Care for some desert?

Jeff King held a piece of prickly pear cactus out to Beth and urged her to give it a taste. King, who works with the Desert Botanical Garden, was in Trilogy at Vistancia Saturday leading a workshop on desert plants and their uses.

"It's really very tasty," King said.

Beth, who didn't want to give her last name, was there with her husband to look at homes, but was intrigued by King's display of products and drifted over to the kitchen.

"I've had something like this before and I don't think I'll like it," Beth said as she took a bite. "And, I don't."

King laughed and suggested she try some prickly pear tea.

"OK, that's not bad," Beth said as she sipped. "That's pretty good."

King explained that before science and industry brought modern conveniences to the desert, people had to survive using only what nature provided them.

"And even here, in our arid Sonoran Desert, nature provided them with everything they needed," King said. "Many of these products fell out of favor for a long time, but you're seeing many of them gain in popularity all over again."

One example, King said, is agave syrup.

"It metabolizes differently than sugar, and it is much better for you," King said. "It also has the benefit of being safer for people with diabetes. So, if you're diabetic but you have a sweet tooth, you can use agave syrup as a sweetener."

While some items are making a comeback, King said, one in particular has remained widely used for a long time. Mesquite trees have been cut down and their wood used for barbecues for years, but King said there is an alternate solution.

"Use mesquite pods instead," King said. "You see them all over the street, right? Well, just pick up a handful and throw them in the barbecue. You'll get the same flavor as mesquite coals, but no trees have to be cut down to do it. And the flavor is actually better, if you ask me. It's a little sweeter."

For information on the desert products or where they can be purchased, visit www.dbg.org.

Jeff Dempsey may be reached at 623-876-2531 or jdempsey@yourwestvalley.com.