The flavors of the desert know no borders: Mission-era agricultural legacy of baja california

摘要

Before Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino introduced heirloom fruit varieties to Arizona and Sonora, he and other Jesuit priests were already busy introducing useful fruits to the peninsula of Baja California. Recently, participants in the Kino Fruit Project and the Southwest Regis-Tree joined together for an expedition to the desert oases of central Baja California in the Sierra de la Giganta. Kino first visited these sites some 325 years ago, when Guayacura and Cochimi natives inhabited these palm canyons. We inventoried the orchards, fields and dooryard gardens of San Javier, Comondu and Mulege over a week's time, and planned for future propagation of selected fruits in Magdalena, Sonora, or Patagonia and Tucson, Arizona. The heirloom fruits and foodways that we encountered reminded us that remote oases of the Sonoran Desert still serve as sanctuaries for some of the most ancient fruit varieties remaining in the bi-national Southwest. Some of these fruits offer altogether unique flavors little known in other regions of the Americas.