Mesquite Flour Pancakes (Martin P.)

Mesquite Bean Flour Notes

July, 2003

1 paper grocery bag of mesquite beans yields about 3# or 10 cups of excellent flour.

  • Collect mesquite beans just before they fall off the trees, usually in late July, but depends on location, rainfall.  Beans are just right when the seeds start to rattle.
  • Taste several trees.  Some are sweeter than others – and they say that a sweeter tree will be sweeter, year in, year out – so make a note of one.  (although I haven’t found that much difference).
  • The taste (like molasses) and carbs come from the pod itself, the protein from the seed.  It’s a smart tree – the critters eat the pods due to the sweetness of the pod, and the seed passes on through the digestive tract and winds up in a damp compost pile to germinate …
  • The seeds are really tough to grind, but eventually do after a few passes.
  • Dry at 170 – 180 F for 1.5 hrs (if beans have already dried in the sun prior to that).
  • Grind them right from the oven – otherwise they will re-absorb the moisture, and gum up the mill.
  • An inexpensive “Corona” mill, which is ubiquitous throughout Central and South American, works fine.  Also available at www.lehmans.com
  • Start the first grind coarse, plan on about 2 passes, maybe 3.
  • Store in a ziplock bag, in the freezer.
  • Combine with regular flour or pancake mix, half and half, to make great pancakes.

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