The peoples of the Sonoran live in the shadows of two massive species of columnar cacti, the famous saguaro, Carnegiea gigantea, and the estimable organ pipe cactus, Lemaireocereus thurberi. Both of these plants bear fruit which can be boiled down to a sweet syrup or fermented into wine. Due to their extreme height, sometimes reaching over 15 feet, harvesting poles were traditionally used to pry off the fruit. These poles were often fashioned out of the vertical ribs of the cacti themselves, which remained after the cactus died.
The fruit of the saguaro matures in June and July each year during which time many peoples harvest it for consumption and wine production. Henry J Bruman says that the Papago, Pima, Maricopa, Yuma, Yavapi, Walapai, Western Apache, and Seri all consumed the fruit fresh, while only the Papago, Pima and Maricopa made wine from it. The Seri, however, have been said to exclusively use the saguaro and organ pipe fruit for wine production.
The Tohono O’odham (meaning desert people) whom Henry Bruman refers to as Papago above, were once consummate brewers of saguaro wine, which they called nawait or haren. After harvesting, peeling, and crushing the fruit, the fermenting vats were kept hot with sun, fire, and even blankets. This was simply cultural practice, but likely served to optimise the performance of yeast involved in fermentation. After the juice was fermented, scum was removed and it was strained through baskets into another clay vessel for drinking. Back in the day, the much anticipated wine was ritualistically consumed within a 24 hour period, a binge which intentionally induced vomiting. This ritual was believed to encourage the coming of summer’s rain. Celebrants would dance around a fire and toss feathers in the air as “clouds” before they went house to house and consumed all of the nawait that individual households had fermented.
