Garambullo

What it is

The fruit is about 1.3 cm (½ in) across, with skin that ranges from reddish brown to dark purple. Inside its thin skin, the flesh is soft and jelly-like, dotted with tiny black seeds. Its plant, Myrtillocactus geometrizans, has thick blue-green or grey-green stems that branch like a candelabra.

Where it comes from

Garambullo comes from central Mexico. It grows in dry scrub, in tropical forests that lose their leaves, and in some grasslands of the southern Chihuahuan Desert. In Querétaro, people gather the fruit by hand for local markets.

How it's eaten where it grows

In Hidalgo, nieve de garambullo starts with the fruit blended into a thick pulp with evaporated milk. More milk and sugar join it, then the mixture is stirred in a metal container sitting in ice and coarse salt. Scraping the frozen mixture from the sides gradually turns it creamy.

Garambullo also goes into atole, a traditional hot drink thickened with maize dough and sweetened with honey. In Querétaro, concentrated pulp becomes ate, a firm fruit sweet. The flowers have their own dishes, including tamales, beans and a Querétaro mole sauce.

How it's grown

The cactus can reach about 4.6 m (15 ft), although it takes years to become large. It grows best in gravelly soil that drains freely. Growers can start new plants from pieces of stem, leaving the cut surface to seal before planting them in soil.

When and where you'll find it

In Querétaro, the usual gathering season runs from July through September. Fresh garambullo is a local-market fruit, picked one berry at a time. Drying gives it another life as a raisin-like fruit; in suitable weather, it can even dry while still attached to the cactus.