The Arizona Republic columnist and Arizona Oddities contributor Clay Thompson has made a living out of answering the strangest questions in the newsroom and snarking on some of the people who ask them. Now, he’s gone one step further, asking his readers to submit recipes for a cookbook, just so that he can make money as a writer, but without having to do any of the writing itself. The Enormously Big, Official Valley 101 Cookbook will be available November 21. It retails for $9.95, but Arizona Oddities readers get the chance to win free copies!

Are cactus candy and cactus jelly really made out of cactus?

There was a time when we would have brought several samples of cactus candy and jelly back for testing in the Valley 101 Research Laboratory. But with the recent shrinking of the paper, we had to pack up lab equipment and put it in storage. It was either that or the bowling trophies.

So, in the absence of a detailed scientific analysis, we put all our trust in Amelio Cassiato, manager of the Cactus Candy Co. in central Phoenix, which, by the way, has a really cool cactus sign out in front.