Mesquite Milling and Paloverde Harvesting Party

1010 East Marketplace Southeast,Phoenix AZ 85048

02 April, 2022

Description

Mesquite Milling and Paloverde Harvesting Party We'll meet at the NW edge of Desert Foothills Park to harvest some yellow Paloverde blossoms. We'll then drive 1/2 mile to my home to fry the blossoms. They taste like popcorn! And you'll learn how to make Mesquite flour from beans harvested last June. We'll sample the fried blossoms, mesquite flour, and other Sonoran Desert traditional foods: paloverde beans (desert edamame), roasted ironwood beans (taste like pistachios or hazelnuts), and more. We thank the Akimel O'odham people (Pima) for passing their valuable edible desert information to others. They have lived in this area for many years. Mesquite beans were eaten by humans, giant bison, giant camels, and mastodons 300 generations ago. Fry bread has been made for three generations, since the upstream settlers diverted most of the water from the Gila River in the 1880's - 1920's, causing many of the local tribal people to starve, and the US government gave them white flour and lard. Thus fry bread was born. Mesquite beans have been local people's food for 300 generations according to scientific studies of fossilized human remains. (The mesquite bean is so hard, it lasts for thousands of years along with bones) You will learn: *How to identify mesquite trees with sweet beans *When to harvest mesquite beans *Historical use of mesquite beans *Nutritional content of mesquite beans *Best locations to harvest mesquite beans *How to store your beans *Home equipment choices to use *How to sift to make a fine flour *How to bake with mesquite flour All participants will take home one -quarter cup of mesquite flour that we mill. We will also have a wild food tasting including "desert edamame" (paloverde beans), ironwood beans, saltbush, and more. The cost for the event is $20. Please check your email inbox for updates. Remember to check your spam folder if you cannot find it. Milling and sifting mesquite flour at last month's mesquite milling event.