Buddha gamed out a tom yum soup with chiltepin in the broth and busied himself making a cake with dried saguaro fruit and confecting both barrel-cactus-fruit ice cream and prickly-pear snow.

Then each year as the barrel collection blooms, you'll enjoy all the diversity of color in flower, spine and fruit that the desert Southwest has to offer.

The Southwest native fishhook barrel cactus (Echinocactus wislizeni) has fruit that is tart and lemony. The majestic saguaro has fruit that tastes faintly like strawberry.