DESERT HARVESTERS AND COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ANNOUNCE THE ANNUAL MESQUITE BEAN MILLING DATES
Community Mesquite Bean Millings makes use of an abundant desert resource.

Make delicious, nutritious flour from mesquite pods at three upcoming community mesquite bean millings.  Mesquite flour can be baked into breads, cakes and muffins and more.  Mesquite flour is highly nutritious and is valued for its natural sweetness.  In 2007 mesquite milling events attracted over 3,000 people.

Since 2003 Desert Harvesters dedicated volunteers have been helping people mill their mesquite from Phoenix to Bisbee.  They teach about native tree planting and how to make use of abundant desert foods which also include prickly pear fruit and pads, cholla buds, ironwood seeds and more.

Marana Heritage Festival and Milling
Date: Saturday, October 25th
Time: 9am to 4pm
Where: Marana Heritage River Park, Tangerine Farms Road and Heritage Park Drive
What: Family festival with mesquite milling, farm stand, farm planting, history displays, food and music

Desert Harvesters Mesquite Milling Fiesta and Pancake Breakfast
Date: Saturday, November 8th
Time:  Mesquite milling: 8am to 2pm
Mesquite pancake breakfast: 9am to noon
Where: Dunbar/Spring Community Garden, Northwest corner of University Blvd and 11th Avenue
What: Enjoy an organic mesquite pancake breakfast with live music until noon; recipe books, baked goods, and native medicinals for sale and raffle; native/local food demonstrations and other goodies.

Santa Cruz River Farmers’ Market Milling
Date: Thursday, November 20th
Time: 3-6pm
Where: North East corner of Speedway and Riverview between El Rio Neighborhood Center and the AZ School for the Deaf and Blind.
What: Enjoy samples and food demos using mesquite and other desert foods while you shop for locally grown fruits, vegetables, herbs and plants.

Visit www.desertharvesters.org for other local milling event listings.

If you want to mill your mesquite beans:  Bring clean, dry pods that snap and are free of stones and leaves; and go home with flour for baking.  For information on how to collect, store and prepare beans visit the Desert Harvesters website at www.desertharvesters.org or contact Dana Helfer at (520) 622-0525 ext 249.

2. Go west (left) under the freeway continue straight on to Tangerine Farms Road (a newly constructed road)

3. Follow Tangerine Farms Road until you get to the intersection Gladden Farms Drive to your right and Heritage Park Drive to your left.

4. Turn south (left) – on the right you will see a large ramada, a small “Heritage House”, tan water tank and southwest style barn.

5. This is the Farm – pull into the parking lot between the barn and the house.

Note: We strongly suggest looking at the map on line – it is not difficult to find but due to construction it can be a little confusing the first time. Gladden Farms Drive/Heritage Park Drive/Lon Adams Rd is a big loop that is intersected by Tangerine Farms Road. Which means there are two entrances to Heritage Park Drive. At the first eastern entrance, there is a sign for the Park, baseball fields and a pocket park. If you took this road, continue past the blue silos and the Farm will be on your left.

Directions from Marana Town Hall Complex (Barnett Road):

1. Take Barnett Rd west to Sandario Road turn south (left)

2. Take Sandario to Moore Road and turn west (right)

3. Go about a block until you see Tangerine Farms Road on your left – turn south (left) onto Tangerine Farms Road.

4. Take your first right (this is the intersection with Gladden Farms Drive to your left and Heritage Park Drive to your right).

5. Turn south (right) – on the right you will see a large ramada, a small “Heritage House”, tan water tank and southwest style barn.

6. This is the Farm – pull into the parking lot between the barn and the house.

Note: We strongly suggest looking at the map on line – it is not difficult to find but due to construction it can be a little confusing the first time. Gladden Farms Drive/Heritage Park Drive/Lon Adams Rd is a big loop that is intersected by Tangerine Farms Road. Which means there are two entrances to Heritage Park Drive. At the first eastern entrance, there is a sign for the Park, baseball fields and a pocket park. If you took this road, continue past the blue silos and the Farm will be on your left.

Link to Map

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

1 C. Sunflower Butter
1/4 C. Honey
3/4 C. Sugar
1 Egg
1 C. Acorn Flour
2 tsp. Baking Powder

Cream together first four ingredients. Add Acorn flour mixed with baking powder. Mixture may become heavy and sticky so you will have to use your hands. Best way to bake it is to make small pingpong sized balls and flatten them on top a little. They can also be rolled out and cut into shapes.
Bake at 375 degrees F. 8 minutes if rolled into balls, 7 if cut out into shapes. Watch carefully as they will get very hard if overbaked.

Frost if desired with Maple Glaze:
1/4 C. Maple Syrup
1C. Powdered Sugar
1/4 tsp. Vanilla (optional)
Mix ingredients well, thin with water one tsp. at a time until desired consistancy. Paint onto cooled cookies with pastry brush.
Enjoy!

This recipe is completely Gluten-Free. Other nut butters can be used. At 5000 feet altitude I use about 1/4 tsp. less Baking Powder. The sugar can be reduced by about 1/4 Cup and possibly replaced by more honey. If someone can make it work with NO sugar please send me some feedback. As a life long baker I never follow a recipe exactly anyway and usually fiddle with it until it suits my tastes.

2 1/2 cups cashews
1/2 cup agave syrup
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 1/2 cups fresh saguaro fruit

Blend cashews with sweeteners until smooth (vita-mix blenders do the
best job…others leave the cashews gritty), add saguaro fruit and blend
briefly until incorporated, but not long enough to break up too many of
the seeds.
If the mixture has gotten warm from blending, refrigerate until cool.
Put mixture into an ice cream maker and follow instructions. Add chunks
of saguaro fruit once mixture has begun to thicken but before completely
frozen.

3/4 C butter, softened
1/4 C maple syrup (optional-use for a sweeter cookie)
1/8 C ground flax seed
1/8 C oat bran (or use ground up oats or flour if you don’t have this handy)
1/4 C chopped pecans or walnuts
pinch salt
1/2 C mesquite meal-any variety
3/4 C flour-white, wheat, spelt, etc.
*I use a wheat-free baking mix. It makes the cookies very light.

Roll out 1/4″ thick and cut with a cookie or biscuit cutter.
Bake at 300 degrees for about 10-12 minutes.

Mesquite flour will give a delicate and distinctive flavor to your cakes.

2 1/4 c. flour
3/4 c. mesquite flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tbsp. salt
3/4 c. oil or non-dairy margarine
1 1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/3 c. milk

1. Sift the flours, salt, and baking powder in a bowl
2. Beat the sugar, vanilla, and oil or margarine in a separate bowl
3. Mix slowly the content of the 2 bowls, and the milk. Beat until smooth.
4. Pour the batter into 2 greased 9-inch round cake pans.
5. Bake for 30 minutes in a pre-heated, 350 degrees F oven.

In the hotter months I love to eat the young pads raw in a very simple and refreshing dish Bill and Athena Steen showed me. Harvest small, young pads from this season. Slice off the small thorns (glochids), wash the pads, and then cut into strips. Salt them up, sprinkle with lime juice, and if you like (I do) splash with chile sauce. Eat ‘em up quick, as they will get a bit slimier with time.

To cook the dethorned, washed and cubed pads sauté them, watch for slime to appear, continue cooking, and when slime disappears the cooked cactus is ready to be seasoned or added to any dish you can imagine. If you don’t want to sauté them boil ‘em. Watch for foam to appear, and when the foam dies down the cactus cubes are done and ready for seasoning and mixing.

You can also prepare this like a sun tea, just put all ingredients in a glass jar with lid and set out in the hot sun for a day.