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Home » Foraging » How to Eat Cholla Buds

How to Eat Cholla Buds

By Hank Shaw on April 21, 2016, Updated April 24, 2020 - 23 Comments

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A bowl of cholla buds.
Photo by Hank Shaw

Readers of this space know I am fascinated by the fruits of the desert, especially the Sonoran Desert. One of those fruits is the cholla cactus. More specifically, the unopened flower buds of that cactus. Yep, cholla buds are edible.

More than edible, in fact. Properly prepared, they taste like a fantastical combination of green bean, artichoke heart and asparagus. Here’s how to get there.

Cholla buds need to be gathered in spring, anywhere from March to early May depending on the species and where you live. And where you live matters. Cholla (choy-ah) only live in the Southwest quarter of the United States (of course they also live in Mexico), so I am talking about the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and parts of Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.

The plant is a crazy-looking cactus. It starts with a central stalk that eventually gets woody, then grows “arms” in all directions at once. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it, although I am certain there is one in there somewhere.

Oh, and cholla are covered in nasty spines. Covered. And everyone’s favorite, the so-called jumping cholla seems to be able to throw its spines at you. Friendly plant, this one. For eating, most people favor the buckhorn, staghorn, and pencil cholla.

cholla buds on plant
Photo by Hank Shaw

Every spring the cactus puts out new arms and an array of flower buds. These of course turn into flowers of many colors. I’ve seen red, yellow and kinda lavenderish ones. After that, it sets fruit very similar to those of the prickly pear — and yes, you can make a cholla fruit syrup with the fruit of the Christmas cholla that is pretty close to my recipe for prickly pear syrup. But in this case it is the buds before the flowers form that you want.

Who thought this one up? Apparently the Tohono O’Odham Indians of the Sonora. (You can buy them already processed here.) They pluck them off the cactus with wooden chopstick-like things — regular tongs work fine — and then meticulously remove the spines.

If you want to do this, remember the Forager’s Rule: Don’t take even half the buds off any one cactus. Take a few from one, then a few from another, until you have enough. Besides, you want pretty flowers, right?

A close up of cholla flowers.
Photo by Chrysa Robertson

So. Pluck off some buds with tongs and put them into a paper grocery bag or a metal tray like a hotel pan. One cool tip is to find some sticky plant nearby, like the creosote bush, to brush your buds before you twist them off the cactus. To get the rest of the spines off, at first I built something like an archaeologist’s sifting box, which I used to rub off the spines.

Photo by Hank Shaw
Photo by Hank Shaw

Use a stick, or wooden paddle, or a thick glove to rough up the buds a bit (don’t wail on them, though) to knock the spines off. This will get most of them off. Sadly, most is not all.

And, like their cousins the prickly pears, cholla have glochids, too. Glochids. Evil, nasty, tricksy glochids. Nearly invisible spinelets that are like getting fiberglass into your skin. Many will come off in the screen, but not all.

Now you need to put on a glove and put your cholla in a sheet pan or something like it. Get out a pair of tweezers and pick off the few remaining glochids. Be patient and do it right now, because they are devilishly hard to get off once you cook the buds or dry them.

Photo by Hank Shaw
Photo by Hank Shaw

There is a better way. If you happen to have a little torch, you can bring it with you to torch the buds while they are still on the plant — be careful not to start a fire! — and then use that torch to burn off most of the spines. This goes much faster than the tweezer method.

If you boil them for a minute or two, then shock them in cold water, that softens the remaining spines.

Now you have a bowl full of cholla buds. They will keep for a week or so in the fridge, incidentally. What to do with them?

My advice: Dehydrate them. Fresh cholla are nice, but they get the same slimy thing going on as do nopales, the pads of the prickly pear. Not my favorite, although if you are into slime get your freak on. There is a way to cook them enough so the slime dissipates, and then you can pickle them, but that’s another post.

After I blanch my cholla for about 2 minutes, I dehydrate them at about 105°F, which keeps them pretty. You can also could dry the buds in your oven set to its lowest setting.

Dried cholla buds will last until the Second Coming. Keep them in a mason jar, and if you have one of those silicon packets, drop one in; this keeps moisture out of the jar.

To eat cholla buds, rehydrate them overnight in some water, or boil them straight away. Regardless they need to be simmered until tender, which can take anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes. If you really like them and want to eat your cholla buds faster, dehydrate, cook, then freeze in a bag.

How to use them? As a cool accent in any Southwestern dish. Mixed with beans, especially tepary beans, which are native to the Sonoran Desert, is how I like to use them. I put some in my recipe for teal in a jar. The Tohono O’Odham toss them in a sort of antipasto salad, or just sauteed with some chile and onions.

Incidentally, if you want to learn more about all the cool edible plants in the Desert Southwest, you could do worse than to pick up Wendy Hodgson’s book Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert. It’ll blow your mind how much good stuff there is in a seemingly desolate place.

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Filed Under: American Recipes, Foraging, How-To (DIY stuff)

Avatar for Hank Shaw

Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet's largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

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Comments

  1. Avatar for Max godinoMax godino says

    April 25, 2020 at 9:33 am

    Moved into a new house and now have cholla buds! Or are they prickly pear? Have to figure that out.

    What’s the comparison between calories used up to prepare cholla buds compared to the calories gained by eating them? I think of this same thing while preparing fava beans, which take forever to get a reasonable serving. Tasty though!

    Reply
  2. Avatar for Joseph JacksonJoseph Jackson says

    April 2, 2020 at 9:09 pm

    I was checking out the buds of the cholla today and noticed the prickly pear had very similar ones and didn’t look as vicious, has anyone tried these? I thought I would.

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      April 3, 2020 at 8:03 am

      Joseph: Well, the ripe fruit of prickle pears is delicious and the ripe fruit of a cholla is not. So that is why I don’t bother with prickly pear buds.

      Reply
  3. Avatar for KATIE CORLEYKATIE CORLEY says

    October 10, 2019 at 9:38 am

    hahahaha ‘will last until the Second Coming’. You’re hilarious

    Reply
  4. Avatar for Katie CaseyKatie Casey says

    May 26, 2019 at 9:38 am

    To remove the needles I use metal tongs to pass them through a flame. I do it quickly and let each one cool. When I get to the last one I start again with the first one. If I try to get all the needles in one pass I damage the good parts. I finish with methods similar to the ones described by you but I am working with a less dangerous cactus. I harvest cactus using a metal bucket, tongs and a long thin serrated knife.

    Reply
  5. Avatar for CarmenCarmen says

    June 25, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    So I just picked a bud off a cholla while I was out walking my dog in the field, but I believe the flower has already bloomed and fallen off of it. Can I still try and eat it. Can it be eaten raw?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      June 26, 2018 at 8:38 am

      Carmen: Once the flower has fallen off, it’s no longer a bud: It’s an unripe fruit. And no, you can’t really eat it yet. You need to wait until the fruit turns yellow.

      Reply
  6. Avatar for Dr. CowanDr. Cowan's Garden says

    May 23, 2018 at 3:34 am

    Mike you can buy the dried cholla buds from here: https://www.drcowansgarden.com/collections/available-now-2/products/cholla-buds

    Reply
  7. Avatar for Martha SandsMartha Sands says

    May 16, 2018 at 7:41 am

    Day lily buds have that same magical flavor combination of artichoke heart, green bean and asparagus. Sure you’ve tried them but if not, do! Stir fried, sauteed, steamed …. they all work, but stir fry is my go to method. When they are larger, and beginning to open, they can be used the same way as squash blossoms.

    Reply
  8. Avatar for Matthew HibbardMatthew Hibbard says

    November 4, 2017 at 12:37 am

    Mike I just ate a Peruvian apple tonight, tasted kind of like dragon fruit.

    Reply
  9. Avatar for Matthew HibbardMatthew Hibbard says

    November 4, 2017 at 12:34 am

    thanks Hank I’m a new forager in Arizona. hunting for information is part of the fun.

    Reply
  10. Avatar for MikeMike says

    August 17, 2017 at 8:19 pm

    Where can I Buy Cholla bud, anyone?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      August 18, 2017 at 8:46 am

      Mike: Here: https://www.sphinxdateranch.com/tohono-oodham-dried-cholla-buds

      Reply
  11. Avatar for Mike fosheeMike foshee says

    March 16, 2017 at 10:03 am

    Hi Hank: The Sonoran desert is my home and i love to try things from the landscape I’ve never had before. What are your 3 favorite wild edibles from the Sonora? I hope you’ve had the opportunity to snack on the strawberry pincushion cactus fruits. They’re fantastic.

    Reply
  12. Avatar for JobeJobe says

    March 15, 2017 at 6:54 pm

    Fun read, how about after they flower? Edible? Good?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      March 16, 2017 at 8:57 am

      Jobe: Nope. Either unopened buds or ripe fruit.

      Reply
  13. Avatar for Dave ShoeDave Shoe says

    December 1, 2016 at 10:18 am

    Hypothetically, would it be possible to burn the glochids off over a fire as is sometimes done with Opuntia glochids?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      December 2, 2016 at 6:57 am

      Dave: You betcha.

      Reply
  14. Avatar for TomTom says

    July 1, 2016 at 9:50 am

    Are the petals edible? or any othe part of the Cholla?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      July 1, 2016 at 10:09 am

      Tom: I know the petals are edible, as are the ripe fruits. I’ve never heard of anyone eating the actual plant though.

      Reply
  15. Avatar for Brian WBrian W says

    April 22, 2016 at 12:46 pm

    I can tell it is Friday, because all I took from this article was “To rub off the spines” 🙂

    Reply
  16. Avatar for CindyCindy says

    April 22, 2016 at 7:45 am

    Hank, thank you for this post! I will be ordering the book you referenced.
    I am a east coast person transplanted to Phoenix,AZ. Foraging here is so different.
    Headed out to north of the Valley this weekend…. 🙂

    Reply
  17. Avatar for EllenEllen says

    April 21, 2016 at 2:47 pm

    Thanks, Hank. I’ve been dying to try this but they don’t appear in the Santa Fe area until June and I’ve never been in the right place at the right time. I’m going to have to plan better next year.

    Reply

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Hi, my name is Hank Shaw; I’m a James Beard Award-winning author and chef. I started this site back in 2007 to help you get the most out of all things wild: fish, game, edible wild plants and mushrooms. I also write cookbooks, have a website dedicated to the intersection of food and nature, and do a podcast, too. If it’s wild, you’ll find it here. Hope you enjoy the site!

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