Desert Harvetsers 2012 Fiesta Half-Sized Flyer

What I like most about it so far:
~It’s fast!
~no brine to “dispose” of
~they’re Yummmmmy!

I imagine it could be done in a car with the windows cracked open, or in a cold-frame type of set up… easy!

One week solar-cured olives (a work in progress, please share innovations with the locavore community!)

• Pick very ripe olives, wash and slit on one side (do they need to be slit? maybe not!)
  
• Cover with clean water and change several times a day for 3-4 days, keep in cool place with cloth over top (you can water trees or gardens with this water, ’cause there’s no salt in it)
• Drain olives and place one-deep in pan or on screen, put in warm dry spot protected from flies etc. Shake and rotate a couple times per day and keep temps below 140 degrees
• When they are not completely dry but distinctly chewy, place in jars and sprinkle with salt, about 2 tablespoons per liter or so. The salt will begin to draw more moisture out. After a couple of days, place olives back on pan and solarize for a day or so, they will be quite chewy and have a little salt crust in them. Put back in jar and drizzle a little olive oil on them, add herbs, more salt if you like, or store just as they are. I’ve been refrigerating them to keep the oils fresh.
• I haven’t tried to brine them, but if you wanted to for storage you could do a 1/2 brine, 1/2 vinegar the way traditional greek olives are put up…
• Experiment, share, enjoy!

Recipe makes 16-ounces, over ice

1 ounce mesquite syrup* (For recipes, see page 50 or 52 in the Eat Mesquite! cookbook)
1 ounce agave syrup
2 ounces tequila
3 ounces beer or kombucha (home-brewed if possible)
3 ounces fresh citrus juice (lemon, lime, grapefruit, experiment!)

Garnish with: salt, a hot chile, citrus wedges, mesquite pod swizzle sticks, as desired.Pour over ice into large, chilled, rim-salted glasses.

*For a more “mesquitey” flavor, increase the mesquite syrup and decrease agave syrup. Experiment and enjoy!

Thanks to Julie Leibach of Audubon Magazine for blogging about our cookbook and eating mesquite! Check out out her posts here:

magblog.audubon.org/new-cookbook-reveals-magic-mesquite-plus-recipe-mesquite-tamales
magblog.audubon.org/recipe-mesquite-margarita

Tucson, AZ—Every year enthusiastic eaters swarm the annual Mesquite Milling Fiesta and Pancake Breakfast, to be served up the event’s famous mesquite pancake. The popular pancakes, sold for $1 each and topped with prickly-pear syrup, are made with mesquite flour from native Velvet mesquite pods hand picked around Tucson and organic wheat from Crooked Sky Farm in Glendale, AZ, ground just a week before the event. Three public hammer mills are also on site for members of the public to grind their own pods into flour.

The event is organized by Desert Harvesters, a nonprofit volunteer-run, grassroots group that promotes the harvest of native, wild, and cultivated desert foods and also advocates for the planting of indigenous, food-bearing shade trees (such as the Velvet mesquite) within rainwater harvesting “gardens” (in home landscapes and public rights-of-way). Funds raised at the event support the group’s educational efforts in the community, including demonstrations, publications, and tasting events.

This year the event features the release of a new cookbook called Eat Mesquite!, published by Desert Harvesters. The cookbook includes the famous pancake recipe along with nearly 50 other mesquite recipes culled from over 150 community contributions. It offers recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and more, as well as information about the culinary and medicinal uses of mesquite and tips for harvesting, milling, and cooking with it. The cookbook was produced with support from a grant by PRO-Neighborhoods and will be sold for $20. Testimonials/reviews and more information about the cookbook are on the Desert Harvesters’ web site: www.desertharvesters.org/mesquite-in-the-kitchen/eat-mesquite-cookbook/.

The event will also feature live music, organic coffee and native teas, and roving entertainers. Informational tables from other local food efforts will also be at the event. In case of rain, the event will move to the Dunbar Auditorium, just north of the garden.

If you go:
Location: Dunbar/Spring Community Garden, NW corner of University Blvd. and 11th Ave.
Date: Saturday, November 6th
Pancake Breakfast: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Mesquite Milling: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Bring your own pods! Pods must be clean, dry and free of stones, leaves, and other debris. Cost to mill is $2 per gallon of whole pods, with a minimum of $5 (a bargain considering that the flour usually sells for $14 to $20 per pound). Be sure pods are clean and free of mold/fungus and debris. Pods can be left (after inspection and prepayment for milling) in sealed food-grade containers (preferably 5-gallon plastic buckets with lids) with owner’s name and phone number. Flour will be ready within a week and must be picked up. No refunds. For information on how to collect, store and prepare beans visit the Desert Harvesters website at www.DesertHarvesters.org.

For Immediate Release: Oct. 6, 2010
Contacts:
Lori Adkison, pancakes@desertharvesters.org
Brad Lancaster, hammermill@desertharvesters.org

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.