Yahoo! Crew Goes Cactus Hunting

By Robert Hart, General Manager

Yahoo_Posing_for_the_cam

Left to right: Posing with their prickly bounty are Jen Takara, café supervisor; Agustina Sanchez, prep cook and cashier; and Juana Ordaz, café utility staff

One doesn’t usually think of the hills in San Jose, CA, as being prime hunting grounds for wild edibles, but Yahoo! Surf's Café Supervisor Jen Takara and her crew in Sunnyvale struck green gold on a hunt for wild edible nopales (cactus paddles).

Though earlier foragers had already harvested the smallest, most tender pieces, they found two huge crops of the wild edibles, with plenty of large paddles as well as “tunas,” the bright red edible fruits of the cactus, available for the picking.

Juana Ordaz, the café’s utility person, shared her favorite home recipe for nopales: De-spine the cacti and thinly slice them, then sauté in oil and garlic. Scramble some eggs right in the same pan and serve the dish with warm tortillas and house-made salsa for a lovely — and vegetarian — breakfast option.