Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert, Wendy C. Hodgson, page 229, paragraph 3

The rather odd-looking fruits of the R. echinocarpa (figs. 140, 141b) also supplied food. The Guarijío, Tarahumara, Ónavas Pima, and Tepehuan gathered the green fruits as they began to ripen in the fall (Gentry 1942; Pennington 1963, 1969, 1980; Altschul 1973; pers. obs.). If the fruits were left on the plants to ripen, "strong-billed birds" and mammals were sure to consume them (Gentry 1942, Martin et al. 1998:431). The black, puddinglike mass has a bittersweet flavor and is full of seeds. Babies were especially fond of the pulp. These groups ate the pulp in large amounts with the seeds, which often caused constipation (H. S. Gentry, pers. comm.). Howard Gentry once ate the fruits for lunch, while in the wilds of Rio Mayo country, having nothing else to eat (Martin et al. 1998). He enjoyed the first fruit, but could not finish the second because the fruits were very filling. Randia echinocarpa (and other members of the genus) fruits are important medicinally, being used to aid digestion and diabetes.

The University of Arizona Press, 2001, Tucson, 0-8165-2060-7