Making Mesquite Flour in Arizona

Grow local, eat local. Make mesquite flour using native trees.

I would love to be able to make my own flour. It would be nice to use it in my homemade bread and I am dying to try making gnocchi using mesquite flour.

Mesquite Trees

If you live in Arizona, chances are you have a mesquite tree. If you don't then plant one! Honey Mesquite trees can be found in Texas and California as well so this post also applies to those of you in those areas. Honey Mesquite has a larger range than the Velvet or Screwbean so if you are in the southwest then find out if Honey Mesquite grows in your area. If you are in the Tucson area like me then Velvet Mesquite is the recommended tree (it handles our weather quite well).

Mesquite Flour

Mesquite flour is delicious. It has a sweet, nutty flavor. It is naturally free of gluten and is higher in protein than grain flour. It also has the ability to stabilize blood sugar, making it great for diabetics. When using mesquite flour you should substitute about 1/3 of the flour the recipe calls for with the mesquite. It retails for around $13-$32/lb if you purchase it in a store or online. You can purchase it at Desert Harvesters, Native Seeds, or even Amazon.

Making your own Mesquite Flour

Making your own mesquite flour is much cheaper than purchasing it if you live in an area with mesquite trees. Plus, it is another way you can utilize your homestead (and it is a native plant!)

-First, collect the mesquite pods

The Tucson season usually begins in late June and can continue into September or later. Watch your trees to see when they are ready. The mesquite trees here may flower twice (after both rainy seasons) and both can result in pods. This really confused me when I first started watching the trees! I though I had missed the season only for it to get pods again a few months later. Wait until the pods are dry (not green), but not so long that they fall off the tree. Do not take pods off the ground or in areas that are sprayed with pesticide. Each tree will have a slightly different taste so try a few before committing yourself to a tree.

One way to speed things along is to spread a sheet below the tree and give it a shake. The ripe beans will fall and you can dump the group of them into your bucket.

-Second, clean the mesquite pods

They are simple to clean (just swish them in some water), but it is important to make sure they are completely dry. Our sun can dry them, but don't let them get rained on or you will have to start over. You can also dry them in your oven (or solar oven) for about 2 hours at 160 degrees. When they are dry they will easily snap in half.

-Third, store them until “milling day”

An important note about storing, Bruchid beetles might hatch out of the beans (baking them for 2 hours at 160 degrees should stop that). That is okay, but make sure they have a place to go. If you have your pods stored in an enclosed area (or your home) then that is where they will hatch. I once had a small amount of beans in a sealed flour container and one morning there were hundreds of Bruchid beetles in it (although the chickens thought is was great).

Mesquite beans are HARD. A normal mill cannot handle mesquite beans. I have heard that a coffee grinder works, but I tried it and the one I could not handle it. I have read a few places that a Vitamix blender will grind them (be warned, that blender costs $300-$400).

If you live in Phoenix or Tucson you can get your beans milled by a Hammermill. Desert Harvesters has milling days where they charge $3/5 gallons with a 15 gallon maximum. Five gallons of beans will yield 1-2 pounds of flour. You can also get your Carob beans milled the same day as long as you have at least 10 gallons of mesquite beans so they can flush out the mill with them. Head over to Desert Harvesters to see the schedule.

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