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Mesquite Pod Sugar, Flour and Meal |
 Buy Mesquite Flour Meal (click size): 10 oz. 24 oz. 44 oz.
Raw versus heated mesquite flour meal
Bread Bakers Guild of America Bakery Competition
Diabetes and the glycemic index
Mesquite Recipes
For technical issues regarding mesquite flour contact the CasadeMesquite science partner Peter_Felker@hotmail.com
The mesquite tree grows in the desert regions throughout the world. For 2000 years, mesquite meal was an integral part of the daily diet of Native Americans in Southwestern USA, Mexico and many areas of South America.
While in some circumstances mesquite can be a weed, it is also a very highly respected tree in many parts of the world for human, wildlife and livestock food, firewood, enrichment of soils due to the nodules on their roots, and provision of excellent lumber for fine furniture. The trees have small green leaves and yellow hanging seedpods. Mesquite bean flour is made by washing the pods with water, sorting them for quality, milling and sieving of the pods to isolate the most flavorful portion of the pods in the same fashion that Indians did for centuries using stone mortars. The flour is 100% organic.
The mesquite bean flour has a distinctive rich flavor similar to mocha coffee, cinnamon and chocolate. When the flour is heated in the oven, alone or in mixtures, a pleasant aroma appears that is somewhat similar to coconut. The most favorable response occurs when it constitutes from 10 to 20% by weight of total mixture. The flour is used to provide flavor and aroma in baked goods and not for its structural characteristics. Since the flour contains no gluten it is useful for those with gluten intolerance. In Argentina bakeries that produce products for people with gluten intolerance use a mixture of 50% mesquite flour and 25% flour of rice and manioc respectively. The mesquite flour has more protein and dietary fiber than either rice or manioc flour. Scientific tests found that when mesquite flour was incorporated into corn chips at 10% both non chip and chip eaters greatly preferred the chips with mesquite. In long term storage with wheat flour, mesquite greatly reduced the oxidation of the fats in the wheat flour suggesting it may be a good anti oxidant. The amino acid balance of wheat and mesquite flour are highly complementary resulting in a more favorable protein quality than either mixture alone.
In cooking, mesquite bean flour can be used as either a spice or flour. As a spice, Charles Perry of the Los Angeles Times (read story) found it worked wonderfully with spare ribs and almond shrimp. Charles Perry also found it works very well with citrus and we especially like the mesquite tropical fruit cake recipe with fresh grated LIME peel in our list of recipes. In baking, you can mix mesquite with other flours where you will find that mesquite enhances the flavor, aroma and color. It is best to start off with 2 tablespoons of mesquite flour per cup of total dry ingredients which is about 12% by weight. If you never have used mesquite, to gain an appreciation of what mesquite can do, we suggest you try this contrasting use. Add 2 tablespoons of mesquite per cup of dry ingredients to your favorite waffle recipe and note the rich cinnamon/chocolaty flavor and aroma.
Just a few precautions, while the high fiber content of mesquite flour is very beneficial for celiacs, rapid increases in consumption of dietary fiber may result in abdominal cramping, bloating, or gas. One food columnist has recommended that if you are on a 10-15 g/fiber/day diet, that that you only increase the fiber consumption by 2-3 grams/day. If no digestive stress occurs add another 2-3 grams/day. For mesquite flour this would be about half a tablespoon per day.
Mesquite bean flour is rich in sugars and proteins that makes an ideal growth medium for all bacteria (however the bacteria can only grow after mesquite flour is moistened). Unlike products such as cocoa powder that undergoes extensive processing that reduces the bacterial counts to essentially zero, mesquite bean flour is very minimally processed in rural areas in Latin America. For these reasons Casa de Mesquite strongly advises that mesquite flour be used in applications involving baking or cooking. Should you desire to use mesquite in mixtures without further heating/baking, keep the mixtures cool and consume within 20 minutes of moistening.
For mesquite flour meal wholesale orders, both packaged and bulk, call 800-543-1702
Mesquite apple nut muffins
2 tablespoons of Mesquite flour
1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup of refined wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/3 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of vegetable oil.
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 eggs
1 apple cut in pieces.
1/4 cup of chopped nuts.
1/3 cup of milk.
Mix the dry ingredients. Separately mix the liquid ingredients with the beaten eggs. Add half the dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients. Then add the nuts, chopped apples and the rest of the moist ingredients and mix well. Place in oven at 350 F for 25 minutes and then test with a toothpick to see if it comes out clean.
Recipe courtesy of Pam Mathison
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Mesquite Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
1 cup (2 sticks)butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups quaker quick oats
1/2 cup mesquite flour
1 cup raisins
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons guar gum
Heat oven to 350 F. Beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Add regular flour, mesquite flour, baking soda, cinnamon, guar gum and salt and mix well. Stir in oats and raisins mix well
Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12-14 minutes. Cool 1 minute and move to wire rack. Makes about 4 dozen
Recipe courtesy of Anita Lavaisse
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