organic local produce,” and eventually organic dairy products and organic locally sourced meats.

His vision for these healthy meals served to hospital patients, staff and locals is that “food should do no harm,” he says.

Critical to the success of his vision was the hospital administration. At first, CEO Jim Dickson and the hospital board could not see the advantage in serving patients, staff, and the community meals that needed to be subsidized because of the extra cost for ingredients. But Waters made his case. “If you support the community and bring them into the hospital, then the hospital is not seen as a hostile, scary place to be avoided at all costs,” he says. The community forms a relationship with the facility. “And that’s value added.” In addition to patients and staff, about 250 community members, mostly seniors, eat at the cafeteria on weekdays.

Waters was focused on local food and growing the community’s economy. “I buy from local growers. I buy everything they produce. I want them to be in business. I would let them know what I needed and they would change what they grew to meet the hospital’s needs,” he says.

Waters took a winding road to Bisbee. After culinary school, he worked in a cruise ship kitchen, on the American Orient Express, and in New York helping with the start-up of a private seventh to 12th grade school. The founders were determined to revamp the school cafeteria concept to include teaching sustainability through healthy eating. That experience provided basic training for what he accomplished, and with fewer resources, at CQCH. Waters is part of a movement taking place in hospitals across America. Nationwide, the Healthier Hospitals Initiative is trying to reduce antibiotics in the human food chain through healthier options in hospital cuisine.

“Fresh foods simply made” is how Waters describes his CQCH revolution. While not everything served is local and organic, that’s the goal.

The longest that Chef Evan has stayed in one place in his career has been in Bisbee. He recently announced he is moving to Tennessee, and he plans to write a manual about the food culture changes he initiated at the hospital. “I’d like to do the same thing I’ve done here, but bigger,” he says.

First, he is making sure his CQCH project continues. The administration has committed itself to sustaining what he has put in place, and Waters has trained the new chef, Charlie Bambulas. Good thing. CQCH cafeteria regulars might resort to mutiny if they can’t get their organic scrambled eggs, organic antibiotic-free locally sourced hamburgers, or made-fromscratch-banana pudding. If you can’t imagine that hospital food can taste great and also be good for you, swing by the Copper Queen Community Hospital cafeteria.  CQCH.org.

Freelance writer Norah Booth has recently published articles in Fatal Encounters and OccupiedTucsonCitizen.org.

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CALENDAR

July Saturday, July 9

Thursday, July 21

12 p.m. - :30 p.m. Summer wines class with David Muhlman Lightning Ridge Cellars

Sunday, July 10

Saturday, July 23

8 a.m.-12 p.m. Rillito Park Anniversary Party Rillito Park Food Pavilion

Wednesday, July 13

6-8:30 p.m. Hands On Cooking Class with Don Guerra from Barrio Bread Carriage House

Thursday, July 14

11-1 p.m. Hands On Pastry Class with Chef Marianne Banes Carriage House

Tuesday, July 26

7 p.m. Whiskey Del Bac Dinner Agustin Kitchen

Saturday, July 30

4-7 p.m. Verdolagas with Desert Harvesters’ Jill Lorenzini Mercado San Agustín

Saturday, July 15

5:30 p.m. Arid Abundance Community Potluck: Tepary Beans Native Seeds/SEARCH Conservation Center

10-11:30 a.m. Seasonal Flavors With Cafe Botanica Tucson Botanical Gardens

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. HarvestFest and Grape Stomp Sonoita Vineyards

11 a.m.-2 p.m. Cooking with Chef Wendy Gauthier and Gourmet Oils and Balsamics Carriage House

August Friday, Aug. 5

Saturday, August 20

8 a.m.-8 p.m. Heirloom Farmers’ Market, First Friday Family Funday Trail Dust Town

Sunday, Aug. 21

Wednesday, August 10

5-7 p.m. Wine Enrichment Series Sierra Bonita Vineyards

Thursday, Aug. 11

10-11:30 a.m. Seasonal Flavors With Cafe Botanica Tucson Botanical Gardens

4-7 p.m. Prickly Pear Fruit with Amy Valdés Schwemm Mercado San Agustín

Thursday, Aug. 25

Saturday, Aug. 13 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Mesquite and Tepary Bean Cooking Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

7 a.m.-1 p.m. Prickly Pear Harvest Arizona Sonora Desert Museum 12 p.m. - :30 p.m. Tour d’France wine class with David Muhlman Lightning Ridge Cellars

10 a.m. Sat- Bad Decisions

2 p.m. Sun. Camp Out Arizona Hops & Vines

11 a.m.-4 p.m. Mesquite and Tepary Bean Cooking Arizona Sonora Desert Museum 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Prickly Pear Harvest Arizona Sonora Desert Museum 4 p.m.-7 p.m. Santa Cruz River Farmers’ Market Mercado San Agustín

Friday, Aug. 26

8 a.m.-12 p.m. Heirloom Farmers’ Market Trail Dust Town

Saturday, Aug. 27

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Magdalena Bash Harvest Festival Kief-Joshua Vineyards 5 p.m. Vineyard Tour by Kent Callaghan Callaghan Vineyards

September Thursday, Sept. 1

Friday, Sept. 2

4-7 p.m. Santa Cruz River Farmers’ Market Mercado San Agustín

8 a.m.-12 p.m. Heirloom Farmers’ Market Trail Dust Town

Saturday, Sept. 3

5 p.m. Vineyard Tour by Kent Callaghan Callaghan Vineyards

To submit events, go to: EdibleBajaArizona.com/add-event To see full listings, visit: EdibleBajaArizona.com/events 26 July/August 2016

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Farmers’ Markets Saturdays

Tuesdays

8 a.m.-12 p.m. Heirloom Farmers’ Market Steam Pump Ranch, Oro Valley 9 a.m.-1 p.m. FoodInRoot Farmers’ Market Plaza Palomino, Tucson 8 a.m.-12 p.m. FoodInRoot Farmers Market St. Philip’s Plaza, Tucson 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Our Garden 16500 N Stallion Pl, Tucson 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Rincon Valley Farmers’ Market 12500 E Old Spanish Trail Tucson 8 a.m.-12 p.m. Bisbee Farmers’ Market Vista Park, Bisbee 8 a.m.-12 p.m. St. David Farmers’ Market 70 E Patton St, Saint David 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sonoita Farmers’ Market SW corner of Hwy 82 & Hwy 83, Sonoita 7:30 -11:30 a.m. Safford Farmers’ Market Firth Park Highway, 70 & 11th Ave., Safford

8 a.m.-12 p.m. Heirloom Farmers’ Market Rillito Park Food Pavilion 8 a.m.-12 p.m. FoodInRoot Farmers’ Market St. Philip’s Plaza, Tucson 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Douglas Mercado Farmers’ Market Raul Castro Park, Douglas 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Santa Fe Square Farmers’ Market Santa Fe Square Shopping Center, Tucson

Mondays

Wednesdays 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Green Valley Village Farmers’ Market 101 S. La Canada, Green Valley

9 a.m.-12 p.m. Our Garden 16500 N Stallion Pl, Tucson

Thursdays

4 p.m-7 p.m. Santa Cruz River Farmers’ Market Mercado San Agustín, Tucson 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sierra Vista Farmers’ Market NW Corner Wilcox and Carmichael, Sierra Vista 3-6 p.m. Elderberry Edibles Farm Stand 1700 N Wentworth Rd, Tucson

Fridays

Sundays

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. FoodInRoot Farmers Market First and Third Tuesdays 6200 N La Cholla Blvd, Tucson 7:30 -11:30 a.m. Safford Farmers’ Market Firth Park Highway, 70 & 11th Ave., Safford

5-8 p.m. FoodInRoot Twilight Farmers’ Market Maynards Market & Kitchen, Tucson 3-5 p.m. El Pueblo Farm Stand Irvington Rd & S. 6th Ave, Tucson

8 a.m.-12 p.m. Heirloom Farmers’ Market Trail Dust Town, Tucson 10 a.m.-2 p.m. FoodInRoot Farmers’ Market Banner-UMC, Tucson 8 a.m.-12 p.m. 77north Marketplace Farmers’ Market 16733 N. Oracle Road, Catalina 9 a.m.-2 p.m. El Presidio Mercado Corner of Church and Alameda, Tucson 2 p.m.-6 p.m. Elfrida Farmers’ Market 10566 Hwy 191, Elfrida 4:30-7:30 p.m. Sycamore Park Twilight Farmers’ Market First Fridays Sycamore Park

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into Zayna’s Mediterranean Restaurant as Jennifer and I take a seat in the one-room restaurant. Open at this location for five years, Zayna’s serves up simple, healthy Middle Eastern dishes with a Syrian slant. Cuisines from Mediterranean and Middle Eastern lands, once part of the Ottoman Empire, still overlap, and Arab, Greek, and Turkish foods share regional interpretations of similar recipes. This is the way it is with food—it represents culture and climate, and differs from family to neighborhood to city to country.

We feasted. First on the gyro sandwich, with tender thin-sliced beef, fresh lettuce, and thin red onion cocooned in pita that—thankfully—didn’t drool with an avalanche of yogurt sauce. We sampled appetizers of stuffed grape leaves, with soft spiced rice that paired well with their citrus tabbouleh—with a pucker-worthy tang—that will strip your palate clean and ready you for another bite of any number of dishes, many of them vegetarian or vegan. Like their falafel—shaped like small f lying saucers and some of the best I’ve had locally. With just the right amount of crunch, they’re not dry or flaky inside— often the enemy of a good falafel. These matched the ones, sold off street carts, that I remember eating in New York in the 1970s. Made without flour, they’re also gluten free.

The usual suspects of garlic, lemon, and tahini completed their silky hummus, which I ate while trading off bites with the baba ghannuj, thick unlight str eams

Zayna Mediterranean’s falafel.

puréed eggplant with the same spices used in the hummus, but with a deeper savory, almost umami, taste from the vegetable.

Their sauces are no afterthought. The tahini was decked out in garlic, enhancing the flavor of the fine crumb of the falafel.

And their garlic sauce is thick, similar in texture to mayo, filled with garlic cloves, enough that my tongue sizzled with heat while I kept reaching for more.

We also sampled a side of their basmati rice with a lightly curried flavor and mixed it all up with their chicken shawarma—

marinated chopped pieces of chicken breast grilled until it was brown, sealing in the juices. In cooking, color equals flavo .

With our meal, we ate pita bread with za’atar. Mariah, our server, explained: “It’s a more Americanized version. A Middle Eastern version, the herbs would be baked right on top of the bread.” Here, they stuff the pita with thyme, sesame, and olive oil, and then fold it over and grill until awesome.

All the food at Zayna’s is liberally cooked with spices. And the herbs are perfection, amplifying one aspect of food while tamping down another with nothing that’s over salted.

Zayna’s Mediterranean Restaurant.

4122 E. Speedway. 520.881.4348.

ZanyaMediterranean.com.

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P izzer i a re-opened at their new location the same week my mother turned 83. It was cause for a harmonic convergence around a table with good eats. So five of us gathered for lunch in the bigger and brighter space that has a touch of modern trattoria blended with old-fashioned rustic.

My sister and brother ordered salads sporting Bibb lettuce and tomatoes with sautéed chicken slices plus circles of mozzarella dressed in silky vinaigrette with Romano and the tang of balsamic reduction. My middle-aged brother is most at home in chain restaurants. He loves powdered doughnuts and convenience store hot dogs. So after a few bites of his salad, it was like watching someone eating real food for the first time as his face transformed from grimace to pleasure.

It wasn’t long before he and my sister were fencing forks into the shrimp arrabbiata (a.k.a. the angry sauce; to do it right you need to bring passion to the stove and a whole bunch of pepper f lakes).

This one had all the necessary heat and spice.

My mother’s salad had mounds of warm sautéed mushrooms showered across a bed of Bibb lettuce—all the textures complemented one another.

We all shared chicken meatballs, which were well spiced, bathed in tomato sauce, and baked with ricotta.

My eggplant was sautéed, then baked with the right balance of the stronger flavors of Romano and fontina then topped with a melting of mozzarella, layered with their house marinara— one of the tastiest I’ve had in Tucson.

Most Italian places have one of two notes. Either they’re old style red sauce joints or fancy dining establishments with starched-clothed waiters, white linen, and fancy silverware. Scordato’s offer Italian home-style cooking but lighter and updated.

We also tried their groovy minestrone that was chock full of fresh veggies—spinach, tomato, celery, chicken, white beans, carrot, potato, and pasta—simmered in a light broth and sparsely salted. cor dato ’ s

My family has forever been obsessed with food. Someone is always eating too much, another is counting Weight Watcher points, another is memorizing carbs, and another can’t stop shoveling in sweets.

This lunch was a relief—fresh ingredients that weren’t about flash, but comfort. The service has always been fast and friendly at Scordato’s. Their family has long been in the local restaurant business and their food, from their awesome crispy pizzas (charred on the outside) to their salads and entrees, is consistently excellent.

Scordato’s pizzeria shrimp arrabbiata.

And of course, my mother ordered a birthday dessert—the almond praline gelato—filled with crunchy nibs, then topped with whipped cream.

Scordato’s Pizzeria. 4911 N. Stone Ave. 520.529.2700. ScordatosPizzeria.com.

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he sm all Curry Leaf Indian Restaurant stands in the same place as the restaurant my family owned when we arrived in Tucson in the 1970s. Now, years later, a friend and I are here for dinner, eating a different style of food. Still, big dreams live on. Curry Leaf, just like our restaurant was, is owned and operated by a local family, the Kakaralas, who are passing down their own recipes the way we did when we first ventured into cooking for the public.

The space has a colorful folk art mural of a countryside scene on one side of the wall and green accents that perk everything up. Eleven years after opening, tonight is the last night that the patriarch, Prasad Kakarala, will be here. He’s retiring and leaving the cooking to his grown son, Nisheeth Kakarala.

My friend and I split a couple of appetizers—an order of house-made fried Vegetable Samosas, the crisp breading stuffed with soft potato and flavorful curry spices, and an order of Onion Pakora, deep-fried purple onions dipped in chickpea batter that arrive in a knot of savory tangles that provide some serious crunch.

Prasad Kakarala insists, “Nothing is frozen.”

Next we shared what is often considered Indian restaurants’ most popular dish—at least stateside— chicken tikka masala, with chunks of roasted chicken in a creamy spiced sauce with a tomato-cream base and a side of warm basmati rice. It’s a lovely push of sweet while the cream adds thickening and texture; you can choose your level of heat. Into the sauce we dip their house-made garlic naan bread; it’s baked in a stainless oven with a clay insert.

It’s got perfect blisters from the oven, and nibs of garlic turn up the spice.

The mixed vegetable curry—carrots, green beans, peas, cauliflowe , and potato—is cooked in a red sauce with a

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hint of lemon. They do veggies right, proving how well-cooked veggies can make a dish sing. All the ingredients stood up to the mild curried sauce. This blended base of chilies, cumin, turmeric, coriander, couscous, mustard seed, and fenugreek seed is ground up by the Kakarala’s extended family in Southern India and shipped to their restaurant in Tucson to use as the foundation for their various sauces and dishes.

Needing a spinach fix, I tried their palaak paneer, a stew of freshly chopped spinach in a creamy white sauce— cooked with oil, ginger, coriander, and cumin. Pieces of their house-made paneer cheese studded the dish—it tastes similar to firm tofu. Everything came with basmati rice, and with the light texture paired well with the more aromatic foods.

I’ve driven by our old restaurant so many times I’ve lost count, which could be why I missed the Curry Leaf. It’s got a bit of a hole in the wall vibe, but much spiffi . Good food, all cooked to order.

Curry Leaf Indian Restaurant.

2510 E. Grant Road. 520.881.2786.

CurryLeafTucson.com.

Agustín Kitchen’s pickled veggies.

Curry Leaf ’s naan, chicken tikka masala, mixed veggie curry, and palaak paneer.

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the festive Mercado San Agustín, Agustín Kitchen is an elegant space with intimations of a French bistro that features modern American cuisine.

There are many eateries heavy on the brick and industrial cable theme; this is an adventure in sleek minimalism. From the stunning bar—bartender Ciaran Wiese was written up in a New York Times article in 2011—to the lovely banquettes and white nc h o r i ng

bead board on the ceilings, everywhere my eye wandered, I was calmed. I’m used to fast casual dining, where food is often a quick source of fuel; sitting in the middle of the restaurant, I felt as if time slowed, allowing for a leisurely meal.

Jennifer and I split our sandwiches.

One was a moist shredded pork shoulder on a soft-but-sturdy brioche roll, layered with thin apple and cabbage slaw, each savory bite followed by a sweet pickled tang. I rank it up there on my best sandwich list because of its contrasting textures: soft egg bread against the crunch of veggies next to the chewy heartiness of meat.

We also ordered the Chicken in a Biscuit sandwich. The oversized herb buttermilk biscuit was sliced in half and then stacked with a good half inch of crispy fried chicken breast with Peppadew mayo, house pickles, and sides of some awesome hot herbed fries, which I dipped in their house-made ketchup.

We sampled their pickled veggies, a masterful still life rendering of colorful carrots, fermented turnips, sweet beets, and dill tomato, all topped with a nugget of fresh goat cheese. It was inanimate art until we ruined it by eating it. The carrots were sweet with sugar notes after a good pickling marinade spiced by the aromatic kiss of cardamom and ginger.

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Our serene adventure ended with us splitting a piece of carrot ginger cake with cream cheese icing. Carrot cake is a good cake, but here it’s taken up a notch with gingered pecan crumble. It was anointed with Cointreau whipped cream and crowned with blackberry, mint leaf, and strawberry.

The open kitchen shines with a clean white tile framed in sheets of white marble. An oyster bar is blanketed with ice. White uniformed staff move quickly and efficient . At Agustín Kitchen, the starring attraction is the food, with equal attention paid to presentation and service.

Come when you’re not in a hurry.

And then walk around. We bought some fresh handmade tortillas at La Estrella Bakery. And there’s gorgeous produce at the farmers’ market on Thursday afternoons.

Agustín Kitchen sources local meats (like Double Check Ranch or Top Knot Farms) and as much organic and locally sourced produce as possible.

Agustín Kitchen. 100 S. Avenida del Convento. 520.398.5382.

AgustinKitchen.com.

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he new location for Baja Café is a little bit funky with a whole lotta flavo , and the menu puts some creative sizzle into breakfast.

At noon, the cafe is alive as happy customers dig into eggs Benedict. Baja Café offers flavor shake-ups on breakfast staples. Jennifer and I split two Benedicts—one classic, one Coyote. The classic comes with a toasted muffi and “seared spiral ham,” then a poached egg balanced on top, with a ladle of creamy hollandaise that tasted like a savory pudding—pure comfort food.

The Coyote boasted a medium poached egg, then a sheet of Hatch green chiles, crisped jalapeño bacon, all topped with mouth-tingling, house-made chipotle hollandaise. It was a tasty wake up.

The Tomatillo Pork Pupusa is a version of the popular South American street food.

A carnival of layers, it’s made from cornmeal grilled into a tamale cake, smothered in pulled pork with caramelized onion, then a mixture of melted cheddar and queso fresco, topped with crisp bacon, sautéed spinach, poached eggs, and hollandaise. It’s one plate of gastronomic ambition.

Jennifer chose the popular Reuben sandwich. Baja’s rendition comes with hand-carved corned beef on two

slices of rye, melted cheese, tangy sauerkraut, and a smear of Thousand Island dressing, grilled without being drenched in grease.

Owner Gerard Meurer came and sat with us. I commented on the atmosphere.

He looked around, smiled, and said, “It has character.”

We talked about them opening this second location after celebrating two years of love at their eastside spot. He said, “We believe everyone works hard to make their dollar. People can choose to go anywhere, so we need to make sure every person gets warm service at a fair price.”

Customers get that and then some.

Eating here feels like an event. Ever since the glory of the egg has been rediscovered as a superfood, breakfast has popped up throughout the entire day.

And Baja Café has figured out how to make recipes you’ve never considered.

They use local Merit Foods as their food distributor and serve local Yellow Brick Coffee, La Mesa Tortillas, and selected items from local artisans. ✜ Baja Café. 2970 N. Campbell Ave. 520.344.7369. BajaCafeTucson.com.

Laura Greenberg is a Tucson-based writer.

Baja Café’s Reuben sandwich.

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The Plate Plate the

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The one thing they should never take off the menu.

1234 Photography by Isadora Lassance

Grilled Fresh Atlantic Salmon Cushing Street Bar and Restaurant A classic meal in a classy spot. The salmon is served with cilantro basmati rice and gingerglazed carrots. $24 198 W. Cushing St.

Tea-Soaked Savory French Toast Feast The toast trend is spreading.

This Savory French Toast comes topped with taleggio cheese, served with seasonal mushrooms, English peas and pea tendrils, and shaved lemon. $17 3719 E. Speedway Blvd.

Grilled Oysters Fini’s Landing If summer had a taste, this would be it. The Gulf Coast farmed oysters come with green goddess dressing, panko (Japanese-style breadcrumbs), and Parmesan. $15 5689 N. Swan Road

Carne Seca Chimichanga El Charro The one that made them famous. Make a burrito a chimichanga by deep-frying it and smothering it in spicy sauce. $15.90 311 N. Court Ave.

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Homestead Skills for self-sufficient living & eating

Growing Up And other ways to save space in tiny gardens.

By Amy Belk | Illustrations by Adela Antoinette

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he definition of homesteading in America has changed

considerably since the late 19th century, yet we still often associate the word with vast spaces and large pieces of land.

The reality today is that many of us are homesteading from the hearts of our cities: from balconies, patios, small plots in community gardens, and from the tiny backyards of rental properties. From living walls to hanging gardens and hydroponics, we’re constantly learning new ways to make the most efficient use of space, so there’s no reason to let a lack of acreage keep you from growing your own veggies. As more people move into urban areas with limited room for horizontal expansion, many are looking up to make the best use of the vertical space in their gardens. This can be something as simple as incorporating a trellis, netting, or wire to give vining or trailing crops support as they grow upwards, increasing surface area and thus production. Arbors, arches, and even old ladders can give upward support while giving fruit a safe place to hang or rest on a rung above the soil.

Vertical gardens can also be created with any type of planter that you can attach, stack, hang, or arrange on a shelf. Living wall features and vertical planters can be purchased ready-to-plant, or crafted out of reusable objects. I’ve seen everything from pallets to soda bottles serve as vertical garden planters; it’s always fun to see how creative people can get with their plant and container choices.

Containerized vertical gardens can have some drawbacks, however. The type of crops you’re able to grow this way are limited by the smaller container sizes that are typically used. Smaller, shallow-rooted plants like some herbs and leafy greens are better for the types of planters that are small enough to use in vertical gardens. Veggies that have taproots or deep, hungry root systems are better in larger, deeper containers or in the ground.

Another problem sometimes encountered with containerized vertical gardens is that planters need to drain, which can cause damage to a home’s walls and foundation. One popular solution to this problem, especially in tiny gardens, is to build a hydroponic garden instead of using traditional planters against the side of a building.

Hydroponic gardens allow you to grow plants directly in water that is loaded with nutrients and continuously circulated, eliminating the need for a planting mix, like soil, to deliver nutrients to the roots. Because water stays contained within the system, it doesn’t cause damage to a home’s walls or foundations. It’s true that some hydroponic systems don’t look like big space-savers at first glance, but the yield per square foot can be much higher than that of traditional gardening methods if you maintain the system properly.

There are six types of hydroponic gardening methods, with variations of each method as diverse as the spaces they occupy.

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Hydroponics gives you complete control over the nutrition that your plants receive, but this growing method is somewhat less forgiving than growing in soil. One incorrect measurement, too much evaporation, or a missed water change can set you back, to say the least. Hydroponic gardening is by no means difficult, with handy gadgets and a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips. Still, like most gardens, it will require some careful attention and routine maintenance.

There are those who claim that the only way to go organic and hydroponic at the same time is to create an aquaponic garden. Aquaponics is similar to hydroponics in that the plants are suspended in water, but aquaponic gardens use fish to provide nutrients rather than chemicals. In turn, the roots of your crops filter the water that is continuously cycled through the system.

Brendan Woltman, the owner of EcoGro, located in downtown Tucson, points out that an aquaponic system uses much less water than hydroponic systems that need weekly water changes. The maintenance involved in keeping an aquaponic garden involves feeding the fish, topping-off the water, and harvesting your rewards.

Aquaponic systems boast a 95 percent water savings over traditional gardening methods while veggies put on two to three times more bulk. With the exception of root crops like beets and carrots, anything can be grown this way, and it’s easy to modify existing water features like ponds or fountains to become a part of a thriving aquaponic system.

According to Woltman, tanks can be as small as three gallons, but with Tucson’s 5 percent evaporation rate, larger tanks are easier to maintain. Though the evaporation rate is less if the system is located indoors, energy costs can be higher depending on your need for artificial grow lights.

To grow root crops, Woltman says that his customers have been happy with fabric pots like the thrifty GLite series from GeoPot. These breathable, washable containers naturally air-prune roots that grow to the edges of the root ball, making it easy and inexpensive to grow some of your favorite veggies.

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Whether it’s made of fabric or clay, you can grow just about anything in the right size container with the right amount of light. Most veggies do need lots of sunlight (or a grow light, if indoors), even in our hot climate, though many people also have good luck under the filtered light of a desert tree. Leafy greens and herbs are the way to go if you get less than 6 hours of sunlight a day.

Don’t forget to use companion planting to your advantage and grow different crops together to save space (visit EdibleBajaArizona.com/Good-Bedfellows for some suggestions). Remember that containerized plants need water more frequently than those in the ground. Even drought tolerant veggies like peppers will need to be checked daily when winds and temperatures are high.

If all else fails, and your garden is just too tiny or has the wrong kind of light, there are a whole lot of ways to still get your hands dirty and come home with some of the harvest. Find or start a community garden, or volunteer at a garden like Tucson’s Mission Garden and the gardens run by the Community Food Bank. Volunteering is a fantastic way to meet and learn from other passionate locals—and might inspire future gardening projects.

To learn more about aquaponic gardening and other sustainable growing methods—and to see some rare and unusual plants for sale—stop by EcoGro. This small store has knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff, and a lot of cool stuff to see.  EcoGro. 657 W. St. Mary’s Road, Suite 100. EcoGro.com.

To find a community garden in Tucson, visit CommunityGardensofTucson.org.

To learn more about Mission Garden, visit TucsonsBirthplace.org.

Amy Belk is a garden writer and photographer, a certified arborist, and a certified nursery professional who has been learning from her garden for 15 years. She and her husband homestead on a little piece of the desert in the heart of Tucson.

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What to Plant July/August 2016

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f you live at the highest elevations of Baja Arizona, most of what you’re planting this time of year will want to be in the ground by mid-July. This is the case with beets, carrots, celery, Chinese cabbage, and collard greens. Plant chard and head lettuce in July, and begin planting leaf lettuce in August.

Those around Benson, Cochise, and Willcox can plant everything above (with the exception of beets). You can also continue planting beans, broccoli, corn, mustard greens, and summer squash through the middle of July, and collard greens through early August. In early July, begin planting Brussels sprouts and Chinese cabbage, and around mid-month start planting cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, Swiss chard, lettuce, radish, and spinach. Get going with kale in early August, and with turnips mid-month.

In Gila Bend, Safford, and Tucson—anywhere between 2,000 and 3,000 feet—continue planting muskmelon, pumpkin, and summer squash through mid-July. Some varieties of dent corn can be planted very early in July, and winter squash can be planted by the end of the month. Plant bush or pole beans and sweet corn from mid-July to mid-August. In late July or early August, plant broccoli along with cauliflower, celery, cucumber, and radish. Begin planting Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage, kale, fall peas, and turnip around mid-August, and begin planting carrot, rutabaga, and spinach at the end of the month.

Lower elevations like Ajo, Casa Grande, Florence, and Marana have more going on in August, but you can continue planting dent corn varieties until mid- to late July, and plant muskmelon, pumpkin, and winter squash by the end of the month.

There’s a short window to plant bush and pole beans from mid- or late July until around mid-August, and sweet corn from late July to late August. In mid-August begin planting a few cool season crops like cauliflower, celery, cucumber, and fall peas.

This isn’t the busiest time of year in the very lowest elevations, like Yuma, though carrot, pumpkin, and winter squash can be planted from mid-July to mid-August.

Plant bush beans, pole beans, and sweet corn in August.

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Reading Roots The University of Arizona’s Gardenroots project helps gardeners learn the stories of their soil —including those containing environmental pollution.

By Page Buono | Photography by Erica Montgomery

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ommon garden vegetables like broccoli, potatoes, and Brussels sprouts send their roots as deep as three feet into the soil in search of water and nutrients; the roots of pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes dig even deeper. Mesquite trees have evolved ways for coping with drought, including dropping roots as deep as 160 feet (the deepest ever recorded) into the soil. Roots—even more than hands—can dig down and divulge the stories of the land and soil, revealing things we might already know about our lawns and gardens—and things we don’t.

Because soil becomes a sink for history, often illuminating legacies of environmental pollution, Mónica Ramírez-Andreotta of the University of Arizona finds that farms and gardens are the perfect medium, and gardeners the perfect citizen-scientist partners, for conducting environmental health research.

Ramírez-Andreotta first developed the idea of working with gardeners while she was the research translation coordinator for

the UA’s Superfund Research Program. She began working in Dewey-Humboldt, a small town east of Prescott and just north of the Iron King Mine and Humboldt Smelter. During one of the first community meetings hosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after the town was placed on the National Priorities List in 2008, community members raised questions about the safety of their soil and the food grown in their gardens. Ramírez-Andreotta was eager to answer their questions, but site-specific data was not available. So in 2010, she collected residential soils for greenhouse studies and began recruiting local gardeners to participate in the citizen science project, Gardenroots: The Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona Garden Project.

Mónica Ramírez-Andreotta started the Gardenroots project after hearing from gardeners in Dewey-Humboldt who were concerned about the safety of their soil and the food grown in their gardens.

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Homestead

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“I wanted to design a project that listened; that simultaneously In Sierra Vista, Linda Gleason, a long-time gardener, was eager addressed and met the needs of the community in a distressed to learn more about the beets, Swiss chard, fennel, tomatoes, situation while advancing the field of science,” Ramírez-Andreotta peppers, and okra she grows in her vegetable garden. “I want to said. After two years, Ramírez-Andreotta ended up with about 50 make sure that I’m growing my vegetables in the best soil possible trained participants and 25 submitted kits, collected from home so they’ve got the nutrients I would like to get out of them,” farms and gardens.

Gleason said.

Garry Rogers, a retired geographer, owns nearly 20 acres outside of Gleason also had some concerns about the history of her land, Dewey-Humboldt and, like many in the community, was concerned which once hosted the little-known Hereford Army Airfield. “It’s about the effect of heavy metals leaching into the groundwater or being always been in the back of my mind, wondering if my soil or my carried by wind from the tailings pile into nearby gardens. Rogers and water is affected by the fact that there used to be an airport here. the other participants each submitted Even though it was WWII, I’m sure a soil, water, and vegetable or plant lot of that stuff is still in the soil and samples. Ten months after samples were water,” she said. submitted and analyzed in labs at the In Bisbee, Cado Daily wants UA, the project delivered personalized information about the rainwater she booklets to each gardener, outlining the collects to water her vegetable garden. results for their garden and included a Having worked with Water Wise, a discussion of their meaning. “It gave us local nonprofit dedicated to water a lot of information so that we could conservation, since its inception in decide what to do,” said Rogers.

1994, Daily uses rainwater for all her Each individual booklet contained gardening needs. both raw, confidential data (like “When Monica came, I thought milligrams of arsenic per kilogram of this is so great, because I’d like to vegetable) and tables outlining the see if using rainwater instead of quantity of vegetables participants groundwater produces any difference could consume at various target risk in terms of what’s in the soil,” Daily levels. said. She said she was concerned Few participants said they would that some roofing materials might completely stop gardening based on contaminate the water and, consethe results, but the majority planned quently, the soil. to continue gardening with modified In Double Adobe, between Bisbee gardening practices. and Douglas, Ellie Vaughn was curious The study revealed that 16 out about the quality of her raised bed, of 25 irrigation water samples, 13 of in part because she and her husband which were taken from private wells sell their onions to the High Desert and three from the public potable Market in Bisbee for three months out water supply system, were above the of the year. “You may think everything’s EPA maximum contaminant level for good and find out otherwise,” she said. arsenic. At a results-sharing event, “We’ve been here long enough to know community members using the public that at one point, when we first moved water system decided to notify the Arihere, the smelter in Douglas was still zona Department of Environmental going and sometimes the smoke would Quality (ADEQ), which then issued head our direction.” a notice of violation to the Humboldt Gardenroots’ participants, both (Top) Collection kits go out to home gardeners. (Bottom) water supplier. And, they told their those who have conducted citizen-sciResults from the study were delivered to each gardener. neighbors. ence projects before and those who “The ADEQ announced in April haven’t, say the project has them 2016 that the Humboldt water system is thinking about their role, responsibilinow in compliance and serving water that meets the drinking water ty, and capacity as gardeners in a different way. standard,” Ramírez-Andreotta said.

“People come together to garden, and gardening has a multitude Ramírez-Andreotta is now an assistant professor in the Departof positive effects on the environment—it would be so unfortunate ment of Soil, Water and Environmental Science at the UA and has for pollution to take that away from us,” Ramírez-Andreotta said.  started working with gardeners in Cochise, Apache, and Greenlee Visit Gardenroots.arizona.edu for information from other studies, counties, the three counties that requested her services. and for details about commissioning Ramírez-Andreotta and her Ramírez-Andreotta said that gardeners of all varieties want to team. know more about their soil, regardless of what might be impacting Page Buono is a freelance journalist and MFA candidate in creative it. She noted, however, that most counties that chose to participate nonfiction at the University of Arizona. are located near active or legacy resource extraction sites.

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Homestead

Ask A Master Gardener

By Pima County Master Gardeners | Illustration by Adela Antoinette

Have a question about your garden?

Submit it at Edible Baja Arizona.com or Facebook.com/EdibleBajaArizona or call the Pima County Master Gardener Plant Clinic at 520.626.5161

L

When should I fertilize my citrus trees?

O

How can I protect my figs from the beetles and birds?

ast year, the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension ne of the benefits of growing fig trees is that they are modified the recommended schedule for fertilizing citrus relatively pest free. The only insect pest of concern is the based on new research. Historically, we’ve been instructed bright green fig beetle (Cotinis mutabilis), which devours to feed citrus three times each year using Valentine’s Day as the the ripening fruit. They’re seen all over the Southwest during the first application date followed by Memorial Day and Labor Day. monsoon months of July to September. In addition to figs, fig beetles These dates were based upon Southern California’s growing season love to eat apricots, pears, peaches, apples, melons, grapes, tomatoes, and are not suitable for our warmer and drier and cactus fruit. They also like to huddle around mesquite climate. The new recommendations are to add and desert broom tree wounds that are oozing sap. fertilizer on the following schedule: The beetles are fairly large (up to 1 inch or more) • For oranges, tangerines and and noisy as they buzz around. They’re poor grapefruit: Apply a third of the pilots that fly slowly, and often bump into recommended range of fertilyou accidentally. But they’re one of the izer in January-February, a showiest insects in our area. third in March-April, and a Birds can also be pests of third in May-June. ripening fruit. As they peck on • For lemons and limes: the fruit, they expose it to the beetles. One common sense line Apply a third of the of defense against both of these recommended range pests is to harvest fruit early of fertilizer in Januaryand keep fallen fruit cleaned February, a third in up. In this way, you maximize March-April and a third the harvest, and minimize in August-September. the pest attraction.

Fertilizing plants is really Other ways of discourabout increasing the fertility of aging and controlling the the soil. The macronutrients— fig beetle take advantage of nitrogen, phosphorous, and poits scarab beetle family role tassium—are the basic necessities for plant nutrition. Each of the macin recycling organic matter. ronutrients is important for healthy During their larval stage they citrus, but nitrogen and phosphorous are voracious eaters. So you can are considered the most important. shut off their food and shelter by Because of this, the new recommendations covering, screening, or removing from the University of Arizona focus on those manure, compost, and heavy leaf Figeater beetle (Cotinis mutabilis). two. In addition to macronutrients, there are the litter. You may also turn your compost minerals called micronutrients that help to support frequently to heat it up. Any exposed plant nutrition. Iron, zinc, manganese, magnesium, sulfur, grubs will be welcomed by the birds. and calcium are the most important micronutrients for growing By following these suggestions you can reduce citrus. Studies indicate that potassium, calcium, magnesium, and your fig pest problems to a manageable level and enjoy a bountiful sulfur are rarely deficient in citrus grown by homeowners. harvest of a delicious fruit. 

Visit Extension.Arizona.edu to determine the timing and correct amount of fertilizer to apply to your trees.

Visit Extension.Arizona.edu to read Growing Common Figs in the Lower Desert.

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Homestead

Sonoran White Pomegranate Rescuing a desert jewel.

By Dena Cowan | Illustrations by Adela Antoinette

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eginning with the Spanish

colonization of Baja Arizona in the late 17th century, pomegranates were ubiquitous orchard and backyard trees; but as home gardens with fruit trees fell out of fashion in recent decades, Baja Arizona’s heirloom pomegranates all but disappeared, dying off with the last of the elderly gardeners who had tended to them.

Fortunately, pomegranates are now making a comeback. This wave of newfound interest in planting pomegranates in Baja Arizona landscapes has many causes, including the rising movement to localize food production and rescue heirloom desert-adapted crop varieties; an increasing sensitivity toward historical place-based food traditions; the benefits of growing trees to counter the heat island effect,

sequester carbon from the atmosphere, and create habitat for birds and insects; and the need to use scarce water resources efficiently.

Do you want to wake up a sleeping beauty? Give that long-neglected pomegranate tree a little TLC. Unlike other nonnative Old World fruit trees, even when pomegranates are overlooked for years, they can be resuscitated. With weekly deep irrigation during hot periods, pruning of dead wood and suckers in winter, and occasional top-dressing with compost and mulch, you will soon see that lackluster bush transform into a luxuriant tree laden with delicious pomegranates.

Indeed, pomegranates are among the most resilient and high-yielding fruit trees in Baja Arizona.

An ancient fruit whose domestication dates back to the dawn of civilization, there are many varieties, ranging from those with purple skin and tart red hard-seeded arils (or kernels) to those with golden skin and sweet white soft-seeded arils like many of our local desert-adapted heirlooms.

Through efforts such as the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum’s Kino Heritage Fruit Trees Project, local cultivars are experiencing a resurgence, gaining notoriety as Sonoran White Pomegranates. Many local specimens are believed to be clones of the trees first introduced into this region during the 18th century by European missionaries.

Arizona and California are the best regions for cultivating pomegranates in the United States. Pomegranates tolerate our heat, drought, alkaline soils, and

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moderate frosts. In 2012, Ursula Schuch and Glenn Wright of the University of Arizona Agriculture and Life Sciences Cooperative Extension established a trial to test 32 varieties of pomegranates in three locations—Yuma, Tucson, and Bowie—to assess their viability for commercial fruit-bearing and landscaping. Most of the varieties came from the University of California at Davis germplasm repository, but they also included three of the Kino Heritage Fruit Tree cultivars: the Josefina (named after Tucson florist Josefina Lizárraga), the Sosa Carrillo (named after the historical museum home in downtown Tucson), and the Ruby (named after the Arizona ghost town). In 2014, in Tucson, the Josefina variety produced the third largest yield, nine kilograms from four trees. In Yuma, the Sosa Carrillo produced the second largest yield, and in Bowie the Sosa Carrillo tied with the Azadi cultivar in producing the most fruit. The color of the juice from the fruit grown in Bowie—at an elevation of 3,700 feet—was the darkest red, whereas the fruit from Yuma—at an elevation of 164 feet—was lightest in color, which indicates that the light-colored arils of the Sonoran Whites may be a trait resulting from adaptation to extreme heat. The preliminary results of this study, which show that the heirloom cultivars produce superior yields and quality, provide additional scientific validation of the vernacular wisdom behind endeavors to rescue and revive our precious heirloom crop varieties.

Egyptian pharaohs were entombed with pomegranates to ensure their safe passage into the afterlife. In China, pomegranates symbolize fertility. They represent righteousness in Jewish tradition, which equates the number of arils in each fruit to the number of commandments in the Torah. Indeed, biblical scholars now believe a pomegranate to be the true fruit of temptation. In the Qur’an pomegranates are depicted in the gardens of paradise, and Muslim children are taught not to let even one pomegranate aril fall to the ground since they represent Mohammed’s tears. In Hinduism, pomegranates symbolize fertility and prosperity.

Some of this fruit’s legendary status arises from their unique beauty, from the trees’ bright green foliage and vivid red flowers to the characteristic crowned peaks and neatly clustered arils of the fruits. In Baja Arizona, pomegranates are among the first trees to leaf out in the earliest days of spring, and in the fall, their bright yellow autumnal leaves afford the most brilliant splashes of color in any garden.

Our Sonoran White Pomegranates begin ripening in July and stay ripe on the tree through September. The arils often become sweeter and take on pinker hues towards the end of the harvest season. They store very well, and can be strung up and hung in the kitchen.

Even though the outer husks harden and dry, the arils inside retain their juiciness for weeks. Alternatively, they can be stored for up to two months in the refrigerator, though many people prefer to remove the arils and freeze them.

The Sonoran White Pomegranate provides us with an opportunity to savor variety, connect with our history, and refine our palates, leading us to the discovery of ancient tastes, new recipes, and timeless beauty.

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Pomegranate juice is now very popular, but it has long been the essential ingredient of the grenadine syrup used in cocktails. In Middle Eastern cuisine it is added to sauces and soups. In Indian and Pakistani cooking the seeds of some varieties are used as a spice. Dehydrated arils are put in chutneys, curries, trail mixes, and dessert toppings.

Pomegranates are ideal in garnishes, syrups or salad dressings, for marinating meats, for spreads and dips, and in glazes and relishes.

In Mexico, the most typical pomegranate dish is chiles en nogada—stuffed chilies topped with a white sauce, red pomegranate arils, and green parsley to represent the three colors of the flag. When folk musician Bobby Benton tasted one of Mission Garden’s Sonoran White Pomegranates in Tucson, he reminisced about his mother’s old tree on the west side of town, and the white pomegranate arils she’d serve inside Jello, as a special treat. Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace board member Tomás Castillo used the Sonoran Whites to brew Pomegranate Beer, and volunteers Gene and Daniel Einfrank are making Mission Garden’s premier Pomegranate Wine. At my house, our favorite way of eating pomegranates is simply as fresh fruit. We like to pluck the arils out one at a time and slowly savor them with after-dinner conversation.

The Sonoran White Pomegranate epitomizes the exquisite treasure of biodiversity, the essence of what our culture has created to nourish us over the millennia, from the cities of Jericho and Carthage to Baghdad and Ashgabat, and from the Garden of Eden to the orchards of Baja Arizona. It provides

us with an opportunity to savor variety, connect with our history, and refine our palates, leading us to the discovery of ancient tastes, new recipes, and timeless beauty.

To celebrate the diversity, history, and beauty of pomegranates, Tucson’s Mission Garden will host Baja Arizona’s Second Annual Festival of Pomegranates on Sept.

24, 2016. The festival will include a pomegranate tasting, where participants will get a chance to see, touch, and taste some of the fine heirloom pomegranate varieties from this region, and compare their distinct flavors, colors, and textures to other exotic varieties.  For more information, call 520.777.9270 or email missiongarden.tucson@gmail.com.

Dena Cowan is responsible for community outreach for Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace Mission Garden and the curator of an exhibition to be presented at Tucson Meet Yourself narrating the food history that led Tucson to become a UNESCO City of Gastronomy.

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BAJA ARIZONA

Farm Report

By Sara Jones | Photography by Liora K

D

the hot summer months, farmers in our region must choose desert-adapted, heat-tolerant crops carefully to be successful. These include indigenous crops like chiles and squash as well as plants from regions around the world with extreme summer conditions.

“Many of the plants that we grow are from heirloom seed, grown by Tohono O’odham farmers and other groups in the region for generations,” says Cie’na Schlaefli the farm manager at the San Xavier Co-op Farm. “We work with Native Seeds/SEARCH and other local plant breeders to select new desert adapted plants for trials.”

This year the farm is expanding its green chile crop, with seed from Ed Curry, a longtime Arizonan and chile plant breeder. The co-op farm also grows serranos, chiltepins, and other hot peppers as well as heirloom Tohono O’odham canary melons, yellow f lesh watermelons, and squash.

The co-op farm produces a distinct Sonoran Desert staple that is growing in popularity: mesquite flou . The flou , from pods harvested sometime in June, has a rich molasses taste. Because of its natural sweetness, it is delicious added to baked goods and pancake batters if you want ur ing

to cut back on sugar. The co-op works with local community members through the Wild Foods Community Harvest Program to share knowledge about how to harvest, process and prepare traditional wild Sonoran Desert foods. The mesquite pods are harvested by community members from trees selected for their sweetness, which varies from tree to tree. The farm has a hammermill onsite that allows them to mill the pods into meal.

“The date the flour is available depends on the weather,” says Schlaefli. “The milling has to be done on a relatively dry day, or the sugars in the mesquite will be too sticky.” Along with mesquite fl ur, the farm sells other dry goods like whole and milled grains, bean mixes, and dried cholla buds. Fresh produce and dried goods are available at the Thursday Santa Cruz River Farmers’ Market at Mercado San Agustín as well as at the farm store, located at 8100 S. Oidak Wog. Peppers from Richcrest Farms.

Folks with backyard chickens might want to head out to the store to shop so they can pick up locally produced chicken scratch from the farm. “The scratch is a supplemental feed blend that we make using the grain, mesquite, and bean debris left over from our milling process,” says Schlaefli

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Easy Summer Fried Rice

You can use almost any vegetable in fried rice. If you start with leftover cooked rice you can have a quick meal in a matter of minutes, without heating up the kitchen too much. If you want a vegetarian dish, just omit the sausage.

3 cups cooked white or brown rice 1 tablespoon oil ½ onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1-2 cups mixed vegetables, diced (okra, squash, corn, or green beans are all great) ½ cup diced Chinese sausage, ham, or salami (if desired) 3 eggs, beaten 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil 1 tablespoon soy sauce Okra from Larry’s Veggies.

I

n summer ,

in addition to native desert crops, farmers’ market shoppers will find produce with origins in hot and/or arid regions around the world. Watermelon, okra, eggplant, and cultivated purslane (verdolagas) are some of the most heat-tolerant fruits and vegetables and have a long history of cultivation in the desert regions of Africa, the Middle East, and India.

Okra, originally from Africa, seems to actually thrive during our hottest months.

As one of the easiest crops to save for seeds, many farmers in the region have been growing their preferred variety of okra for years, even decades. At markets you will see both long and squat okra in bright green or shades of red. There are many ways to use this tasty and highly nutritious vegetable. Okra is notorious for being slimy, but cooking it whole minimizes that quality. Perhaps the simplest way to eat okra is to blanch whole pods in a pot of boiling water for 60 to 90 seconds. Drain the okra, sprinkle liberally with salt, and serve immediately for a surprisingly delicious snack.

Whole pods, tossed with a bit of salt and oil and seasoned with a Cajun or curry spice mix, are excellent grilled, broiled, or pan fried. Okra also makes phenomenal pickles.

In stews like gumbo, chopped okra is traditionally used as a thickener and it makes a good addition to a saucy dish or stirred into scrambled eggs.

There are a variety of unusual, heat-tolerant greens available at markets during the summer. Amaranth greens, malabar spinach, purslane, sweet potato greens, and even squash leaves are some of the stranger looking—but very tasty—greens usually offered. They are all fairly mild tasting and make a good substitute for kale or spinach in cooked recipes.

The succulent leaves and stems of purslane are great either raw or cooked. If you crave the cool green crunch of lettuce during the summer, sprouts are a good substitute. Sellers at markets offer several varieties, including large sunflower sprouts and pea shoots as well as microgreens that range from spicy to sweet. The sprouts can stand in for lettuce in salads and sandwiches and make a great fresh addition to a bowl of veggies and rice.

Sprouts are often available at the Thursday Santa Cruz River Farmers’ Market consignment table and from Amy’s Raw Kitchen at the Sunday Heirloom Farmers’ Market at Rillito Park. “Since they don’t require a lot of space and don’t take long to grow, they can be grown year-round in the protection of an indoor temperature controlled space,” says Amy Mortier, the owner of Amy’s Raw Kitchen. “At the market I can cut them fresh from the trays and keep precut ones bagged in coolers.” The heat is still challenging because they are so delicate. “Customers should have a cooler in their vehicle for their produce and come early,” Amy says. 

Sara Jones is a longtime employee of the Tucson CSA.

Hot sauce, to taste Sauté onion in 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until beginning to brown. Add garlic, veggies, and meat. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until veggies are mostly tender. Sprinkle rice over the top of vegetables and cover to steam for a couple of minutes. Remove the cover, stir rice into vegetables then push the mixture to one side of the pan. On the other side of the pan add the sesame oil then the eggs and cook until the eggs are almost set. Stir the rice and veggie mixture into the eggs, drizzle with soy sauce and hot sauce, and mix until well-combined.

Mesquite Pancakes

You can substitute mesquite flour for one-fourth of the regular flour in many cookie or muffin recipes with good results. These mesquite pancakes are perfect topped with some sliced summer peaches and whipped cream.

Ingredients 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour ½ cup mesquite flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 2 eggs 2 tablespoons oil 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 ½ cups milk Stir the dry ingredients together. You may want to sift the mixture if the mesquite flour is clumpy. Mix together wet ingredients then stir into the flour mixture. Cook pancakes on a well-oiled griddle over medium heat.

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Sonoran 101 Summer Session EXPLORE EASY SONORAN COOKING DURING OUR HOT BAJA ARIZONA SUMMER. Text and photography by Jackie Alpers

I

’ m from O hio . A lot of what is considered standard in Baja Arizona recipes was foreign to me when I moved here nearly 25 years ago. I never knew I could eat cactus. I’d never heard of chiltepin peppers or even carne asada. The only taco shells I knew were corn, crunchy, fried, and came out of a box. Taco meat was ground beef seasoned with a pouch of McCormick seasoning.

I still love those tacos, but as I watched and researched and ate a lot of the local cuisine, I’ve expanded my horizons a bit.

I learned that our hot, dry, low-desert environment influence not only the crops grown, but the way we eat. It’s perpetual summer, so dishes tend to be lighter, with more fruits and vegetables. Beef and wheat are abundant because they thrive here.

The foundation of Baja Arizona cuisine is based on certain standard dishes, modified and expanded on by individual cooks.

This article highlights a few of the recipes that are the building blocks of our distinctive local cuisine, including chiltepin salsa, pico de gallo salsa, chunky guacamole, and carne asada.

You can serve any of the first four recipes on their own, or combine them to use as ingredients in other dishes, such as the carne asada and guacamole tostadas featured. I’ve also included my recipe for a Chopped Nopalitos Salad for a complete summer meal.

These recipes are just starting points. Many families and restaurants have their own version of these Sonoran classics, so feel free to alter them and make them your own.  Jackie Alpers is a food photographer, recipe developer, and author of Sprinkles!: Recipes and Ideas for Rainbowlicious Desserts. Visit her recipe blog, Jackie’s Happy Plate, to follow her culinary adventures as a Midwesterner transplanted to the Sonoran Desert.

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Chiltepin Blended Hot Salsa/Taco Sauce

Pico de Gallo Salsa

Chiltepins grow wild in parts of Baja Arizona. The chiles are the size of a pea and very hot. They are thought to be the oldest species of chile peppers. A little goes a long way, so if you don’t like it hot, cut the chile by half (or even two thirds), even though there’s only a tablespoon in this recipe.

I should probably call this Salsa Fresca because pico de gallo also refers to a salad of fresh fruit and/or vegetables served with chile, lime, and salt. But I’ve gotten in the habit of calling this type of salsa, pico.

The key to pico de gallo salsa is the ratio of tomato to onions and chiles. I prefer four parts tomatoes to one part onion, and one small serrano chile. Get the best tomatoes you can find. Mealy tomatoes make boring pico.

Ingredients: 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes 1 tablespoon chiltepin 1 cup water 3 cloves garlic ¼ cup chopped white onion 2 tablespoons dried Mexican oregano ¼ cup white vinegar 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste 2 tablespoons cilantro leaves Put the water and garlic in a blender and blend to purée. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until well combined. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving to let the flavors meld.

Ingredients: 1½ cups chopped fresh tomatoes ¼ cup finely diced white onion 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro 1 serrano chile, finely diced ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste Juice of one or two medium limes, about 2 tablespoons Combine ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate before serving.

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Chunky Guacamole One avocado per person is a good general rule for serving size.

Ingredients: 1 medium avocado 2 tablespoons pico de gallo salsa, drained of any liquid 2 medium limes’ juice, or one medium lemon, about 2 tablespoons 2 tablespoons crumbled queso cotija Salt to taste Run a knife along the outside parameter of the avocado, starting and ending at the stem. Twist to separate the two halves. Squeeze both halves like you’re juicing a lemon to extract the fruit into a bowl. Discard the pit. Pour the lemon juice on top and smash it into the avocado with a fork. Do the same with the salsa, salt, and cheese and mix until well combined. Serve immediately.

Pickled Red Onions Pickling softens the onion flavor while giving them a bite of vinegar. You can try these on top of everything you eat.

Ingredients: 2 cups thinly sliced red onion 1½ cup white vinegar ½ cup water 1 tablespoon salt Bring the vinegar, water, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan.

Put the onions in a nonreactive (glass or ceramic) lidded jar. A Mason jar is perfect for this. If using glass, put a metal utensil in the empty jar first so the heat doesn’t crack it. Remove the boiling vinegar from the heat and pour it over the onions so that they are covered, adding a little more water if needed.

Let cool, then cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

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Baked Carne Asada and Guacamole Tostadas This makes one tostada—serve one or two per person. Lay out the ingredients for a tostada bar or serve them prelayered.

Ingredients: 1 6-inch flour or corn tortilla. I used La Mesa Tortillas’ jalapeño tortillas from their shop on East Broadway, as well as prebaked corn tortillas made by Charras Tostadas Horneadas, which I found at Food City. ¼ cup chunky guacamole ¼ cup prepared carne asada ¼ cup chopped or shredded green cabbage 1 tablespoon picked radishes 1 tablespoon pico de gallo salsa 2 tablespoons crumbled queso cotija Chiltepin salsa to taste Sliced radishes for garnish optional For the baked shells: If using fresh, soft tortillas, spray them with a little olive oil and bake them for 5-8 minutes on each side or until crispy. They will curl up a bit at the edges. This is fine. Let cool.

Layer each ingredient on top of the tostada shell. Start with guacamole, then add the warm carne asada, shredded cabbage, pickled onions, salsa, cheese, and radishes. Serve with additional toppings on the side.

Carne Asada Beef is a staple of Sonoran food because of the large amount of cattle ranches in the area. We are fortunate to have a variety of grass-fed ranches in Baja Arizona. Carne asada means “grilled beef,” and there are a million ways to make it. This recipe is for the chopped variety, similar to what you’ll find at local taco stands and trucks. Achiote molido is ground annatto seeds. It adds a subtle smoky flavor and it s available at most local supermarkets.

Flour or corn? Though Sonora is known as a wheat-growing region, it’s also influenced by the proliferation of corn in our society, so typically both corn and flour tortillas are offered a meals.

Ingredients: ¼-1/3 pounds skirt steak per person Olive oil or neutrally flavored vegetables oil Achiote molido Salt Light the grill and prepare the meat while the coals are heating up. If you are not in the mood to grill, or if it’s too hot outside to consider cooking over a fire, you can also use a grill pan inside on the stove over medium-high heat.

Brush both sides of the meat with oil using a pastry brush, then sprinkle generously with salt and achiote powder. When the coals are hot, grill the meat for 3-5 minutes on each side. The steaks should be medium to medium-well and charred on the outside.

Remove from heat, and let the steak sit for 10 minutes.

Slice the steak into thin strips, then dice the strips into small chunks.

Pan-fry the chunks in a large, lightly oiled skillet (preferably cast iron) or in a comal for 2-3 minutes until hot and a little bit crispy on the edges.

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Nopalitos Chopped Salad Nopalitos, which are made from the pads of the prickly pear cactus, are a little scary to eat at first. Based on the name alone, I figured there was a pretty good chance that a stray spike would poke me in the mouth.

But that wasn’t the case.

Although you can harvest nopales, you can also buy them; typically, the pads, also called nopals, come pretrimmed. When I picked up a package at Food City, some nice person had removed all of the needles in advance. Even so, I examined them closely before chopping them up, and declared them smooth. If you can’t find fresh nopals don’t fret! Nopalitos, the diced and cooked version of nopals, are available in jars at most supermarkets.

Nopalitos are lauded for their nutritional benefits, especially their ability to help control blood sugar. Serves 2-4 Ingredients: 1 cup chopped nopales, fresh or jarred (rinse if jarred) 2 cups finely chopped romaine 1 cup chopped tomatoes, preferably campari 1 cup chopped cucumber 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro ½ - 1 serrano chile, finely diced 1 scallion, diced, about 2 tablespoons 1 thin slice of red onion, about 2 tablespoons 1 small avocado peeled and chopped 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon white vinegar Salt and pepper to taste 2 medium-sized limes’ juice 1 teaspoon oregano, preferably Mexican 2 radishes, sliced ¼ cup crumbled queso cotija cheese, or substitute with feta If you are using fresh nopales, simmer the diced pads in a nonstick covered pan over low heat with a sprig of cilantro and a pinch or two of salt. They will start to release a slimy substance, but don’t worry; it will absorb as the nopalitos cook. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally until all of the liquid is absorbed, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Place all of the salad ingredients except for the radishes and avocado in a large bowl and toss gently with a rubber spatula to combine. Divide onto serving plates and arrange the avocado and radishes around the edge and on top of the salads. Garnish with a bit of crumbled cheese.

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IN THE BUSINESS

Uno, Dos, Seis Since 2012, Erika and Jake Muñoz have transformed Seis Kitchen from a tiny food truck into a full-scale business.

By Marguerite Happe | Photography by Casia + Eric Fletcher

Seis Kitchen caters, runs a brick-and-mortar location at Mercado San Agustín, and operates a food truck, Seis Curbside Kitchen. How did these businesses evolve?

Jake Muñoz: I’ve been in the restaurant business for over 25 years—does that make me sound really old? My first job was as a dishwasher when I was 15, and I’ve been in the restaurant business ever since. Erika has degrees in nutrition and marketing, but eventually we decided that we were at a point in our life journey where we wanted to have our family together, and be creative, and do the things we loved. So, we worked on a concept and menu for the food truck for two years. When we were ready, I quit my job and started running the business full-time.

Erika Muñoz: When we first started the food truck in 2012, we were really attracted to the benefits of being mobile. We could try different locations and test menu items without the costs of a proper brick-and-mortar.

Jake: The idea of Seis Kitchen—seis means six in Spanish— came up because I’m Hispanic and I have family on differen sides from all parts of Mexico.

Erika: We’ve also done some traveling in Mexico, and some

of my family lived in Mexico City for years. It’s just an amazingly rich country, both culturally and agriculturally, and we discovered so many dishes that weren’t being seen. So, Seis was intended to bring up these really awesome recipes from all of Mexico, which is why we still incorporate dishes from all six, or seis, regions of the country.

As a married couple, how do you divide restaurant responsibilities?

Erika: First, food is a huge part of our life. It’s our passion and our love; we wake up in the morning talking about food. It makes running our restaurant easier when we both share this internal passion and a desire to create really good meals.

Jake: We play to our strengths when it comes to running the business. Erika’s strengths are in marketing and running the behind-the-scenes operations for the restaurant. I run the day-to-day operations. We’ll support each other and give Husband-and-wife team Jake and Erika Muñoz started Seis Kitchen as a food truck, but have found a home at the Mercado San Agustín.

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feedback on menu items or marketing campaigns, but we take the lead in what we’re good at.

Erika: Seis is also very important to our family. Our daughter is now 10 years old, and she’s been with us every step of the way. She even helped out in the food truck when she was younger. She’s a great salesperson: who can say no to a 4-year-old?

Jake: Frankly, we just love to eat and talk about food, but we also really love sharing this culture and our heritage with people. When I was a kid, whenever we had weddings or celebrations, we’d have a 10 by 10 pit that was six feet deep with two iron doors that closed on top.

We’d throw cuts of beef or whole cow heads in there onto coals, bury them with dirt, and cook them for 24 hours. My family would get together, maybe 50 of us, pull out the heads, and shred the heads to make birria while the rest of our family was cooking beans and homemade flour tortillas. The preparation of the food was part of the festival itself. We still have birria on our menu at Seis today, which always reminds me of family and how food can be a celebration.

ingredients broken down in raw form is much more difficult To this day, we still try to source ingredients that we have to jump through hoops to find. It’s a welcome challenge, though, and one that we’re proud of.

Where do you source your local ingredients?

Jake: We use coffee from Stella Java, the coffee shop across the way [in the Mercado San Agustín]. They’re part of Presta Coffe Roasters, where they roast their beans. You know the roll that was used for your breakfast torta?

The local bakery, La Estrella [also in the Mercado] baked that. They make our rolls for tortas and other breads in our kitchen at night. We make some tortillas ourselves, but we also use other local producers. All of our beef is Arizona-grown; it’s all been grown in a 230-mile radius.

We use two local produce companies, so a lot of what we get throughout the year is dependent on the growing season.

What are you most proud of about the business you’ve created?

Jake: We’ve been really committed to supporting local businesses and charities.

Having our three businesses allows us to give back in a meaningful way. We give How did the transition as much as we can back to go from food truck to your brick-and-mortar? the community, which we’re What were some of very proud of. the challenges?

Erika: You know, even though we’ve grown, Jake Jake: We have always and I still are here every been thankful to have an day because we want to be. amazing team. We were The Carnitas Torta comes with slow-simmered pork, beer-battered We love food, and we want really busy as a food truck, green chile, smashed black beans, pickled jalapeños, roma tomato, to educate people on these so when we opened here, queso Oaxaca, and Seis-style chipotle crema. different savory and delicious we had a training process ingredients. Even though and an idea of what our staff we’ve been incredibly fortunate to receive plenty of accolades should be and do. From Day 1 at Mercado San Agustín, we and awards, I think, for me, it’s wonderful to see the customers quickly realized that we had this great staff who could do an that have become regular customers. If they eat at the restaurant, amazing job, but a major challenge was providing the resources they’ll have us there to cater for weddings or other personal for them to do the job like they wanted to do it, especially when moments. At the restaurant, we were packed on Mother’s Day. we were so busy. We had a line around the corner on our first It’s cool to be part of people’s lives like that, and know that they day of business. want to continue consuming our product. ✜ Erika: We make everything here, from marinades to bases, salsas, and sauces. It’s really important to us to keep things fresh, Seis Kitchen. 130 S. Avenida del Convento, No. 100. especially since people now are so hyperaware of what they 520.622.2002. SeisKitchen.com. consume. They want real food, and real food that tastes good.

Marguerite Happe is a writer, English teacher, and editor. Follow her on Jake: There’s a challenge with that. It’s very easy to fin Instagram @margueritehappe. processed items that have a long shelf life, but to find all of your 72 July/August 2016

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Why S�op �t a

L�ca�l� Own�d Bu�ine�s?

Strong attachment to local places correlates to economic development.

People who love where they live are more likely to vote, volunteer, give charitably, and pay taxes.

If everyone in Tucson shifted 10 percent of their spending to locally owned businesses, we would create 1,600 new jobs, more than $50 million in new wages, and $137 million in new economic activity in one year.

Spend $100 at a big box retailer, and you generate $14 in local spending by the retailer. That same $100 spent at a locally owned business generates $45 in local spending.

Local stores help to sustain vibrant, compact, walkable town centers, which reduce sprawl, automobile use, habitat loss, and air and water pollution.

Independently owned restaurants and local food businesses are one of Tucson’s largest and fastest-growing economic sectors.

Tucson’s 1,200 restaurants and drinking establishments employ 30,000 people. Food and beverage stores employ another 9,400 people. Food-related businesses represent 7% of all businesses and 14% of all jobs in Tucson.

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Illustration by Katya Granger | Text from Local First Arizona

Small business are the backbone of Arizona’s economy. 95% of all the firms in Arizona have fewer than 100 people.

For every $10 spent on local food, $8 to $9 can be retained by that family business.

When not buying local, $1.58 is retained.

The rest goes to out-of-state marketers, processors, wholesalers, and distributors.

A county earns $7.11 in property taxes per acre on a typical big-box retail store. For a mixed-use, mid-rise Main Street-style business district, a county earns $287.55 per acre. Higher tax earnings for counties helps create better public services and infrastructure.

$10 million worth of sales at independent retailers nationwide produces an average of 110 jobs.

The same money spent at a chain store? 50 jobs.

On Amazon.com? 14 jobs.

For every $100 spent at a farmers’ market, $62 stays in the local economy, and $99 stays in state.

To learn more about creating strong local economies visit LocalFirstAz.com.

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A Day in

Baja Arizona

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Patagonia Text by Ken Lamberton | Photography by Steve McMackin

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Jim Harrison called it “preposterously beautiful.” The novelist and his wife spent their winters in Patagonia among the oaks and knuckled hills in an adobe casita near Sonoita Creek. Founded in 1898, the town got its start when Rollin Rice Richardson, a Pennsylvania oil tycoon, sold lots to the squatters living on the part of his ranch where the new railroad crossed Sonoita Creek. Tres R, as Richardson was known, called the town Rollin but the townspeople had a better idea and named it after the nearby mountains.

Today, Patagonia is a lively borderland community of 900 shopkeepers, wellness practitioners, artists, nature enthusiasts, farmers, vaqueros, miners, and retirees.

You’ll meet many of them at the place for coffee and breakfast. Gathering Grounds coffee house and grill (319 McKeown Ave.) he late

is where to start your day in Patagonia. I always order a cup of rich Guatemalan and The Green Machine, a vegan burro loaded with poblanos, spinach, avocado, green chilies, tomato, onion, and potatoes, prepared by Heather and her sister, Audrey, both natives of the area. If a young man with dark curls waits on you, that’s Brandon, Audrey’s husband. He’ll tell you that one word perfectly describes Patagonia: friendliness.

Then, stroll along the sidewalk and browse the shops. The Creative Spirit Artists gallery has an eclectic mix of paintings, photography, and books that support local artists. Check out the raven photograph by Linda Hitchcock and Elizabeth Bernays’ titles about Pocket, a baby cottontail rabbit she raised.

Artist Adrienne Halpert’s Global Arts gallery has antiques, jewelry, and fair-trade clothing from

around the world along with paintings, pottery, and sculpture of regional artists.

But if shopping isn’t your style, Patagonia offers other adventure. You may want to bring your binoculars.

Across the street (310 McKeown Ave.), the yellow, two-story wooden building dating from 1900 was once the old railroad depot. Now, it’s the Patagonia Town Hall. A sign outside lists several trails that start in town, including the Animals Tracks Trail, the Geoffrey Platts rail, and the Cemetery Trail. It details how the Arizona Trail goes through town on its more than 800-mile route through the deserts, mountains, and communities of Arizona from Mexico to Utah. In 2010, Patagonia was dedicated as the first officially signed Arizo Trail Gateway Community.

For a leisurely midmorning walk, take the trail that begins here, at the black and white

Train Order Semaphore.

The Patagonia Train Track Trail is a 2.5-mile loop that follows the old railbed of the New Mexico and Arizona Railroad (active 1882 until 1962), heading northeast of town, crossing Sonoita Creek, and passing along the Native Seeds/SEARCH conservation farm. The trail stays in the Sonoita Creek floodplain where vermillion flycatchers and western tanagers flit among giant mesquite and Mexican elderberry trees. The bird watching—over 300 species— is some of the best anywhere.

In fact, nature lovers and birdwatchers won’t want to miss Patagonia’s world-renowned birding hotspots. It’s the reason many come here.

But before you go on this next adventure, stop in at the Ovens of Patagonia (277 W. McKeown Ave.) and see ever-cheerful Bonnie MacLean about a lunch to-go. Bonnie

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8 owns the small bakery and ice cream parlor with its gourmet sandwiches, burritos, handmade cinnamon rolls, and fresh-baked breads. The shop also features locally made craft items, Southwestern cookbooks, and raw and unfiltered honey from Holly’s Little Farm. Peruse the selection of wine from area vineyards (Sonoita, Elgin, and Willcox), and perhaps choose a bottle of Dos Cabezas El Norte to go with your Boar’s Head turkey and provolone on rye.

Then head across Highway 82 on Third Avenue to continue your nature watching.

The Paton Center for Hummingbirds (477 Pennsylvania Ave.) was the home of Wally and Marion Paton who opened their yard to visitors after moving to Patagonia in 1973. They set up canopied benches in front of an array of feeding stations and provided

bird guidebooks and a chalkboard for people to record their sightings. Wally died in 2001 and Marion in 2009, but today the Tucson Audubon Society continues their legacy.

People have reported seeing more than 200 bird species in the yard, including varied buntings, thick-billed kingbirds, and the first cinnamon hummingbird ever seen north of Mexico. This is the place to find violet-crowned hummingbirds, so check the board for recent visitations.

From the Paton’s place, continue south on the dirt road along the tree-hemmed Sonoita Creek to Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve (150 Blue Heaven Road), one of the most popular birding spots in the United States.

Pull into the visitor center and pick up maps and brochures for the more than two miles of trails through open fields

and mesquite bosques. Picnic tables provide a pleasant lunch spot, but be sure to hike the Creek Trail with its scenic riparian corridor of giant cottonwoods and willows.

Listen for the whistles of gray hawks, an uncommon local summer resident that nests here, and watch for black and zone-tailed hawks. The Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve is owned and managed

by The Nature Conservancy.

Call 520.394.2400 for fees, hours, and more information.

You can complete your day in Patagonia with a Philly cheese steak sandwich and an IPA under the mounted trophy heads at the Wagon Wheel Saloon (400 W. Naugle Ave.). Or stop for dinner at Velvet Elvis Pizza (292 Naugle Ave.). Take a seat in the courtyard under the cascading Lady Banks’ rose and order one of Cecilia San Mi-

guel’s old-world, hand-made, wood-fired, blessed-by-Ou Lady-of-Guadalupe chorizo, cilantro, and jalapeño pizzas.

When it arrives, inhale deeply and shudder. You may want to be alone with your pizza. ✜ Ken Lamberton is the author of six books, his most recent being Chasing Arizona: One Man’s Yearlong Obsession with the Grand Canyon State.

1 Patagonia city center. 2 Paintings by Lisa Agababian at Creative Spirit Artists. 3 A bull roams the road near the Arizona Trail. 4 Patagonia Creative Arts School. 5 The Chicken Saltimbocca pizza and a calzone at Velvet Elvis. 6 Butterflies flutter on flowers at the Borderlands Restoration Native Plant Nursery.

7 Feeders at the Paton Center. 8 Borderlands Plant Nursery staff hold a meeting at the Wagon Wheel Saloon. edible Baja Arizona

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FOODSHED

The Night Shift Unseen and unheeded, Baja Arizona’s many bat species provide our local food producers with natural pest control.

By Charles C. Hofer | Illustrations by Robert J. Long

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Campbell Avenue Bridge, the acrid smell of ammonia mingles with humid air still lingering from the afternoon’s monsoon. It’s shortly after 7 p.m., and a scattered crowd with a mood of anticipation has gathered along the river path. Tucson’s most dependable natural phenomenon is about to begin.

The bridge is home to a colony of Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis mexicanus), the smallish bats commonly seen patrolling backyards and parks, washes and open desert during the summer months in Baja Arizona. Each spring these bats return from Sonora, Mexico, where they’ve spent the winter in caves hidden away in the Sierra Madre. By early summer, they’ve returned and formed a massive colony. During the day, they pack their tiny bodies between the one-inch slats that run the length of the bridge. At dusk they emerge and disappear into the night to feed on flying insects.

Like all large colonies of free-tails, this is a maternal gathering, where thousands of female bats have converged to raise their pups together each breeding season. (Male free-tails opt for less theatrics, gathering in modest bachelor colonies.) Every night, as the sun dips behind the mountain, the raucous chatter grows.

The staging begins, and hundreds, then thousands, of bats swarm beneath the bridge. The cacophony reaches its climax; there’s a eneath the

mysterious cue and 20,000 individuals emerge in an impressive plume, flying westward, a river of wings stretching toward the Tucson Mountains.

After the emergence, these free-tailed bats will spend the night foraging on winged insects, devouring a nighttime bounty from large sphinx moths to the legions of mosquitoes that arrived with the monsoon. Arizona is home to 26 species of bats, creating a robust diversity of nocturnal winged predators that naturally control local insect populations.

Bats are misunderstood mammals. To some, bats are nocturnal oddities. To others, they are vectors of disease. But healthy and diverse bat populations provide immediate benefits to our food supply. Bats help suppress outbreaks of pests that can devastate crops. They reduce our reliance on pesticides and slow pests’ eventual resistance to those chemicals. For millions of years, bats have ruled the night as nocturnal insectivores. From our earliest agrarian cultures to our modern factory farms, bats have helped us along the way, performing a thankless task under the cover of night. As our agricultural landscapes are squeezed under increasing pressures, we need bats now more than ever.

Ecosystem services are benefits provided by wildlife or natural systems that have direct or indirect benefits to people. (For example, preserving wetlands that naturally clean our water

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Townsend’s big-eared bat.

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control diminishes—which ignores other, less quantifiable contributions bats make to both natural and agricultural ecosystems.

“There’s risk in only using ecosystem services,” says López-Hoffman. “The risk is if you get people to think that nature only counts if we’re here to enjoy it, or if it’s giving us some quantifiable economic benefit. Only thinking of the direct benefits to people would be counter-productive to the argument for conserving species.”

López-Hoffman points to the cotton market as an example.

For two decades, producers nationwide have relied on a modifie strain of cotton called Bt (named for the fungus Bacillus thuringiensis which produces a toxin to ward off destructive pests). As the use of Bt cotton became more widespread, the economic value of bats declined sharply. But nothing remains static and pest species are already showing resistance to Bt cotton, resulting in the once-again increased value of bats and the services they provide.

“Even if pests develop resistance to pesticides, natural predators continue to provide pest control,” López-Hoffman says. “While bats provide pest control for farmers, they also help slow down the evolution of resistance in pests from their high levels of predation on agricultural pests.”

Bats, with their diversity and voracious appetites, are an insurance policy against the pesticide-pest tug-of-war.

But our history of bat conr ist p i servation does not bode well np r e t for future policy holders. s (We . t a During the late 1970s, bat popb Canyon ulations in Arizona bottomed out as the use of organichloride pesticides like DDT became widespread.

Many nonmigratory bird and bat populations rebounded after the United States banned DDT in 1972, but the losses continued for long-distance migrants, as Mexico didn’t ban the use of the pesticide until 1992. The proof was in the decimation of freetailed bat populations in southern Arizona, a dramatic die-off that Tucson author Charles Bowden captured in Blue Desert.

In 2006, white-nose syndrome, or WNS, caused by a fungus, burned through bat populations in the eastern United States, destroying up to 95 percent of some colonies. The outbreak’s march westward eventually slowed but the specter of WNS remains.

Plagues like DDT and WNS demonstrate the importance of pest control by bats as a matter of scale. Because bats are so mobile—for some species foraging more than 50 miles in a single night or migrating hundreds of miles each spring and fall—they offer continent-wide pest control from Maine to Arizona.

el l e)

supply or bee populations that help pollinate crops.) Of the 1,100 or so bats species that occur worldwide, many are important seed dispersers of agricultural plants. Meanwhile, two pollinator species found here in Baja Arizona play a critical role in the reproduction of agave plants. (You can thank them for tequila.)

But the most critical ecosystem service bats perform is helping to limit populations of insect pests. By suppressing outbreaks of agricultural pests, bats provide our food producers a natural insurance policy against seasonal fluctuations in pest populations.

Studies of pest suppression by bats have mainly focused on free-tailed bats due to the species’ abundance and distribution throughout the Southwest. Free-tailed bats have insatiable appetites for winged insects: A single free-tailed bat consumes up to 75 percent of its own body weight in flyin insects nightly. With free-tailed bat colonies regularly hosting 10,000 or more individuals, their nightly consumption of winged pests can be staggering. Considering that free-tailed bats are only one of many insectivorous bats occurring in southern Arizona, our native bat populations consume tons of winged pests every night during summer months.

Nearly a third of the free-tailed bats’ diet consists of adult Lepidoptera, the order of insects that includes moths and butterf lies. Many lepidoptera are nocturnal pests like the corn earworm moth (Helicoverpa zea) and the fall armyworm (Spodoptera fruigiperda). Their larval caterpillar stage devours crop leaves and damages stems, from cotton to corn and horticultural plants like tomatoes, which can be devastating to both small and large producers.

Bats offer our agricultural economy a quantifiable cost-avoidance benefit. In this case, pest suppression by bats allows agricultural producers to avoid using some pesticides and, in turn, not incur additional costs during periods of pest outbreaks.

Estimates of the agricultural value of bats across the United States range widely, from $3.7 billion to $53 billion each year, but these values consider only immediate pest control and money saved from reduced pesticide use. These figures don’t consider future, indirect effects of natural pest control, such as long-term public health risks resulting from the increased use of pesticides.

Nor do these estimates consider cascading effects, like the eventual emergence of pesticide-resistant insects.

At the University of Arizona, Laura López-Hoffman studies the economic value placed on bats. She found that bats become less “valuable” in economic terms as their effectiveness at pest 84 July/August 2016

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aja A r izona exists in a transboundary zone, where many of the ecological services we benefit from are shared across our border with Mexico. Winged pest species, and the predators that feed on them, regularly pass across the border both for nightly foraging and seasonal migrations. Cooperative international conservation efforts to protect bat habitats on both sides of the border are imperative to ensure the future of our bats and the ecological services they provide.

In the spring of 2015, the United States, Mexico, and Canada developed a Letter of Intent to informally coordinate international bat conservation efforts under the auspices of the North American Bat Conservation Alliance. The effort will bring together federal, state/provincial, and local governments to

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coordinate and implement conservation strategies across international boundaries. Although birds have enjoyed the success of international efforts for more than 90 years under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, bats have had no such luxury.

The conservation of wildlife species and protection of their habitats costs money. Sometimes, it costs a lot of money. However, the future of North American bat populations does have one thing on its side: Bats have a direct, quantifiable benefit to local, state, and regional agriculture—an advantage that most other wildlife in need of conservation do not possess. The persistence and diversity of bat species and their supplementary role as pest control helps ensure the future of our own food supply—without pesticides.

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Back at the Campbell Avenue Bridge, the crowd has dissipated. The show has ended and the bats have disappeared deep into the night. Nocturnal insects will soon take to the wing and the nightly race will resume. By dawn, the bats will have finished their nighttime raids, satisfied and exhausted, and return to secret themselves away beneath the bridge, ignorant to our daytime rituals. In the fields and in the valleys, the work will begin again.  Charles C. Hofer is a wildlife biologist and writer based in Tucson.

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Masters of Flight

500 million years since vertebrate animals first appeared on this planet, the power of flight has evolved on only three separate occasions. First, there was the Pterosaurs, the massive winged dinosaurs that vanished alongside the other giant lizards 65 million years ago. With dinosaurs out of the way, birds raced to the top of the food chain. During this period, mammals were still small, timid creatures. Eventually they grew larger, diversified, and replaced birds as Earth’s dominant life form. Somewhere in that timeline, a small shrew-like mammal left the treetops on modified forelimbs that looked like wings.

As flying insects continued to evolve and diversify, birds were not far behind, eager to exploit the expanding resource and have little competition in doing so.

But the vast majority of insectivorous birds, then and now, are diurnal animals, meaning they are strictly active during daylight hours. Even today, only one of the 400 avian species that occur in Arizona regularly feed on nocturnal insects, the only exception being the lesser nighthawk (Chordeiles acutipennis).

This evolutionary oversight left an opening for bats. Thanks to echolocation, bats eventually occupied the niche of nocturnal insectivores. In doing so, bats diversified to take advantage of the seemingly endless resources found under the cover of night. And they’ve been alarmingly successful. With more than 1,100 species worldwide, bats make up nearly 25 percent of all known mammal species living today. n the

(From left) Pallid bat, California myotis bat, Mexican free-tailed bat.

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10 cooler & Just an Hour North of Downtown Tucson o

Where the mountains meet the desert, you’ll find the old western town of Oracle nestled among boulders, oaks and grasslands. It’s a migration corridor for birds and wildlife and a gateway to the Arizona Trail. Enjoy unique shops, great restaurants and historical sites off the beaten path.

Ride the Zipline, marvel at Biosphere 2 and hike Oracle State Park. Gaze at the stars and spend the night at one of our historic guest ranches, inns or B&Bs. You’ll be enchanted.

Oracle Farmers’ Market Every Wednesday from 5-8pm 1015 W American Ave

German Weekend at the Oracle Inn Steakhouse

The best kept secret in Baja Arizona: Enjoy authentic German food the second weekend of every month.

Call (520) 896-3333 for more information.

Arizona Zipline

Special events in July and August: Moonlight Zipping July 18 – 20 and August 16 –18 Book your reservation now at ZipArizona.com

Oracle Farmers’ Market

Music, dining & goodies every Wednesday from 6-9pm 1015 W American Ave

Acadia Ranch Museum

825 Mount Lemmon Road, Open: Saturdays 14 pm and Thursdays 4-6 pm or by appt.

Oracle State Park

Mt Lemmon Rd; 1.1 miles past American Ave Open Saturdays and Sundays, 8am to 5pm.

Oracle Center for the Arts Barbershop Chorus

Sat, Sept. 10 from 3 – 5 pm, 700 E Kingston St, Oracle, AZ Tickets $20 in advance, $25 door. Call (623)295-9677

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f o L o h c c al Hoppin r a e S ni ess The Baja Brews

project is a year-long collaboration between the region's craft brewers and Edible Ba ja Arizona.

Explore, celebrate, and taste Baja Arizona's extra ordinary craft beer in this six-part series. Drink loc al!

Six tasting events will feature local breweries using a different indigenous ingredient to create a special small batch. Drink beer and help benefit innovative nonprofit organizations working for food security. The first event is July 28. See p. 100 for more information.

Sponsored by VISIT TUCSON and the ARIZONA CRAFT BREWERS GUILD

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W Baja Arizona s beer scene comes of age.

By John Washington | Photography by Jeff Smith

h e n t h e b e e r hits the glass, you can smell the rain. It smells like the desert, like creosote, like home. John Adkisson of Iron John’s Brewing has seen people cry in his tasting room. The tears came because the drinkers, having been uprooted from Tucson, could smell the desert in their glass.

Two aspects of Baja Arizona’s craft brew scene jump straight out of the barrel: collective good will and the Sonoran desert. Mike Mallozzi, of four-year-old Borderlands Brewing, told me that the bottom line in the local beer scene is community. He described Tucson as “the most interconnected place on the planet,” and if you’re in the local beer bubble, that might not seem like hyperbole. Four years in the Tucson brewery business makes you a veritable graybeard. (And yes, the industry is still dominated by mostly bearded white fellas, though there are some welcome exceptions). When Mallozzi, along with Myles Stone, opened Borderlands, there were only three other local brewers (Barrio, Thunder Canyon, and Nimbus) cooking hops in the Old Pueblo. Since 2011, Tucson has gone from four breweries to 14 just halfway through 2016. There are two more opening imminently: Flux, Dillinger, and Green Feet, plus a handful on their way (or rumored to be on their way) soonish: Crooked Tooth, Black Mountain, Corbett, and, who knows, you’re probably thinking of upscaling from backyard buckets and going full-scale micro soon.

But despite the heat wave of craft beer, Tucson is about a decade behind the curve, according to a few craft-brewers I talked to. The “curve” is set by sudsphilic cities like San Diego, Denver, and Portland (there are nearly a hundred craft breweries in greater Portland alone). The surge of local brew houses in Baja Arizona, however, isn’t fostering a cutthroat culture of sniping away stout-loving customers. Rather, brewers hope the rising brew-tide will leak into what is local craft’s real competitor: big label domestics.

John Adkisson of Iron John’s Brewing is considered a zymurgical guru around town.

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The craft beer market grew 12.8 percent in 2015 alone; Arizona ranks 25th in production in the United States.

InBev, the Belgian-Brazilian beer conglomerate that bought Anheuser-Busch in 2008, which produces Budweiser, Natty Light, Lime-a-Rita, and King Cobra, among other overchugged tongue-numbers, is the arch-kaiser of the marketplace. The cartel of macrobreweries, lead

by InBev, currently holds about 80 percent of the US market, gobbling up rising mid-level or microbrews nibbling at their share. And though there are still many big brand-dedicated beer drinkers (think of those men who proudly proclaim their love of Miller over Coors, two beers whose difference in taste is about as wide as that between a yellow and red M&M, and both of which are owned by the MillerCoors consortium), American palates seem to be sophisticating. IPAs have been all the rage for West Coast hop-heads for years, but now weird sours, funky goses, challenging dunkels, and rye or chocolate porters are starting to wet whistles across the country.

“There are 75 different styles or substyles of beer,” Adkisson said (think of him, the owner of Iron John’s, as Tucson's zymurgical guru). “People need to know that … It’s damn near endless, because there’s so many different variations and tweakings that you can do.”

For the next year, Edible Baja Arizona will be covering the Baja Brews project, in which a dozen local brew houses (Ten Fifty-Five, Sentinel Peak, 1912, Barrio, Beast, Borderlands, Catalina, Dragoon, Iron John’s, Pueblo Vida, The Address @ 1702, and Thunder Canyon) will continue fostering the spirit of community that Mallozzi and Adkisson described to me. The project includes the creation of special small-batch beers by participating breweries that will incorporate a variety of locally originating ingredients (including cactus and tree fruits, cracked nuts, scavenged seeds, White Sonora wheat, and Sonoita-grown hops). David Zugerman, of Tucson Hop Shop, described these beers as “embodying the f lavor and emotion of Tucson.” The resulting locally sourced beers will be available for tasting by the public at six events (stay tuned for details), which will also be fund-raisers for local nonprofits, including Native Seeds/SEARCH, Iskashitaa, Trees for Tucson, and Desert Harvesters.

"eventually, T ucson will hit 20 or 25 breweries."

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Pueblo Vida offers a one-keg infusion every Tuesday; they always sell out. t was the ides of June, a hundred and many degrees, and Adkisson and I were sitting at Borderlands after a Baja Brews meeting. The dilemma of the day was finding access, which was proving difficult to saguaro fruit to season up some beers. Adkisson had ordered a combo Just Fingh Peachy, a Berliner Weisse from 1912, and a Saison (“a Saison-style Saison,” as Linette Antillon, of Pueblo Vida, described it to me) from Pueblo. Adkisson mixes it up even on this end of the tap: a Peach Saison. His improvised hodgepodge was fantastic: acidic, light, peachy, and punchy. After a few gulps of appreciation, holding the pint glass to my temple, I asked Adkisson if the craft market in town was saturating. Not even close, was his answer. “Eventually, Tucson will hit 20 or 25 breweries,” he said.

Adkisson has been making beer in town for over two decades.

He’s a certified beer judge, teaches brewing, and, as he told me, has brewed every style of beer that exists. “Thoroughly celebrating brewing,” he told me, depends heavily on experimenting with local ingredients. Indeed, when I visited his taproom, I saw some wild stews bubbling in giant repurposed soup kettles (originally from an Arizona prison) or hanging out in old wine and whiskey barrels. Iron John’s Fruit Tea Goat Gose, for example, includes locally cultured goat yogurt, salt, black tea, and coriander, plus a colorful medley of fruits. “We’re going the whole hog,” Adkisson said, about the Fruit Tea Goat thing. “We’ll see what the hell

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we come up with.” Another unique brew was the Masa Cheve, a green-corn-based beer, which, not surprisingly, tasted and smelled like corn, and, for a hot day, was refreshing, balanced, and highly drinkable. (Green corn is young, just-ripened corn.

Adkisson sources it from Mexico, and steeps the silk and the husk, as well as the kernels, into his brew.) One of the great things about micro- and nanobreweries is this room to improvise and experiment, though not all of Iron John’s beers are so off-the wall. Their Copper Sky Sour Biére de Garde is a standard, and exceptional, sour. Slightly cloudy, fruity but not sweet, notes of citrus and raspberry take a slow ride down your tongue, lingering long after the swallow. Their Czech-style Pedaler Pilsner and Old Pueblo Pale Ale are other mouthwatering favorites.

The only city today that drinks more craft beer than domestic beer is Portland, Oregon. Whether the claim is apocryphal or not, Portlanders drink a lot of beer from Portland, and local brewers in Baja Arizona want the same. But how do you take a bigger slice out of that big domestic and Corona-dominated market? In a word: Quality. “Denver brewers”—as well as big domestics and foreign imports—“will continue to dominate Tucson if their beer is better than ours,” Kyle Jefferson, of Pueblo Vida, explained to me.

In 2015, Arizona brewed approximately 187,213 gallons of craft beer, which is about 1.8 million pints, and ranks 25th in production among U.S. states. That would be about enough

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A bartender at Tucson Hop Shop presents a flight of beer.

for every one of us in Arizona to drink one single shot of craft beer. If you were to discount babies and teetotalers, maybe everybody in the state could enjoy a half a pint. Nationally, the entire beer market is worth about $106 billion a year.

The craft beer market, which grew a whopping 12.8 percent in 2015 alone, is worth a little more than $22 billion. The number of breweries, throughout the country, went from 3,722 in 2014 to 4,269 in 2015, which is a 17.9 percent rise.

Today, there are somewhere upwards of 4,500. That’s the equivalent of sprouting from a smidgenly five-foot tween to six-footer your freshman year of high school. There might be a period of tripping down the hallways, but eventually you’ll find your footing Tucson’s craft brew scene, as Kyle Jefferson of Pueblo Vida put it, might not even be of driving age. “We’re still in our infancy,” Jefferson said. According to Rob Fullmer, the CEO of the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild, only about 1 percent of beer swallowed in Arizona is local craft beer. For Baja Arizona beer makers, that means a lot of room to grow.

Pueblo Vida, run by Jefferson and Linette Antillon (both University of Arizona grads), is one of the many tenderfoot breweries in town that, despite still not having a sign in front of their downtown brewhouse, is already making its mark. I asked Jefferson why forgo the sign. “We wanted to grow organically,” he said. “We wanted to pull in people who were seeking out craft beer … to have a more one-on-one relationship with our customers.” In the last year, they’ve been solicited by more than 80 local restaurants that want to put them on tap. They’ve been growing phenomenally fast—their beer can be found in at least 15 restaurants around town, and they have already expanded their downtown taproom—but they're still keeping their focus on their on-premise sales.

“We want to keep our growth manageable,” Antillon, who is 29, told me. “We’re a young company. And we’re young.” Jeffe son, himself only 32, cut his teeth at breweries in Seattle, learning from a long lineage of veteran brew masters in the northwest.

Antillon focuses more on the front house, and their taproom is rustically beautiful, with open ceilings, spacious tables, and lots of

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repurposed wood—a good place to write or play a board game while sipping an IPA. Their focus is also reflected in the quality of their beer. All of their brews (with one exception—their stout, which has locally roasted Yellow Brick Coffee) contain only four ingredients: water, hops, grain, and malt. “We try to do one thing, and one thing great,” Jefferson said. That’s not to say that Pueblo Vida doesn’t produce some damned interesting beers. Their Sapid IPA is specifically yeasted to bring out juicy and peachy notes, which, along with the hops, sizzle on the tongue. They also do a one-keg infusion every Tuesday (and they always sell out), pitching ingredients like hibiscus or watermelon juice directly in with an IPA. An infusion that was a big hit last winter was roasted pear with cinnamon, mixed in with a Belgian Blonde. If you’re reading this on a Tuesday, I recommend you stop, calmly put down this magazine, and go directly to Pueblo Vida.

Despite all the unique flavors, Baja Arizona’s rather urbane brewers aren’t pouring only for beer snobs. Like the locavore movement, locabibing is more environmentally friendly, economically sound, and, quite simply, more delicious than drinking the big domestics. “When you drink local brew,” Allan Conger, of 1912 Brewing, told me, you’re not stuffin the pockets of a CEO, “you’re supporting a family.”

Small brewing operations across the country accounted for 121,843 jobs last year, which was a 5.5 percent increase from 2014. According to Bart Watson, the chief economist for the Brewer’s Association (a sweet sounding job), 78 percent of adults 21 and over live within 10 miles of a brewery. A city drinking primarily its own beers would not only provide a thrilling variety of taste for travelers and natives alike, it would also support local economies.

Zugerman, of Tucson Hop Shop, told me he has trouble keeping Tucson craft beers on tap: patrons drink them too quickly. A keg of Iron John’s Pedaler Pilsen recently got entirely downed in just two days. Same with kegs from Borderlands and 1912. “I try not to bug [the brewers],” Zugerman said, about “not being able to make beer fast enough to satisfy my customers.”

Most commercial brewers are basically running a factory, pushing toward cost effectiveness and flavor consistency, bringing their flavor profile down to a common denominator.

Consistency (with some exceptions) is not what you’ll fin in the local craft brew scene, and that’s a wonderful thing.

One of the most convincing examples of what Eric Erman, of Ermano’s Craft Beer and Wine Bar, called “collabrewing,” was a beer concocted with a cherry puree made in the Ermano’s kitchen, combined with a sour yogurt that Borderlands propagated, all mixed and brewed into a sour cherry beer by Conger of 1912.

But despite the synergy in Tucson's craft brew world, local beer is still a small ship floating in a huge sea of America (the name Budweiser has rebranded itself with for the summer).

Local suds-swillers, if they don’t go straight to the brewery, or to the few local-centric taprooms in town, still have limited access to local beer. Part of the challenge for brewers here is not only continuing to educate the masses, but also getting access to the supermarket/liquor store shelf-space (more on this market in future articles).

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All of the brews at Pueblo Vida (with one exception—their stout, which has Yellow Brick Coffee) contain only four ingredients: water, hops, grain, and malt.

he br ew that brought tears to drinkers’ eyes in Iron John’s taproom was Saison de Juhki (a trilingual name, French-Spanish-Tohono O’odham, meaning Season of Rain), which is brewed with creosote flowe , orange peel, and white sage. I haven’t yet cried when I’ve drunk a beer, but, in the next year, while writing about the Baja Brews project, I don’t discount the possibility. In fact, I pose it as a challenge: Brewers—make me weep.

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I asked Kyle Jefferson, of Pueblo Vida, what was the best beer he’d drunk in the last couple weeks. After a moment of silence he answered me, earnestly, “Anything that’s local, my favorite beer is the one in front of me.”

My Top Two Beers (from reporting on this first article): Iron John’s Copper Sky Sour Biére de Garde and Pueblo Vida’s Bavarian Hefeweizen. ✜ John Washington is a writer and translator. Visit jblackburnwashington.com or find him on Twitter at @EndDeportations.

bAJA bRewS TASTING! Come and taste a singular beer made from a distinct local ingredient!

There will be six tasting events featuring small batch brews (approximately 10 gallons per brewery) using different ingredients or ingredient categories that are from plants indigenous to Baja Arizona and based on seasonal availability.

Proceeds from the events will benefit four amazing nonprofit organizations working to improve food security in our communty: Native Seeds/SEARCH, Trees for Tucson, Iskashitaa Refugee Network, and Desert Harvesters.

A $15 donation includes tastings of all beers made by participating breweries. There is no competitive aspect to the tastings.

The first event features beers made with... cactus fruit!

Saguaro and prickly pear fruit syrups WHEN: Thursday, July 28 from 6-8 pm.

WHERE: Borderlands Brewery, 119 E. Toole Avenue, Downtown Tucson HOW MUCH: $15 gets you tastes of all special brews from up to 12 local breweries.

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Filling Up on Caridad Caridad Community Kitchen prepares hundreds of thousands of meals for the hungry by providing job training for those who need it most.

By Lourdes Medrano Photography by Steven Meckler

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(Previous page) At Life in Christ Community Church, volunteers help hand out hot meals prepared at Caridad.

(Above) Tony Gonzales was one of two students enrolled in Caridad’s 10-week class this spring.

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nside a plain, gray-block building just north of downtown Tucson, a fierce battle against hunger takes place day in and day out. On the edge of the Dunbar/Spring neighborhood, students at Caridad Community Kitchen prepare hundreds of thousands of meals and distribute them to those in need throughout the city.

Under the program, a division of the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, the herculean task of cooking those meals falls to culinary students training under the watchful eye of an executive chef and other staff members. The program can be a lifeline for students who—like those they help feed—may be in need of a boost.

“We bring in people who have faced some sort of barrier to [entering] the workforce,” says Abby Rosen, a chef and program instructor. “That can be long-term unemployment, underemployment, a single parent re-entering the workforce or out of long-term incarceration.”

Although the program costs just $25, expectations for qualified low-income students are high. Once accepted into the program, students must agree to undergo drug testing, work on their feet for at least six hours a day, and be punctual. Tardiness can get students dismissed.

Students embark on the rigorous hands-on training by first learning to hold a knife properly. They then begin exploring

the intricacies of sautéing, pan-frying, and other basic cooking techniques. When students are not slicing onions and marinating meat, they are learning about job-related life skills.

“What sets us apart from other culinary schools is that while our students are doing all that, they’re also helping prepare 9,000 hot meals a month,” said Rosen, explaining that volunteers assemble another 5,000 sack lunches in the same time frame.

Yvonne Delfinado was no stranger to cooking when she enrolled in the program, but she says that going through it opened her eyes to a whole new culinary experience.

“It’s an intense program,” said Delfinado, who is in her early 30s. “The fast pace is challenging.”

The single mom dropped out of high school in her senior year. She looked to Caridad as a conduit to a steady job. Every morning for 10 weeks, she got up at 5 and rode three buses to get from her south side home to Caridad, which is Spanish for charity. After eight hours in the kitchen, she rode another three buses home.

Delfinado and Tony Gonzales, a caregiver with salt-andpepper hair, were the only two students in Caridad’s smallest class since the program began in July 2012.

“They had to work a lot harder,” executive chef Jon Wirtis said of his two students.

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Yvonne Delfinado dropped out of high school her senior year; she enrolled in Caridad’s culinary training program as a conduit to a steady job.

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y the end of the program’s sixth week, Delfinado and Gonzales were well-versed in meal preparation for the homeless and working poor. In Week 7, the Caridad building transformed into a restaurant and the two students had a chance to cook for paying customers.

The kitchen bustles on the day set aside to serve a $12 threecourse meal and a beverage for a lunch crowd. The occasion marks a departure from the batch cooking that the students are used to. Instead of making 40 gallons of chili or roasting 400 pieces of chicken, they are preparing individual meals.

Each culinary class puts on a café day. It is an integral part of the program that aims to equip students with training for an array of jobs within the food industry.

“This is called a la minute cooking, which means you order it and we cook it now,” Wirtis said. “It’s a very different style of cooking for them to get to know how to do.”

All hands are on deck in the large kitchen as patrons start arriving at Caridad Café. Delfinado slices cucumbers and helps

puts together orders. Gonzales focuses on the food presentation techniques of Wirtis, who demonstrates how to arrange a salmon BLT on a plate. Gonzales keeps up the task. “Nice job,” the chef tells him.

Meanwhile, sous chef Marco Parra grills Korean barbecue ribs marinated in soy, garlic, ginger, and lime, one of five entrées on the menu. The sweet smell of this diner favorite wafts through the kitchen and melds with a smorgasbord of aromas. Program graduate David Rogers sautés chicken in a large skillet and several other alumni rush in and out of the kitchen, holding orders or plates. Out in the lunch room, diners rave about the food.

“This is the first time we’ve been to the Caridad Café,” said Casey Woods, who was having lunch with friends and family members. “These students have worked really hard. It just makes your heart melt because of knowing the sacrifice they and their families have gone through for 10 weeks of intense training.”

Gonzales, who wants to specialize in nutrition for diabetics, said support from his employer as well as family and friends have

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been crucial. Although it’s difficult for students to hold down a job while enrolled in the program, Gonzales was able to work because his boss allowed him to work flexible hours. His son helped out with financial obligations.

Delfinado relied on her family for moral support and on her savings to get her through the 10 weeks.

Both students looked relieved at the end of Caridad Café. As part of the event, they had to briefly introduce themselves to diners. For Delfinado, it was the toughest part.

“Whether you can afford a fiv -star meal or whether you can’t afford that meal at all, we’re going to put out the best product we possibly can.”

“I was really nervous,” she said after all the diners had left.

Delfinado and Gonzales make up Class 18. In the previous 17 classes, 116 women and men completed the program. On average, nine out 12 students admitted to Caridad graduate.

Eighty-five percent get a job In 2011, the food bank took over Caridad when Holy Family Catholic Church could no longer afford to run the years-long program—even as the need to address hunger in the community grew.

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The students and staff at Caridad Community Kitchen prepare 9,000 hot meals a month, distributing food at churches, Boys & Girls Club sites, and shelters. (Previous page, clockwise from top left) Kids chow down and play games at the Boys & Girls Club at the Roy Drachman Clubhouse. A happy patron smiles at Northminster Presbyterian Church. (Above) John Benson (standing ) was in the first graduating class at Caridad Kitchen. Today, he distributes meals at Life in Christ Community Church.

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The culinary program includes not only hands-on experience but also classroom work related to food prep and food safety and general job training and life skills.

“People think of hunger as just the person who doesn’t have a house and pushes a cart,” said Kristen Culliney, program manager. “We don’t think about working poor families that have to make a choice between paying rent or going to the grocery store to get some frozen pizzas for dinner.”

One in three children and one in five adults are at risk for hunger in Pima County, statistics show.

“That’s people who on a pretty regular basis don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” Culliney said.

To offer relief, Caridad distributes 400 to 600 meals that Holy Family Church and various other congregations serve in rotation seven days a week. The program also delivers meals to several Boys & Girls Club sites and some shelters.

As Caridad students continue to cook for the needy, those who have graduated get an opportunity to work at Caridad Catering. The for-profit social enterprise, which launched in July

2014, caters everything from sandwiches to food platters and a variety of entrées for businesses, nonprofits, private parties, and special events. Caridad often buys surplus food from the Santa Cruz River Farmers’ Market—another program of the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona—to incorporate into its meals.

Besides keeping former students employed, Caridad Catering helps offset some of the costs associated with the culinary program. Caridad makes a $6,500 investment per student.

Regardless of who consumes the meals Caridad students make, the Caridad team holds the budding chefs to high standards. Chef Wirtis has worked in the food industry for 30 years, including five as a teacher at Le Cordon Bleu in Portland, Oregon “Whether you can afford a five-star meal or whether you can’t afford that meal at all, we’re going to put out the best product we possibly can,” Wirtis said.

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Jeff Witham graduated from Caridad’s culinary program two years ago; since then, he’s worked at Sauce Pizza & Wine and is training to be kitchen manager.

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wo years ago , Jeff Witham was working hard to stay off drugs when he discovered Caridad. He was unemployed and sleeping on a friend’s couch. Witham had a tough time finding and keeping a job. His formal education ended at 16, when he dropped out of high school.

“I guess you could say I messed up my life some,” said Witham, now 23. “I just didn’t make smart choices as a young guy.”

He was searching online for work when he came across an ad seeking applicants for the culinary program. He applied and was accepted just as his friend kicked him out. Thanks to another friend who took him in, Witham was able to complete his training.

He grew up with his great-grandmother, a Southerner who was married to an Italian man. “She would always cook Southern food and Italian food all the time, from scratch,” Witham recalled.

Watching her, Witham learned to cook and enjoyed doing it. “I figured Caridad would help me get all the skills I needed to get a job in the kitchen. Once I got there, by Week 2 or 3, I just felt like it was my thing.”

Initially, “I wasn’t taking it seriously, I was cutting corners,” he said. That is, until Rosen, who is in charge of the academic side of the program, stepped in. “She gave me a talk and it really just kind of lit a fire,” itham recalled.

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The for-profit Caridad Catering caters everything from office meetings to upscale dinners; here, David Rogers sets up for an event in the Catalina Foothills.

He buckled down. With assistance from Caridad, he secured a job at a casual Italian restaurant a week before graduation. He has worked in the kitchen doing everything from washing dishes to making pizzas. He is now a prep cook training to be kitchen manager.

Knowing that he helped cook food for people going through a rough patch made him appreciate Caridad even more. He views his culinary journey as life changing. “I’ve been clean for three

and a half years now,” he said. “I work all the time and I take care of my son on my days off.

He’s been transformed in other ways. When he walked into Caridad for the first time, Witham weighed nearly 300 pounds.

Today, he weighs just under 160 pounds. “I owe them a great deal,” he said, referring to the Caridad team. “They really helped me get a lot of confidence in myself.

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he clock hasn’t yet struck 5 p.m. on a warm May day when people, some carrying congratulatory balloons, start streaming into the Caridad building.

It’s Graduation Day. Guests sit at tables adorned with red roses in glass jars. Back in the kitchen, a cornucopia of food that students and chefs had previously prepared for the special day tops the counters.

Elsewhere in the building, Delfinado and Gonzales follow tradition as they briefl gather in a walk-in freezer with Rosen, Parra, Wirtis, and a few others. The chefs who guided the pair through the program offer congratulations and thank them for their contributions to Caridad. “We’re really going to miss you,” Rosen tells them.

The graduates, in their brand-new white chef coats, beam. “It’s been a long day,” Delfinado said. “We’re almost through it, though.”

Her brown, wavy hair, usually pinned up in the kitchen, tumbles past her shoulders.

She is surrounded by family, including 12-year-old son, Xavier Mungia. Standing at 5 feet, he’s already taller than his mother.

The boy is a big reason why Delfinado enrolled in the program. “I wanted to show him that I could take on anything and so can he.”

Nearby, Gonzales chats with family and friends. “I learned so much in these past 10 weeks,” he said. “It’s been a great experience.”

The speeches begin. Delfinado and Gonzales are showered with praise for their dedication to the program. Each gets a bag with chef-appropriate gifts. They also get their $25 initial investment back, twofold.

Then the graduating members of Caridad’s Class 18 are off to begin another chapter in their lives. ✜

Caridad Community Kitchen. A program of the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. 845 N. Main Ave. The next open café day is on Aug. 3, with lunch at 11:15 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.

For reservations call 520.882.5641.

CommunityFoodBank.org.

Lourdes Medrano is a Tucson writer who covers stories on both sides of the Arizona-Mexico border. Follow her on Twitter: @_lourdesmedrano.

At Holy Family Church on West University Blvd., people line up for free sack lunches prepared by Caridad.

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A hundred years after the National Park Service was founded, exploring the worth of wilderness.

By Megan Kimble · Photography by Jack Dykinga

Thanks to

for generous underwriting support of this feature.

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(Previous Page) Saguaro National Park at Signal Hill. (Above) Coronado National Forest, Santa Rita Mountains, Santa Cruz Valley at Elephant Head.

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of Mount Wrightson, the highest peak in the Santa Rita Mountains, dark green ridgelines descend into the hay-colored floodplain of the dry Santa Cruz River like legs under a sheet. The green travels like water—like rainfall made visible. The mountain is dense with foliage, but as it slopes westword, the green thins until it is only a wavering line of lushness squeezed between ever-thicker contours of yellow and brown.

Thirty miles to the southwest, in a five-acre walled garden and orchard at Tumacacori National Historical Park, rows of heritage fruit trees flower and start to set fruit. These trees began as cuttings from some of the original cultivars brought into Mexico

by Father Kino and other Spanish missionaries in the late 1600s.

Throughout the 1700s and early 1800s, this garden and orchard fed the hundreds of people who lived at and around the Mission San José de Tumacácori. Three hundred years later, pomegranate trees again offer bright red blossoms to the hot May sun. Fig trees spread their ungainly limbs.

It is easy to see these gardens as isolated from the jagged peaks that rise to the east, a settlement guarded against the wild. The mission itself was wilderness quarried and contained, as the limestone to plaster the mission's church would have been extracted from the mountains above, timber felled for roof construction.

“Wilderness had once been the antithesis of all that was orderly and good—it had been the darkness, one might say, on the far side of the garden wall,” wrote the historian William Cronon in his essay “The Trouble with Wilderness.” The idea of wilderness as the opposite of agriculture is a venerable and persistent idea. Agriculture is a rom the top

series of selections, the subtraction of possible options. Wilderness is defined by expansion, by diversity and unpredictabilit .

But while wilderness can, and does, ignore agriculture, agriculture doesn't exist without wilderness. During the Mission Era, snow and rainfall from the Santa Rita Mountains would have flowed into the Santa Cruz River and trickled into acequias, or irrigation canals, providing water to the fruit trees and crops that grew within the walled orchard—and sustaining the people that depended on the Mission's harvest.

Wilderness is agriculture's source and sustenance. Every input required to sustain a resilient farm begins on the level of landscape, from the wild microorganisms that build healthy soil to the pollinators that coax fruit from flow r. “Wildness cannot be maintained in the form of isolated pieces of the landscape, and farms cannot be productively managed without wildness,” writes Fred Kirschenmann in Farming with the Wild. “If we hope to create an agriculture that ensures the land’s capacity for self-renewal, then humans who possess an ecological consciousness need to be part of the landscape.”

As the National Park Service celebrates its centennial and climate change sends the idea of an untrammeled wilderness, untouched by humans, quietly toward extinction, it’s worth asking what wilderness is worth. What it is worth not only to our farms, ranches, and rivers, but also to us—to our ability to live well and thrive, now and in the future. If sustainable agriculture depends on humans who possess an ecological consciousness, then the future of our food might depend on what we find—and who we become—in the wilderness

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n t h e U n i t e d S tat e s , when we speak of wilderness, we’re talking about public land, protected and managed by distinct federal and state agencies. Under the authority of the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, four bureaus manage wilderness: The U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service. The question of how these bureaus manage and protect this wilderness depends on the mission of each agency, which subsequently determines how we the public interact with that land.

A hundred years ago, on Aug. 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed an act of Congress establishing the National Park Service. The land this agency managed would have the highest level of protection offered by the United States; its mission was to preserve “unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.”

When Saguaro National Monument was established in March of 1933, University of Arizona President Homer L. Shantz, described his vision for “a great natural area for maintaining the botanical and zoological forms of the Southwest under natural conditions.” In 1933, urban sprawl wasn’t the saguaro’s biggest threat; it was cattle ranching, deforestation, and cactus rustling. Today, Saguaro National Park, created in 1994, extends 140 square miles across its east and west districts, which are largely surrounded by urban development.

“One of the things that we can offe to the community of Tucson is wilderness,” says Don Swann, a wildlife biologist at Saguaro National Park.

“Wilderness provides clean water, and clean air. We think of wilderness as providing spiritual sustenance and places to camp, but it really does provide water for our community. Some of the water that we drink is from our wilderness, and some of it is from other wilderness.

That value of wilderness for water is a fundamental resource that’s provided to everybody.”

Coronado National Forest, Huachuca Mountains at Miller Canyon.

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(Above) Aravaipa Canyon and Virgus Canyon confluence. (Right) Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, Kofa Queen Canyon.

When a drop of water falls in Tucson, that water is clean. What happens next depends on the landscape. Urban areas are good at shedding water; wilderness areas are good at absorbing it. Water that falls in the Rincon Mountains, for example, “can percolate slowly in the soil, get into fractures in the rocks and work its way … into the aquifer under the city of Tucson,” says Swann. “That’s clean water that doesn’t have a pollution source upstream. If that mountain was covered with houses and driveways and other sources of pollution, then we’d get a different quality of wate .”

“These mountain ranges and these open spaces are filters for gathering water, for cleaning water, for storing it underground,” says Jessica Moreno, a conservationist with Tucson’s Sky Island Alliance. “So that we can use it, so that plants can use it, so that the mountain can use it. It’s all tied together. When we protect these open spaces, we’re not only protecting our future for wild foods, we’re protecting our future for clean water, and our future for clean air.”

Saguaro National Park is part of what’s known as the Sky Islands region. Across Baja Arizona and northern Mexico, desert valleys and grasslands are punctuated by mountain ranges that top 10,000 feet; this range of life zones combine to support a landscape with some of the highest biodiversity of any region in North America. Contained in the Sky Islands region are, for example, more than a hundred reptile species, half of the bird species in North America, and more bee species than perhaps anywhere else in the world.

“The more diverse a landscape is, the more resilient it is, and the more it can deal with changes as they come,” says Bryon Lichtenhan, a conservation assistant with Sky Island Alliance.

Ecosystems function well because of biodiversity—because biodiversity provides options. Take pollinators. “If one or two of these pollinator populations are damaged, that has a ripple effec through the ecosystem. There may be plant species that require that pollinator in order to function. Perhaps there are animals

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“ I s a y , a N a t i o n a l P a r k i s a p r o t e c t e d a r e a . B u t i t i s a p u b l i c a r e a . T h i s i s y o u r p a r k . T h i s i s m y p a r k . W e o w n t h i s p a r k .”

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(Far left) Willcox Playa, Dos Cabezas and Chiricahua Mountains in the background.

(Left) Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, Growler Mountains.

(Above) Sonoran Desert National Monument, South Maricopa Mountain Wilderness.

that eat those plants. As you go up the chain, more and more things are affected by the loss of any one thing," says Lichtenhan.

“It’s a keeping every cog and wheel kind of idea,” says Moreno, paraphrasing Aldo Leopold. (“To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.”)

“We don’t really use wild foods very much,” says Lichtenhan.

“As things change”—as the climate changes—“we may find that we need to look to those wild foods for potential future crops. So we need to maintain the biodiversity in the interim, and healthy ecosystems allow those potential plants.”

Moreno works to protect functioning habitat for wildlife, which includes linking isolated habitats through

protected wildlife corridors. “People ask, Who cares?” she says. “Animals and plants can just stay on their little mountaintops. We can create little wilderness areas and put the wildlife there. In the scheme of things, it is actually not fine. Genetic diversity requires movement and f low. If you do not have that exchange between open spaces and between places, you get inbreeding and things die off and then they’re gone.”

And when it’s gone, you can’t make a species back up. You can’t conjure wilderness when you decide you need it—when you need a new food crop or a clean waterway or a forest to suck up carbon from a warming world.

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Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, near Sierra Pinta Mountains.

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nd the loss of wilderness affects more than just wildlife.

In 1993, Robert Michael Pyle, a butterfly conservationist, published a book called The Thunder Tree, in which he wrote about “the extinction of experience.” Species loss on a neighborhood scale, he wrote, “endangers our experience of nature. If a species becomes extinct within our own radius of reach … it might as well be gone altogether, in one important sense.” While protecting species on the brink of extinction is crucial for the health of our ecosystems, protecting biodiversity on a local scale is just as important for our relationship to those ecosystems. Pyle asks, “What is the extinction of the condor to a child who has never seen a wren?”

In 2016, Saguaro National Park partnered with the University of Arizona, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and TUSD to “bioblitz” the region, surveying and cataloging species in backyards and schoolyards. “It’s like being a real explorer, a scientist,” said one student. Another student explained biodiversity as “the connection of plants and bugs or insects and animals. And life on earth, too.”

Connecting biodiversity in the city with biodiversity in the park is essential, says Rob Arnberger, a retired park ranger and the former superintendent of Saguaro National Park and Grand Canyon National Park. “Parks are much more than a place designated on land. It’s an idea. You have to come out from the parks and go into the community and find connection points where you can educate and develop the value system,” he says. “People need places and spaces. The basic motivation of protecting a city park, of having a place to go with your family, is every bit as profound as visiting the wilderness area in a National Park.”

This is a somewhat radical notion, given America’s long tradition of idealizing wilderness as sublime, incomprehensible, and largely inaccessible. But the idea of a remote wilderness is evolving, as park official recognize that connecting city parks to national parks helps people understand that we are part of nature—and that stewardship can begin at home.

“As our country evolves and generations come and go and change, there is an increasing need to find relevance for the national park idea,” Arnberger says.

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Eagletail Mountain Wilderness with saguaro ribs.

Part of the Park Service’s fight to find relevance includes quantifying what seems obvious—the value of open, green, water-filled space. Of sovereign space, wild space, unaccountable and unforgiving. But it also includes telling new narratives—narratives of who belongs in a National Park and who these parks are for. If the National Park Service tells the story of what it means to be an American, then it has finally recognized that it must memorialize more than the stories of affluent white men In 2012, President Obama established the César E. Chávez National Monument near Bakersfield, California, to honor the Latino leader and farm worker activist. (In addition to its emblematic parks, the National Park Service manages national monuments, historic sites, and national recreation areas.) In 2014, the Park Service began to identify places and events associated with the story of LGBTQ Americans; many of these sites have been added or nominated to the National Register of Historic Places or the National Historic Landmarks Program. In 2015, the Honouliuli Internment Camp site, which was used to confine hundreds of Japanese-American citizens and immigrants during WWII, was declared a national monument.

“There’s been a great maturation of what the American story is,” says Arnberger. “You need to tell the full story, not just the story through one person’s eyes.”

In 2014, Saguaro National Park assessed its visitors and found that, although 40 percent of the population in Pima County is Latino, less than 3 percent of that population was visiting Saguaro.

“We do great with white seniors over 62 years old, which is the age you qualify for a $10 lifetime pass to the National Parks,” says Diana Rhoades, an urban fellow with the National Park Service. In 2015, Tucson and Saguaro National Park were chosen as one of 10 cities and affiliate national parks to launch the NPS Urban Agenda, intended to make parks more appealing to diverse audiences, and to use the parks to help cities solve local problems.

“If we don’t have young people or people of color in our parks, we’re soon not going to have anyone in our parks,” says Rhoades.

So she’s worked to launch a Latino hiking club, host a Latino family campout, and organize a campout in honor of César Chávez. She’s working to make the parks more welcoming to visitors, which includes offering more Spanish-language brochures and tours—and supporting the hiring of more people of color in the park system.

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Saguaro National Park.

In 2015, in partnership with the nonprofit Friends of Saguaro National Park, Saguaro National Park launched the Next Generation Ranger Corps, a job-training program intended to give young people better access to jobs with the park service. Tina Andrew is one of those Next Generation Rangers. She started working in the park’s environmental education center in January 2015; today, her work focuses on strengthening and sustaining the relationship between the Tohono O’odham Nation and the National Park Service. “When I first came on board and being a member of the tribe, I realized the park shares a lot of the history with the O’odham and their ancestors,” she says. “We need more Tohono O’odham involvement with the parks.”

She’s organized park staff trips to the nation to learn more about the tribe’s long history on this land—“and what’s happening now … how we’ve evolved as a people,” says Andrew.

Although any harvest or food collection is prohibited on National Park land, the Park Service offers permits to some tribal members to continue collecting the wild foods they’ve

been collecting for thousands of years. Stella Tucker is a Tohono O’odham elder whose family has been harvesting saguaro fruit in Saguaro National Park since before it was a park. Every year for two weeks in June, she and her family set up camp in Saguaro National Park West and invite community and youth groups to participate in the saguaro fruit harvest. The saguaro fruit harvest, which coincides with the Tohono O’odham New Year, is a “celebration,” says Andrew. “Celebrating new life, new nutrition, new nourishment, not only for ourselves but also for the land.”

Andrew says that for as much as the Park Service needs to learn and understand the Tohono O’odham, the Nation also needs to learn about the Park Service. “I’m representing the tribe and I’m representing the park,” says Andrew. When she goes into schools, the first question she asks students is: What is a National Park? Often, they don’t know. “I say, a National Park is a protected area. But it is a public area. This is your park. This is my park. We own this park,” she says.

“This makes people feel good. They need to take ownership.”

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f course , this is a complicated story. This story of wilderness in this region is in part a story of cordoning off tracts of land from human intervention—ignoring the story of the people who had been living on and managing that land for thousands of years. The notion of people apart from nature lingers, particularly as we concentrate ourselves in cities and shop at supermarkets, more and more removed from the wild systems that sustain us.

The endeavor required today, then, is to reintegrate humans into our understanding of wilderness—and take the lessons of wilderness into account as our garden walls expand to include most of the planet. As Cronon writes, “The special power of the tree in the wilderness is to… teach us to recognize the wildness we did not see in the tree we planted in our own backyard."

“National Parks are complicated places. They tell complex stories,” says Swann. “So there is a complexity to managing them.” Increasingly, the complex story of our National Parks—of all wilderness areas—will include climate change. Swann and other scientists in Saguaro National Park are beginning to study and monitor the effects of climate change in the parks.

They’ve just started monitoring snowfall—the Rincon Mountains extend up to 8,700 feet—after anecdotally noting less snowfall that lingered for less time. “Snow is important in the Sky Islands because it's water that gets gradually released into the streams, so it's water that’s in the desert in May and June, when the animals really need it,” says Swann. And in our hotter, drier future, water will be an increasingly competitive commodity for humans and animals alike.

In 2014, Saguaro National Park, Sky Island Alliance, and the Sonoran Joint Venture began a binational monitoring project with eight Sister Parks in Mexico to share data, resources, and best practices for monitoring wildlife. “It’s a natural partnership, given that you can stand at Coronado National Memorial and see the Sierra de los Ajos in Mexico,” says Swann. “They have identical issues.” While the Sister Park project doesn’t venture beyond data sharing and collaboration, across the country, proposals to geographically connect regional parks and wilderness areas are being discussed as a way to build the migratory corridors that animals need to breed and maintain genetic diversity.

“A lot of people think that we know everything there is to know about wildlife in the National Parks,” says Swann. “But we still have so much to learn.” Which might be one of the most compelling reasons to preserve and protect wilderness.

Wilderness protects our ability to tolerate ambiguity. In spite of our best efforts we simply don’t know everything there is to know. We don’t know how nature will change over the next hundred years—and how our farms, ranches, and rivers will morph and change along with it. “By protecting wilderness, one of the outcomes is that we protect life,” says Swann.

We also protect wonder. Once, at Saguaro National Park West, Andrew was leading a group of elementary school students from Tucson. “I was standing near an ocotillo plant, just sort of barely touching it,” she says. “One of the kids was really surprised. He said, ‘Look, she’s touching it!’ And I said, ‘Yeah!

Come on, let’s touch it. And then they all came and put their hands on it. And they wanted me to take a picture of them holding the ocotillo. It was so simple, but they were so happy. It brought me so much joy to see them so happy.” 

Saguaro National Park. 3693 S. Old Spanish Trail. 520.733.5153.

Nps.gov/sagu.

Sky Island Alliance. 406 S. Fourth Ave. 520.624.7080.

SkyIslandAlliance.org.

Megan Kimble is the editor of Edible Baja Arizona and the author of Unprocessed: My City-Dwelling Year of Reclaiming Real Food.

Saguaro National Monument.

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RECIPE

Cooking for Camping What to eat in the backcountry.

Text and photography by Megan Kimble

M

Wes says that cooking for the backcountry is an act of imagination. It is modular cooking—it is assembling the components of a meal you’re going to cook much later and under very differen circumstances. Because Wes has a dehydrator and a penchant for doing things the long way, we’re preparing for a three-day backpacking trip by cooking all our meals and snacks from scratch.

And by cooking from scratch, I mean dehydrating from scratch. We blend fruit into smoothies, spreading the liquid across parchment paper to wait until it dries into fruit leathers.

We mix dates and nuts to spread into gooey bars and round into cacao-dusted orbs. I chop vegetables and spread them across screen trays. In less than a day, the carrots will have shrunk into twisted marbles; the broccoli will become impossibly flat and the eggplant will harden into thumbtack-sized pieces. Beans and corn and potatoes—they are precooked and spread across y fr iend

the dehydrator’s screen trays to remove all moisture. Eventually, this food will become Vegetarian Chili, Green Thai Curry, and Mashed Potatoes with Machacha, scooped by sporks into lightweight bowls.

For now, it is all imagination.

When you’re preparing for a backpacking trip, you’re preparing for a future need. You can imagine it, but only until your legs ache from the weight of a 40-pound pack and you find bruises and blisters in places you didn’t know could be bruised and blistered can you really understand it. Indeed, much of the work of “backcountry cooking” often happens in our well-stocked, comfortably lit kitchens, days before we’re on the trail. And when you’re packing for an outing, no matter the duration, you have to remember what you’re going to forget. Olive oil in a container that does not leak. Salt for the rice and chile powder for the chili. A cup for your whiskey.

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(Left) Setting up camp at Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area. (Center) A campfire in Aravaipa Canyon.

(Right) Couscous and vegetables make for an easy dinner on the trail.

And there are as many ways to eat in the wilderness as there are to be in the wilderness. The easiest thing to do is to swing

by REI or Summit Hut on your way out of town and buy a few freeze-dried, prepackaged, “just add water” meals. These trailready meals range from Made in Nature’s Organic Ancient Grain Fusion ($5), made from a nice range of organic, unprocessed ingredients, to the Backpacker’s Pantry Shepherd Potato Stew with Beef ($11), which, it turns out, contains a whole lot of things that are neither potatoes nor beef.

On the other end of the spectrum—depending on where you’re hiking and camping—you can hunt and gather. “I’ve been on a backpacking trip and brought almost no food,” says Bryon Lichtenhan, a conservation assistant at Sky Island Alliance. “I collected prickly pear fruits. I brought a 22 pistol and shot a rabbit and cooked it over the coals.” Depending on the season, he harvests wild greens or chia seeds. He often forages and gathers provisions

ahead of time, assembling dried saguaro fruit, prickly pear fruit leathers, mesquite meal, and dried cholla buds. “To me, a really wonderful way to connect to wilderness is to live off the land, not permanently, but for a weekend. To have that connection to the seasons, the cycles, the weather, and see how these functioning ecosystems provide resources for whoever happens to be living there,” he says. Lichtenhan’s philosophy is to “travel light and be ready to fast a little. So many people in history have traveled without having a constant source of food available.”

I happen to believe one reason to venture into the wilderness is to eat in the wilderness. Food is about context and context is the reason we venture into the wilds—for the quiet and the noise, the un-electronic hum of bugs and birds and water; for the moment you all turn off your headlamps, lie back on the sand, and stare into the bright, dark sky.

The moment dinner is ready.

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ou can buy a food dehydrator for anywhere from $30 to $300; check thrift stores and garage sales for used appliances. Apart from backpacking, dehydrating is a great way to preserve garden produce or make beef jerky without any added ingredients.

Of course, in Tucson in June, we’re all basically living in a food dehydrator. If you don’t have an electric dehydrator, the sun is the first, best way to dry preserve food. Find a few clean screens and something to cover them that still allows air circulation—a net works, or cheesecloth. You can make a homemade solar dehydrator by fitting screens into a box. The internet abounds with ideas

Vegetable Couscous You can buy freeze-dried vegetable mixes at Summit Hut, REI, and online.

Ingredients: 1 2 ¼

cup freeze-dried vegetables cups couscous cup walnut pieces Italian seasoning Salt and pepper, to taste

At home: Combine ingredients in a plastic bag.

At camp: Bring 4 cups of water to boil. Split dry mixture into two bowls. Submerge contents in boiling water, cover, and let sit for five minutes. Uncover, add walnut pieces, stir, and eat.

For these recipes, you need only a lightweight pot and a stove that can boil water. A stove that has a simmer function is helpful—I have a Snow Peak GigaPower ($50) with a handle that turns the gas valve for adjustable heat.

Serving sizes are for a few hungry people. Multiply as needed.

Remember, if you’re boiling water, you don’t need to filter it, unless there’s sediment you want to remove. The Centers for Disease Control recommends bringing water to a boil and keeping it rolling for one minute at elevations up to 6,500 feet, and for three minutes at higher elevations.

Recipes contributed by Wes Oswald.

Polenta with Sundried Tomatoes

Peanut Butter and Banana Oats

Ingredients:

PB2 is the best powdered peanut butter I’ve found—you can buy it online, and at many supermarkets. Same with freeze-dried bananas—find them at Trader Joe’s or ask at your favorite grocery store.

At home: Combine ingredients in a plastic bag.

Ingredients:

2 ½

cups polenta cup sun-dried tomatoes Dried garlic Italian seasoning Salt and pepper, to taste

At camp: Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Stir in the polenta. Cover, and reduce heat to a simmer.

Cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently; add water as needed. If you managed to carry in cheese, by all means, add that cheese.

2 2 2 3 2 ¼

cups oats tablespoons chia seeds tablespoons flax seed tablespoons powdered peanut butter tablespoons brown sugar cup freeze-dried banana

At home: Combine ingredients and divide into two plastic bags.

At camp: Bring 4 cups of water to boil. Pour dry mixture into two bowls. Submerge oats in boiling water, cover, and let sit for five minutes. Uncover, stir, and eat.

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Mashed Potatoes and Machaca You can buy predehydrated mashed potatoes at almost any supermarket, but potatoes are so easy to dehydrate. Machaca is shredded dried beef, available at most Mexican carnicerias. This is an easy lunch for days you’re tired of trail mix.

Ingredients:

4 medium sized potatoes Roasted garlic Rosemary 1 cup machaca Salt and pepper, to taste Olive oil At home: First, make the mashed potatoes. Boil potatoes until soft. Drain water, return to pot, and mash with a potato masher. Add rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper, and stir until combined. Spread potatoes on parchment paper and place on a drying screen. Dehydrate until all moisture is removed and potatoes are completely crispy and crack (rather than bend) when broken.

Pulse dried potatoes in a food processor.

At camp: Rehydrate potatoes by soaking in filtered water in a cooking pot. Add more filtered water and olive oil, and cook potatoes until hot. Add machaca and more filtered water.

Stir, and serve. Add more salt as needed.

Thai Green Curry Ingredients:

2 cups Minute Rice 2 cups of dehydrated vegetables, including: eggplant, bell pepper, tomato, and carrots 1 tablespoon (to taste) green curry paste ¼ cup dehydrated coconut milk powder A few tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon fish sauce At home: Dehydrate vegetables. Combine into a plastic bag. Put olive oil, fish sauce, and curry paste in separate leak-proof receptacles.

At camp: Rehydrate dried mix by soaking in filtered water in a cooking pot. Cook on low heat, adding filtered water as needed. Keep covered, stirring frequently.

Once the vegetables are cooked, add dehydrated coconut milk powder, along with more water. Stir. Add fish sauce.

To make the rice, boil water and pour over rice (or add rice to the pot).

Cover and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Serve curried vegetables over rice.

Vegetarian Chili Basically, this is a stew of previously dehydrated beans and vegetables. Swap and substitute dried vegetables according to taste.

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked, dehydrated beans 1 cup dehydrated mixed vegetables, including red bell peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, onions, and corn 1 roasted, chopped Anaheim chile Dried garlic Salt and pepper, to taste Chile powder and paprika, to taste Olive oil At home: Dehydrate cooked beans, corn, and vegetables.

Combine, with spices, into a plastic bag.

At camp: Rehydrate dried mix by soaking in filtered water in a cooking pot. Cook on low heat, adding water as needed. Add olive oil. Keep covered, stirring frequently.

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Date and Nut Bars

There are endless combinations of date and nut bars. Cashews are a good base, as they’re softer and easier to mix in the food processor. Presoak almonds to make them easier to blend. If you add cocoa powder and shape the date and nut mixture into little balls, these bars become truffles, and thus dessert.

Whatever version you’re making, start by pulsing nuts in a food processor to desired consistency. Set aside in a bowl.

Pulse dates in a food processor, sprinkling in water as needed.

The dates should combine into a somewhat even paste.

Remove date paste and set aside in a mixing bowl.

Cardamom and Cashew Date Bars

Carrot Cake Date Bars Ingredients:

2 cups date paste 2 cups ground nuts (cashew and almonds) ½ teaspoon ground cardamom

2 cups date paste 2 cup ground nuts 1 cup shredded carrot 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon ½ teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon ginger powder

At home: Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Spread mixture onto parchment paper, flattening with the back of a fork or spoon to make sure it is evenly distributed. Cut into 3 by 2 inch bars, and separate fully. Place on a drying screen. Dehydrate until bars are solid and dry to the touch, but still somewhat pliable.

At home: Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Spread mixture onto parchment paper, flattening with the back of a fork or spoon to make sure it is evenly distributed. Cut into 3 by 2 inch bars, and separate fully. Place on a drying screen. Dehydrate until bars are solid and dry to the touch, but still somewhat pliable.

Ingredients:

Fruit Leathers Ingredients:

2 bananas 2 cups mixed berries ¼ cup yogurt 1 tablespoon lemon juice

At home: Blend ingredients in a blender until completely smooth, adding water as needed. The mixture should look like a smoothie. Pour mixture onto parchment paper, and spread until disbursed evenly. Place parchment paper on drying screen. Dehydrate until the liquid becomes solid and dry to the touch, but still pliable.

Visit EdibleBajaArizona.com for more backpacking recipes. 

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BUZZ

Fermenting the Wild Arizona brewers and winemakers are exploring the world of wild yeasts and natural ferments.

By Luke Anable | Photography by Scott Baxter

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i k e m a n y pioneering producers in Arizona, James Callahan’s education in winemaking was more experiential than academic. In 2012, Callahan returned to Arizona from Northern California to manage his first high-desert grape harvest as winemaker for the newly formed Aridus Wine Company. Having been promoted directly from cellar master to winemaker, Callahan had to fill in the blanks in real time.

Many winemakers cold soak their grapes, a method in which fermentation is purposely stalled while freshly crushed grapes (called “must”) extract color and flavor from their skins before alcohol is present. In order to accomplish this, the native yeasts living on the grape skins must either be killed by the addition of sulphur dioxide or cooled until they became dormant. This time, though, the grapes were arriving too hot from the vineyard; Callahan couldn’t cool them down fast enough to prevent the natural yeasts from beginning fermentation. “At that point I had to make a decision,” he says. “I could have inoculated with a ton of commercial yeast and just beat down the native fermentation or let it go.” He compromised, allowing the strongest batches to continue fermenting “the way Mother Nature intended,” and inoculating the others with a commercial yeast strain.

It was this decision that led to some of Arizona’s first naturally fermented wines—wines that are fermented by native, ambient microflora rather than commercially selected yeast strains Yeasts are single-celled microorganisms that do the good work of fermentation, the process by which sugars and carbohydrates are converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide. Yeast cultures create drinks that are sparkling and boozy; they raise our bread and sour our pickles. These cultures are naturally present in the wild, typically close to the sugars they seek, such as on the skins of grapes or the fruit of cacti, and need only access to this sugar to begin fermentation—a cluster of grapes that fall from the vine and burst, mixing the sugary juice and native microflora, can spontaneously ferment into a primordial wine.

The history of modern fermentation, then, is the history of the human endeavor to tidy up this process and make the result cleaner, more consistent, and able to be reproduced on a mass scale. The major breakthrough in this evolution was the identification, selection, and cultivation of specific yeast strains that could then be deployed for different results. Rather than waiting for wild cultures of unpredictable yeast and bacteria, modern beer and wine makers could now create sterile conditions in which selected yeast populations would be introduced to ferment their wine and beer which in turn could be returned to a sterile, stable state through pasteurization.

Callahan was happy with the wines he made with commercial yeast strains—they were consistent, focused, and met expectations. The wines that he had allowed to ferment naturally, however, varied widely—some were exceptional, while others were too funky and had to be discarded. Although winemakers can’t afford to discard wine regardless of how exceptional the good ones turn out to be, the experience of spontaneous fermentation made an impact on Callahan and solidified his commitment to making wines with less intervention.

Just two harvests later, Callahan used exclusively native yeasts to ferment Arizona grenache and viognier grapes for his new company Rune Wines. For Callahan, native yeasts have become intimately tied to his idea of high-desert terroir, the French term for a wine’s ability to communicate a sense of time and place.

This winemaking is truly “attached to the vineyard,” he says, because it relies on the land not only for fruit but for the agents of fermentation as well. “Everybody talks about a hands-off approach but no one teaches you that,” he says. “Experience is the only real guide.”

Brewers at Arizona Wilderness Brewing collect wild yeast from around the state for their naturally fermented brews.

Spruce tips provide flavor as well as wild yeast.

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Winegrower Sam Pillsbury (above) works closely with Rune Wines, which uses Pillsbury’s grapes to make naturally fermented wine.

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n parts of the world with long traditions of brewing and winemaking, many producers still use native microflora to ferment their beer wort or wine must (or agave pulp, honey, etc.), having nurtured a symbiotic relationship with local yeast cultures over centuries. This is much less common in parts of the world where the beer and especially wine industries have grown up with the use of selected yeasts, which support a more consistent and therefore scalable production model.

To the large-scale, commercial brewer, the types of yeast and bacteria that proliferate in the wild can impart a sour or lactic flavo to beer—lactobacillus, brettanomyces, pediococcus—are anathema, like “napalm,” says Patrick Ware of Arizona Wilderness Brewing, remembering his time brewing for a larger-scale producer. “They thought it would ‘infect’ and take over the whole brewery.” This taboo is only now being challenged by a host of progressive Arizona breweries including Wilderness Brewing in Gilbert, Wanderlust Brewing in Flagstaff, and in Tucson, Dragoon Brewing, Flux Brewing, and Iron John’s Brewing—to name a only a few.

A naturally fermented ale involves “taking everything that has been taught to home brewers and production-oriented craft brewers and doing it backwards,” says Ware. Spontaneously fermented beers lend themselves to barrel aging—to nonsterile, semiaerobic conditions in which they can grow and mature

while interacting with the surrounding environment. Unlike most beers, which are typically pasteurized and remain in sterile vacuums after fermentation, traditional sour ales mature very slowly and require a range of nutrients to keep the diverse population of microflora alive.

“You want unfermentables and residual sugars that will feed into long-term aging and help them express themselves over time,” says Ware. “Locally we have our Sonoran White wheat, a rustic grain we can incorporate into beers and especially sours, which gives the long-chain dextrins, the proteins and amino acids, that we’re looking for these yeasts and bacteria to break down over time.”

As these microflora pass what Callahan calls “the relay baton” between “many different organisms across the spectrum of fermentation,” each bacteria and yeast lend a particular note to the end product, creating a depth of flavor and nuance that a commercial yeast culture cannot replicate.

To return to the use of natural yeasts is a step backward in many ways, and, to these small-scale producers, it is a welcome one. Natural yeast ferments require patience, adaptability, and a certain embrace of unpredictability, all of which make them more at home in a microbrewery, where their maturation can be closely monitored and the rigors of export don’t apply. The small scale and localism inherent in the production of these beers allows for an

Natural fermentations represent patience in the face of the unknown and a certain faith that things will work themselves out.

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educational dialogue with the public, helping inform their experience of what is, to many, a new encounter with a very old style of beer.

In order to capture native strains of yeast and bacteria, Wilderness has developed what they call a “mobile cool ship,” a truck bearing two oak barrels under a large steel pan. The first “cool ships” were found in Belgium’s farmhouses where brewers would pump wort into open-air lofts rich in microflora. Mimicking this process, Ware and Buford drive their unfermented wort to wilderness areas, pump the wort from the barrel to fermentation tray, and let the microflora specific to that area feast, taking up residence in the sweet wort as they begin to ferment the sugars into alcohol. These beers cannot be reproduced, each having a character determined by seasonal variables and, Buford notes, “the differences in terms of thermodynamics and topography” of a specific place at a specific time Once the beer is back in the brewery, the long process of maturation in oak barrels begins. There is no recipe, only observation as the beer morphs under the influence of different strains of wild yeast activating or going dormant. “Whereas in most beer-making the process is absolutely everything,” says White at Dragoon. “For sours it’s only the beginning.” The human element of tasting, rendered obsolete in industrial-scale brewing, becomes indispensable when making these slow aging beers. “All the chemical analysis in the world doesn’t matter if the taste isn’t right,” says White.

The idea of a beer naturally fermenting toward an unknown state is especially rich for Buford. “There were always rules where I came from. You had to preplan before you did anything, but out here, the Wild West, the way Arizona is, you don’t, you never know what’s next, and so you don’t know what the limitations are.”

What, then, is at stake here? More than a type of yeast, brewers are talking about an entire mindset. If commercial yeast fermentations represent the controlled, the predictable, the scalable, then natural fermentations seem to represent patience in the face of the unknown and a certain faith that things will work themselves out.

Chris Ray, a brewer at Wilderness, taste-tests a brew in the barrel room, where wild-collected yeast strands ferment wort into beer.

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Chris Rodgers, a brewer at Wilderness, in the brewery’s fermentation room.

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hy, then,

isn’t everybody making this magical elixir the way Mother Nature intended? Mostly because, as all the brewers and winemakers noted, unpredictable doesn’t always mean unpredictably good. When the Dragoon team tasted through their 10 barrels of sour ale, the only blend everybody could agree upon was of two barrels, meaning the other eight barrels, which they had been maturing for over two years, had to be discarded.

The same is true with wine. Callahan notes that naturally fermented wines require constant monitoring in the cellar and leave no room for error—the bacteria on a rotten grape cluster, if let into the winery, could throw off the whole ferment.

And while many agree that wine and beer can benefit from the subtle nuances of wild ferments, it can just as easily be overcome by them. Nathan Friedman of Wanderlust called these issues the yin and yang of fermentation, and advocated a scientifically informed artistry in beer-making, meeting the natural process halfway. For Friedman, this meant first capturing local yeasts by making a cider and allowing it to ferment naturally in open-air containers. Once the cider finished fermenting, Friedman was able to isolate and analyze the cultures within, cultivating the specific strains that he felt worked best in his bee .

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strains were selected and bred for strength and consistency, wild yeasts represent a subtler and more delicate road to fermentation—one that involves more risk but potentially more reward as well. Naturally fermented wine and beer take us back to a time when fermentation was the cultivation of a living thing, a culture that could be assisted but not controlled. They remind us that when we learned to control the fermentation process via selected yeast strains, we didn’t just lose a style of beer but also an experience of encountering the unknown and working alongside it.

When brewers and winemakers work with native yeasts, they are taking a risk for the sake of nuance, terroir, and individuality.

It makes sense then that the flavors of these ferments tend to be on the savory side and can require more than initial impressions to appreciate. Producers use a host of terms to describe these products—reductive, barnyard, lactic, sour, alive, volatile, vinegary, subtle—all of which gesture to an encounter on the other side of sweet, fruity, or fresh.

The successful sour ales and naturally fermented wines will never be exactly recreated because they cannot be, and the expectation of the consumer must therefore be to have no expectations. So is it worth the trouble to create an essentially f commerci al ye as t

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Wild yeasts are present on lavender and blood oranges, both of which are added to Wilderness brews for their flavors and the flavors that emerge from wild fermentation.

one-off product? Yes, say producers, because something deeper happens that many feel is worth fighting for—a recalibration of how we modern consumers approach the things we consume.

When we allow the spontaneous and the unpredictable to take precedence over the controlled and consistent, something substantial happens in which we begin to approach things with, perhaps, a sense of adventure rather than expectation. We begin

to acquire tastes rather than enjoy what we already know. In other words, these natural fermentations begin to teach us how to approach things “on their own terms,” as Buford says. In a way, it is simply a humble celebration of the unknown. ✜ Luke Anable is a Tucson transplant, natural wine protagonist, and beverage consultant for independent restaurants.

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SABORES DE SONORA

Bountiful Bellota Wild-harvested bellotas, or acorns, are delicious baked, ground, or eaten straight from their shell.

Text and photography by Bill Steen

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monsoon rains, in the oak woodlands of the borderlands, food begins to fall from the region’s Emory oaks, and yet it goes largely unnoticed by those north of the border. Bellotas are the acorns produced by those trees. Oaks all over the world produce acorns, but there is something special about these acorns. Most other acorns are bitter and need to be leached with water to remove the excess tannins; bellotas are slightly sweet with only a touch of bitter, and are delicious right out of the shell.

Despite their obscurity here in the United States, bellotas are harvested wild and sold throughout the state of Sonora and parts of Chihuahua. In the not-too-distant past, Hispanic and Native American families would come together to harvest them for year-round use.

In the more distant past, in a canyon called Tres Bellotas, south of Arivaca, groups of Tohono O’odham from both sides of the border, Apaches, and Mexicans would come together and camp for several weeks to harvest bellotas. Traditionally, they were eaten directly out of the shell, but also sometimes roasted or ground into a paste and added to soups and stews. It is still possible to find shallow holes hollowed into rocks that native people used for grinding bellotas into flour and meal.

I grew up in Tucson and throughout the monsoon season and into the fall, bellotas were commonplace, a very visible part of my life. They were commonly available in small markets throughout Tucson, including many Asian-owned markets like Soleng Tom’s. My mother would buy small plastic bags full of bellotas r ior to the summer

from roadside vendors in Nogales for herself and her sisters and friends. My Aunt Tony always had bellotas on her kitchen table.

She told me stories about how her parents would gather the kids and spend a few days camped in the Catalinas, Baboquivaris, or Rincons. “We thought of those trips as the best of adventures where we went in search of precious treasure. They were so delicious I could never stop eating them,” she says. They made the trip in a horse-drawn wagon. Years later, I would bring her bellotas from the trees surrounding our house in southeastern Arizona.

It’s still possible to drive across the border to find bellotas for sale. Following the main highway south of Nogales toward Imuris and Magdalena, you’ll find them for sale by roadside vendors or in small stores.

Also check in and around Cananea.

You could also make a field trip to collect them yourself. The biggest concentrations of Emory oaks, Quercus emoryi, can be found in the Coronado National Forest of southern Arizona, as well as in New Mexico, northern Sonora, and Chihuahua at elevations between 5,000 and 6,000 feet. Their habitat is known as the oak woodlands. Trees typically display fall colors in the early spring, dropping their leaves only to replace them immediately thereafter. Their height varies depending upon soil type and access to moisture, ranging from about 15 feet to 70 feet tall.

(Above) Bellotas with leaves on an Emory oak tree. (Right) Bellotas can easily be cracked open by biting the shell and rotating until it falls off.

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But oaks do not predictably produce every year, depending on rainfall or late spring frosts. Emory oaks can produce a mast crop, which means that once in seven years they produce a very large quantity of acorns. The bellotas typically start falling just before the monsoon rains. This is the preferred time to collect acorns, when they have the lowest probability of worms that can infest the nuts once the rainy season progresses.

We typically harvest into first weeks of the monsoon and freeze the nuts for several days to kill the larvae. When harvesting the acorns, spreading a tarp or cloth on the ground can help when shaking the branches to catch the falling acorns. A tarp left in place over several days is better yet. Bellotas vary in size and flavo , so it’s worth searching out a good tree.

When shelled, a bellota resembles a pine nut both in size and appearance. In Sonora, they are most commonly eaten casually, shelling them one by one, often with an accompanying cerveza or bacanora. One trick that greatly facilitates this process is to insert the bellota lengthwise between the front teeth, bite gently to crack the thin shell, and continue to rotate it until it easily divides into two halves.

In Sonora, bellotas are used to make a traditional meringue cookie called melindres de bellotas. Some steep their acorns in a bottle of mescal or bacanora for flavor and color. John Adkisson of Tucson’s Iron John’s Brewing Company uses them to produce a seasonal fall beer. I can also attest that squirrels fattened on bellotas and other acorns from the area make a fantastic stew.

However, the bellota’s complexity of flavor suggests so much more. Most other options imply an extra step, grinding the bellotas into flour or chopping them fine. For personal use, a food processor or a small tabletop mill will work well enough.

A coffee grinder is another option.

Acorns can be easily substituted for pine nuts in a variety of recipes, including pesto. The pesto recipe included with this article is one from Francesca Bianco—mother to the famed pizza makers Chris and Marco Bianco—in which the bellotas have been substituted for the walnuts.

While developing this article, like some sort of cosmic happenstance, two rather talented bakers appeared at our home. The first, Elianna Madril, a baker for Five Points Market, developed an ever-so-tasty cookie recipe she called Chocolate and Double Nut Acorn Cookies. Our other guest was the pie baker Dani Kump, who embodies the creativity of her former employer, Korean-American chef Roy Choi. While sitting around eating tacos one night we got around to tasting acorns and they blew her away. Her instant idea was a daring fresh fruit tart of grapefruit and cream cheese on a bellota crust.

Bellotas are an incredible resource that begs for creativity and experimentation. In many ways, they are the taste of southern Arizona’s oak woodlands. Harvest some acorns, have fun, and see what happens. ✜ Bill Steen and his wife, Athena, are founders of The Canelo Project, a nonprofit organization in Santa C uz County dedicated to connecting people, culture, and nature.

(Top left) Elianna Madril shows off her Chocolate and Double Nut Acorn Cookies. (Bottm left) A fresh fruit tart of grapefruit and cream cheese on a bellota crust showcases the nut’s diverse uses.

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Acorn-Grapefruit Icebox Tart

Chocolate and Double Nut Cookies

By Dani Kump

By Elianna Madril

Equipment:

12-14 inch tart shell with removable base Baking sheet Rolling pin

Dough Ingredients: 1 cup bellota flour (shelled, ground acorns) 1 cup all-purpose or pastry flour ½ cup granulated sugar 2/3 cup good quality butter ¼-1/3 cup ice cold water Mix the first three ingredients together in a bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend with your fingers until a coarse meal forms. Place bowl in the freezer and allow to get very cold, at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Filling Ingredients: 4 ruby red grapefruits, skin and pith removed and sliced into segments 3 cups cream cheese 1 cup confectioner’s sugar 1 tablespoon chopped candied ginger (optional) Granulated sugar (for sprinkling on grapefruit once assembled) Prepare grapefruit segments and set aside. Taste the grapefruit to see how tart it is. If it’s very tart, you can add additional sugar in the cream cheese mix. Blend cream cheese confectioner’s sugar with a mixer or by hand until light and fluffy. Taste the mixture and add up to ½ cup additional sugar if needed. Set aside.

Remove flour/butter mix from freezer and add ¼ cup of water. Mix until dough comes together. You don’t want a wet dough but it must be tender enough to roll out so add water if dough seems dry.

Turn out onto a floured surface and roll out to a 15-18 inches round, depending on size of tart pan. You want the dough to be about ¼-inch thick. Make sure dough is generously floured on both sides, and gently fold in half and transfer to tart shell. Firmly press the dough into all the edges and use your thumb to remove excess.

Cover tart with foil or parchment, fill with pie weights, and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes then carefully remove weights and continue baking another 15 minutes or until shell is cooked through and browned. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes.

Spread cream cheese mix in tart shell and even the top out. Layer on the grapefruit and sprinkle with sugar. If you have a butane kitchen torch, use this to caramelize the sugar on top.

Place the finished tart in the fridge to chill at least 4 hours before serving.

Ingredients: 1 stick of butter 1 small standard ice cube (about 1 tablespoon frozen water) 5 ounces (about 1 cup) acorn flour ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon table salt 2½ ounces (about ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon) granulated sugar 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2½ ounces (about ¼ cup packed) dark brown sugar 3 ounces dark chocolate, roughly chopped into ½ to ¼ inch chunks 3 ounces pecans, chopped Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, swirling pan constantly, until particles begin to turn golden brown and butter smells nutty, about 2-5 minutes. Remove from heat and continue swirling the pan until the butter is a rich brown, about 15 seconds longer. Transfer to a medium bowl, whisk in ice cube, transfer to refrigerator, and allow to cool completely, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Place granulated sugar, egg, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.

Whisk on medium high speed until mixture is pale brownishyellow and falls off the whisk in thick ribbons when lifted, about 5 minutes. Fit paddle attachment onto mixer. When brown butter mixture has cooled (it should be just starting to turn opaque again and firm around the edges), add brown sugar and cooled brown butter to egg mixture in stand mixer.

Mix on medium speed to combine. Add flour mixture and mix on low speed until combined. Stir in chocolate and pecans.

Refrigerate dough for about 30 minutes (the longer, the better).

When ready to bake, scoop out dough into tablespoon-size balls and flatten dough rounds when placing on cookie tray.

Bake at 350 degrees for 13 minutes, rotating once. Cool on rack before moving.

Francesca Bianco’s Family Pesto (modified with acorns)

By Francesca Bianco Ingredients: 2½ cups basil leaves 1 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese 1 cup bellota acorns Pulse all the ingredients in a food processor until fully incorporated and smooth. A few sprigs of Italian or flat leaf parsley can be added for color and taste; add garlic if you want garlic. A few drops of lemon juice will help retain the color. Transfer to a glass jar for immediate use, otherwise use a plastic container if it is to be frozen.

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LAST BITE

The Caguamas

By Alan Weisman | Photography by Bill Steen

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his begins with a culinary confession—one that 30 years later, I can still taste.

It was 1986; I was deep in that other Baja, on a magazine assignment to document the growing metastasis of once-isolated natural splendor into tourist treacle. After two days in golf-stricken Los Cabos, I needed to flee, and headed up the peninsula’s then-still-unpaved eastern shore for Cabo Pulmo.

Today it’s a national park; back then, local divers there could harpoon Pacific snappers as big as themselves I never made it. To avoid sinking in dunes, I’d had to half-deflate my tires, and in three hours had barely gone 20 miles. At sunset I lurched into a fishing camp, Los Frailes, where a beached tuna-boat carcass was now a restaurant, its former mast hoisting a thatched roof, its portholes for windows. I was famished, and thirsty. “¿Qué hay?”

The fishermen pointed to a blackened, steaming pot.

“Caguama.” In northern Mexico, caguama refers to two things: a 30-ounce bottle of beer, or a sea turtle. Here it meant both. An oversized Tecate sounded heavenly. The endangered-species stew smelled beyond divine. But how could I? Easily, it turned out, as there was nothing else. Plus, they’d already opened my beer, faced my chair toward the orange full moon rising over the gulf, and set a bowl of fragrant, forbidden ambrosia in front of me. So much for environmental scruples.

What does green sea turtle taste like? I’ll put it this way: like the only time I smoked opium—so seductive that I knew I’d never dare try it again.

After my final interview, Baja California Sur’s state environmental director took me to his favorite La Paz restaurant, where I declined his recommendation of the aleta de caguama rellena—stuffed sea-turtle fin. But then things in Mexico improved: by the 1990s, sea turtles and their nests were protected.

Signs hawking caguama, once common in taquería windows from Tijuana to Nogales, now offere cahuamanta: an invented term akin to the Krab that’s replaced real crabmeat in your salad. In this case, manta-ray wings are harvested as the next best thing to sea-turtle meat. You don’t have to cross the line for a sample: several Tucson taco stands sell cahuamanta.

Better, but still complicated, as some mantarraya species are now also threatened. And then, in the Seri Indian village of Punta Chueca, Sonora, while co-leading a class in human and coastal ecology for Prescott College, I saw how protections get sidestepped. We were buying sodas when a Seri fisherman appeared, a struggling green caguama hoisted on his back. In Mexico, Seris have indigenous hunting rights to this traditional food—but this turtle, I overheard, was going for the peso equivalent of $75 to a waiting Hermosillo restaurateur.

“The hell it is,” said my Prescott teaching colleague, naturalist Doug Hulmes, when I translated for him. To the fisherman s gleeful amusement, a bidding war ensued, which ended $120 later when Doug won—and then hauled his purchase back to the sea and released it.

Everyone there knew that the hapless turtle would soon be recaptured, and resold. Even Doug. But as he staggered toward the beach under the magnificent creature’s weight, even the Seris’ laughter ceased.

Later, a Seri woman gave Doug a shell necklace. Everyone knew why.

Late that afternoon, we drove to nearby Bahía de Kino’s Santa Cruz estuary, slogged into the mudf lats, and dug ourselves a mess of Venus clams and big, black patas de mula. Although upstream damming now keeps the Río Sonora from reaching here, there’s apparently still enough subterranean alluvial flow for these mollusks to thrive. That night, we steamed them over a bonfire and gorged ourselves.

All along the Sea of Cortez, shell middens show that the Seris and other humans have done the same for thousands of years. It’s a humbler meal than the exalted sea turtle that figures prominently in Seri creation myths—but it’s no less a blessing that we can still gather some things from the sea without exhausting their supply, drench them in melted butter, and wash them down with those other fine caguamas. Try both with lime. ✜ Alan Weisman has written for Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, and The Atlantic Monthly, and is the author of Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth? and The World Without Us.

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