dance of the saguaro jam

Earlier this spring the Saguaro cacti that live in our yard began to bloom. Their blooms were high on the top of their trunk so were tricky for me to photograph until I found one that had fallen to the ground. Birds of all sizes love them, even the little Humming birds.



At the end of their bloom life the flowers dried on the end of the young saguaro fruit. Many of the dried blooms would fall to the ground where it was easy to mistake them for dog do-do.




As the fruit grew and became ripe it split open to expose the seeds inside. Again the birds flocked to the cactus and feasted on the sweet treat.



Jay has been in competition with the birds and the ants to see who could get the ripe fruit first. Sometimes he uses a ladder and climbs up and plucks the fruit off. Other times he uses a long pole with a homemade picker/catcher taped to the end.


After the fruit is harvested the seeds can be removed by cutting the fruit in half and scraping the inside.



Then it's into the pot to boil down, a little sugar, a little lemon juice and....



yum! Saguaro jam!