Have you ever wanted to try mesquite flour? It’s nutritious, with lots of fiber and protein, plus it’s gluten-free.
Tucson is bursting with mesquite trees, and chances are you have at least one in your own yard.
But which variety produces the best pods? Some have a chalky — even bitter — taste, while the best pods have a sweet, slightly nutty flavor. The best type for milling into flour come from the native velvet mesquite, I’m told.
But that got me wondering: How can you tell which trees are native and which are not? Are pods from the non-native varieties worth harvesting?
So recently I set out to gather up a bunch of leaves and pods to have them identified — from the west side to the east side and points in between, including the alley behind my house.
The expert in my experiment was George Ferguson, collections manager at the University of Arizona Herbaria at Herring Hall on campus. (Anyone can walk in with a plant sample for help with identification, by the way.)
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But my plan met with one big hitch: With all of the cross-breeding and hybridization over the years, it’s not so easy to tell which is velvet, alba, Chilean or South American — or some combination of those.
Most mesquites growing here these days are hybrid Chileans, Ferguson says. (Or Prosopis chilensis for all you plant nerds.)
But you can still find native velvet trees in some of the older 'hoods.
As you cruise your neighborhood this fall looking the best-tasting pods, remember: A taste test is crucial — but do wait until the pods are fully dry in the fall.
Tips for harvesting:
- When choosing mesquite pods, always, always do a taste test first (chew it for a minute and then spit it out) before gathering them up and taking them somewhere to be milled into flour.
- Also, don’t pick them off the ground — be sure to pull them off the tree when ripe.
- They should have a golden or tan color, sometimes with purple streaks. Ripe pods will snap rather than bend in half. Don’t pick them when they’re still green.
- They need to be completely dry, so harvest before or well after the monsoon rains.
The ultimate test:
After learning from Ferguson how to ID the different trees, I felt confident enough to walk back down my alley in midtown, tasting pods as I went.
First up was a neighbor’s backyard tree overhanging the alley. Yum — it had a smooth, nutty taste — until the aftertaste kicked in: chalky and with a weird, dry mouthfeel. Pfftt!
That one was probably a Chilean hybrid.
After that, I was more selective. I picked pods only from trees that I could tell were native velvets. Each had a nutty, sweet taste with no bad aftertaste. Some were as sweet as candy.
When I reached the end of the alley, I turned back along the road, chewing and spitting as I walked. I’m sure the neighbors thought I was nuts. But it was worth it.
(See the attached pdf graphic for help in identifying the right trees and pods.)
