Thirty three people brought mesquite pods to be ground into flour at last Saturday’s 3rd Mesquite Milling and Mesquite Pancake Breakfast at the Bisbee Farmers Market. A threefold increase from last year, these desert harvesters came from all over the county including greater Sierra Vista, Bisbee, Douglas, Tombstone and Benson with one even bringing pods from Tucson. For most of them it was their first time collecting mesquite for milling.

One group included grandparents brought by their grandchildren. “When I brought home a Texas Honey Mesquite a few years ago, my husband couldn’t believe that I had paid for a mesquite tree as most ranchers consider them pests and try to get rid of them although cattle will eat mesquite pods,” said Joan Power who came with her husband Mike and grandchildren Breanna and Kenna.  The couple operates the Power Ranches in the Mule Mountains.  Proudly clutching a sack of her freshly milled and aromatic pale yellow flour, she found me and said “You’ve got to try this honey mesquite flour. It’s so sweet.”

It has long been my goal to locate mesquite trees with the sweetest pods and then get a local nursery to propagate and sell them.  So when people want a deciduous shade tree that requires no water they can choose one that also yields food.  Mesquites are self fertilizing as they are legumes with roots that “fix” nitrogen from the air into the soil. My choice of nurseryman would of course be market vendor “Petey (Gierlach) Mesquitey” who was actually about to embark on this quest himself a few years ago with mesquite guru Dr. Peter Felker.

To tell if a mesquite pod is sweet you suck on the seeds and pulp.  There is a lot of variation in pod size and color and sweetness as there are several different kinds of mesquite trees locally and they hybridize amongst themselves.  I think at next year’s milling we should have a contest for the largest, sweetest pod.

My brother-in-law Will Staatz and sister Gwen of Tucson who I had roped into helping out with the breakfast and bake sale had never been to a milling before.  As one of the four cooks that made pancakes for some 150 people they were inspired to collect pods next year and were happy to go home with a gallon jar of dry mesquite pancake mix.  

The last two plates of hot cakes sitting in the tortilla warmer were bought by a couple from Tucson who pleaded for them even though we had stopped serving.  Having driven all the way just to try the mesquite pancakes, they were new to the desert and eager to find out what this harvest was all about after finding it on the BFM web site.  They asked me if any restaurant served mesquite pancakes.  I told them that I didn’t know of one as mesquite pod collection and milling is a grass roots happening with a handful of millings in Phoenix and Baja (Lower) Arizona.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every pancake house in southern Arizona served mesquite pancakes with prickly pear syrup instead of blueberry pancakes with maple syrup.

Mesquite is superior food. It saved the lives of the native peoples of the southwest deserts in lean times when they even robbed the pods from pack rat’s nests.  Dogs love mesquite pods. Cowboys and children in Mexico suck on them as trail food or a treat.  The ancient ones had a much harder time grinding the pods which are very fibrous with rock hard seeds using stone mortars (metates) and stone pestles (manos.)  Now it takes just five minutes to grind five gallons of pods into one gallon of fragrant nutritious meal.  This lasts quite a while as it is best to use only a small amount, substituting a ? cup of the meal for the other flour in recipes.  Whole pod mesquite flour is high in protein (around 11 percent), fiber and minerals. It also slows down digestion so can transform a “fast” or refined high carb food into a “slow” food which is beneficial for the prevention of diabetes and obesity.

If you missed the milling and pancakes there will be another milling at Cascabel in Cochise  County on November 15.  The 10th Annual Cascabel Mesquite Milling Festival at the Cascabel Community Center will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The mesquite pancake and waffle breakfast will be followed by milling and a native/local foods potluck.  For more information read this column on November 12th or go to Baja  AZ’s or Desert Harvester’s calendars at www.bajaaz.org or www.desertharvesters.com or visit www.omick.net/native-foods.   

Bisbee Farmers Market

Lively bluegrass music will be performed by the Jones Gang, Sierra Vista’s family band with two state champion teen fiddlers.  Elvia’s Kitchen will return with her Mexican food as well as La Carretta with shrimp and fish tacos.

Elfrida Community Garden will bring Spicy Mesclun mix to use alone or with Baby Mixed Salad Greens or lightly cooked for a side dish. Look for pumpkins, Pok Choi for stir frys, large green onions, light flavored lemon cucumbers, mustard greens, chard, arugala and cilantro.

This Thanksgiving try a great tasting turkey raised in Cochise County on fresh green pastured from Josh’s Foraging Fowls.  Josh Koehn who farms outside of Willcox also raises delicious chickens.  Order both at the San Ysidro Farm stand.  If you like BLT sandwiches pick up nitrate-free bacon to go with the last of the really red, ripe and juicy tomatoes for a great sandwich. Your choice of grass-fed lamb.

The 47 Ranch will offer its outstanding beef jerky, freshly ground peanut butter and a wide selection of grass finished beef, lamb and goat.

Little River Nursery will bring drought tolerant plants and cacti.

Beattys Apple Orchard has Ida-Red, Chieftain, Yellow Delicious, Red Delicious, Fuji, Granny Smith, Pippins and Red Rome apples.

 to both markets along with winter squash, tomatoes and carrots.

 

Spadefoot Nursery offers Emory oaks, Apache pines and various cool shrubs like Fendler’s buckbrush and Californina buckthorn. This is still a great time to plant trees and shrubs that will root in over the winter.

 

Alice Coleman will have more mesquite flour for all those that want to try it.

 

Simmons Honey will bring wild desert honeys including mesquite, wildflower & catclaw. Look for fresh honey comb, pollen, honey granola as well as Honey Stix, for a healthy treat. Have fun selecting your choice of the home-style jams, jellies, pickles and relishes with new pomegranate jelly and tomato preserves w/lemon. Beeswax candles are now available. Beeswax polish is a furniture polish made with turpentine, mineral oil, and pure beeswax and comes in a shoe polish tin. (Also at the SVFM.)

 

Hot freshly brewed coffee is for sale under the music tree along with fresh donuts.  The coffee is made from locally roasted, fair-trade Just Coffee. Take home a bag of Just Coffee beans.

 

New Product:  Helen Hayes of Azmira Holistic Animal Products will be featuring new products at both markets formulated by Planet Earth Remedies: “Pita’s Hot Spot - Itch Balm” and Pita’s Special Body Balm with Castor Oil.

 

Desert Blossom, Susie Culp, the Montoyas and others will have fresh produce including lettuce as well as herb and veggie starts, chia, agave nectar, chile powder and mesquite cutting boards.

 

Recipes

Pearl’s Mesquite Pancakes

Measure dry ingredients into a glass jar double or triple recipe for gallon jar. Shake to mix.  

1 cup mesquite meal

 1 cup whole wheat flour

 1 cup unbleached flour

 1 tblsp baking powder

 1 and 1/2 tsp baking soda

 1 and 1/2 tsp salt

When ready to make pancakes whisk together in mixing bowl:

 1 egg

 1 tblsp oil

 1 cup buttermilk, sour milk, or fresh milk with a tablespoon of vinegar added.

Add a cup of the dry mix to the liquids and whisk together. Add more

1/4  cup more milk or water up to ? cup as needed to thin batter.