mesquite
mesquite
An airy desert tree with delicate leaves and long bean-shaped seed pods that are ground up into meal (powder) and has been used as staple food for centuries by desert dwellers. High protein, minerals, with good quantities of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc, lots of amino acid lysine with a sweet rich molasses-like flavor with a hint of caramel- blends well into smoothies, especially those made w cacao and maca. The indians loved this multi-use tree. Immature pods can be eaten or heated like vegetables. Dry, older pods can be ground into powder for flour or even a sugar substitute (they are 16% sugar) that’s why they taste so great. I simply just bite off a piece of the hardened pod and spit out the seeds.(not necessary when young and soft) Flowers can be eaten raw. The sticky tree resin can be eaten like gum. Don’t eat moldy pods- watch for black spots. Mesquite has antibacterial qualities. When damaged, the tree can sprout multiple trunks and continue growing.
Edible Plant Guide © 2012 Markus Rothkranz
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Prosopis
a genus of trees and shrubs of the family Mimosa-ceae. The plants are often thorny and sometimes leafless. The leaves are twice paripinnate, and the small, five-parted flowers are in axillary racemes or, sometimes, in heads. The fruit is a linear indehiscent pod. There are about 40 species, distributed in the subtropics and tropics of both hemispheres, predominantly in the Americas. In the Azerbaijan SSR, P. juliflora is cultivated. A tree reaching 12 m in height, it has fragrant greenish yellow flowers. Its fruits are edible pods and measure up to 23 cm long. Plants of the genus Lagonychium are often assigned to the genus Prosopis.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.