Saguaro Potato recipe

(Castrezana, DIS, 1998) for Drosophila nigrospiracula and Drosophila mettleri

(Makes approximately 24 glass bottles)

Cooking instructions for a stove top:

  1. Put the finely ground potato buds in a large Ziploc bag.
  2. Add autoclaved Saguaro and de-ionized water to a blender. Blend at high speed, approximately 60 seconds. Make sure texture of blended solution is smooth and creamy. Make sure there are no chunks of Saguaro.
  3. Pour blended mixture into a medium sized pot. Bring mixture to approximately 90°C (small bubbles, no boil).
  4. Allow mixture to cool on a cold stove top burner to 60°C. (Watch closely — this will happen quickly). Stir continuously.
  5. Add propionic acid to mixture.
  6. At 60°C, pour hot cactus suspension into large Ziploc bag containing the potato buds.
  7. Knead/mix thoroughly to uniform consistency.
  8. Cut a corner of the Ziploc bag and dispense by squeezing into glass bottles. Squeeze approximately 79 mL or 1/3 cup of mixture into each bottle.

Pouring Dimensions:

  • Glass vials: 10 mL/vial = 1000 mL (1L)/case of 100 vials
  • Plastic vials: 10 mL/vial = 1000 mL (1L)/case of 100 vials
  • Glass bottles: 1/3 cup/bottle ~ 2 L/case of 24 bottles
  • Plastic bottles: ? cup/bottle ~ 1.5 L/case of 24 bottles

Ingredients to make approximately 3 glass bottles:

  • Saguaro Cactus (autoclaved): 23.5 g
  • De-ionized water: 200 mL
  • Potato buds (finely ground in blender): 35.25 g
  • Propionic acid: 2.35 mL