Velvet mesquite (Prosopis velutina) is the most common native tree in the desert around Tucson. It also happens to be a spectacularly useful plant. We plan to devote a future post to a lengthy discussion of the uses of mesquite, but for now a short list of the uses for mesquite include food (the pods are delicious and very nutritious), firewood (smoke from mesquite wood imparts a delicious flavor to food), furniture and other wood products, medicine, and textiles. In addition, it is a fast-growing tree, is very drought-tolerant, provides habitat for many native birds and other species, and is also just a beautiful tree. See the Desert Harvesters website for some great information about mesquites.
We have several mesquites in our yard, but only one appears to be pure (or mostly pure) Prosopis velutina. The others are some hybrid combination of P. velutina and the Chilean mesquite, P. chilensis. P. chilensis is commonly used in landscaping in southern Arizona because it is faster-growing than the native species, but it does not provide the same benefits to wildlife and its pods do not taste very good when grown here (though they are apparently delicious in their native habitat). Another commonly planted non-native Prosopis species in Tucson is the Argentinean mesquite, P. alba. Unfortunately, our other two native species are rarely planted. They are the honey mesquite, P. glandulosa, and the screwbean mesquite, P. pubescens. In our yard we have one more-or-less pure P. velutina, several P. velutina – P. chilensis hybrids (which we did not plant and would not have planted), and one P. pubescens.
Every June we harvest the copious pods produced by just one of our trees, a velutina-chilensis hybrid growing in our back yard. Our other hybrid trees produce pods which are not very tasty, but this particular tree produces delicious pods. It may be less chilensis than the others genetically, or it may have just gotten the right mix of alleles from its parents to result in tastier pods. In any case, that one tree yields more than a gallon of finely-ground mesquite flour every year (we could probably get double that yield if we really tried hard to harvest all the pods).
Yesterday as an experiment I made mesquite flour tortillas. At the risk of not sounding humble, I have to say that these were Killer Good. I adapted an online recipe for wheat flour tortillas by replacing one quarter of the wheat flour with mesquite flour, and replacing the vegetable shortening with olive oil. I also added several crushed chiltepines (native wild chiles) to the dough. Here is what I did:
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used a mix of Durum/Pima wheat from the Tohono O’odham San Xavier Coop in Tucson)
- 1/2 cup mesquite flour (from our tree)
- 8 dried chiltepines, crushed by hand (from Native Seeds/SEARCH; any chile flakes would work)
- 1 teaspoon salt (from Sonora, Mexico)
- 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil (from Queen Creek Olive Mill in Phoenix)
- 3/4 cup water
I first mixed the dry ingredients (wheat flour, mesquite flour, salt and chiltepines) in a bowl, then added the olive oil and mixed well with a fork. I gradually mixed in the water, and then kneaded the dough for about three minutes. I let the dough sit for half an hour, covered, in the bowl. I next divided the dough into eight separate balls, and again let these sit for half an hour, covered, in the bowl. I heated a metal comal over our gas grill (on medium heat), and rolled a dough ball out onto a floured cutting board until the dough was about an eighth of an inch thick. Finally, I placed the rolled out tortilla onto the hot comal, let it cook for about 10 seconds, flipped it and cooked it for 15 more seconds, and finally flipped it again and cooked it on the original side for 15 more seconds. I repeated this for the other seven balls. Be very careful when doing this, as mesquite flour burns very easily!
The tortillas were absolutely delicious. We used them to make tacos, and filled them with the following:
- Chicken: from a whole chicken placed in a baking dish with water, garlic, and a little bit of olive oil, coated with guajillo chile powder and a little bit of salt, and baked in the oven at 350° for two hours
- Green bell peppers and onion, sauteéd in olive oil
- Roasted Anaheim chile and Guero chile
- Fresh tomato
- Arugula
The tacos were fantastic, and like most things I cook they were full of chiles! I am something of a freak when it comes to chiles. I have to put them in everything, and can’t seem to get enough of them. This particular meal featured five different varieties of chiles: chiltepines, guajillos, bell peppers, Anaheims, and Gueros. I have been so happy that we chose to do this local eating experiment at the height of chile season in Tucson (I promise it was not intentional). I would be very grumpy right now if I couldn’t get fresh chiles!
We also had butternut squash and apples: cubed, covered in honey, and baked at 350° for about an hour. They were great too!
13 comments
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October 11, 2007 at 3:14 am
Carob mesquite flour tortillas « Tucsonivores
[…] October 11th, 2007 in Meals, Mesquite, Recipes, Tortillas by ponerine Hot on the heels of our mesquite flour tortillas experiment last week comes another creation: carob mesquite flour tortillas. I used basically the […]
October 20, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Wendy Webster
I, too, live in Tucson. I would like to get some native Mesquite beans as I only have the Chilean variety in my yard. Do you have any clues about it’s availability … other than tramping out in the desert?
September 7, 2011 at 3:36 am
Stef
Loved this recipe! Thanks for sharing it! Here’s the post where I made them. http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2011/09/mesquite-flour-tortillas.html.
March 23, 2012 at 3:46 pm
R. Kozak
Thank you! I live in south TX where honey mesquite is plentiful. I have 6 trees of my own – 2 being huge mature much needed shade providers we love dearly, & others being less mature, but wonderful bean producers, regardless. I’d like to learn how harvest & mill these beans. I know milling is difficult, so would think it would be best to find a miller (?). I’ve had commercial products from honey mesquite, & the sweet honey flavor is unreal – would seem to be such a shame to have these delectable things just get eaten by mower every year! Any suggestions?
May 31, 2012 at 1:45 pm
Random
Nicee
: )
July 17, 2012 at 6:20 pm
Shirlee Dunlop
I have two honey mesquite trees in my front yard – and had a cluster planting of 3 [they died] these were all in my yard when I moved here…. My kids [all adults] keep wanting me to get them removed because of the mess they make – however, I love them when they bloom. I never thought I’d be able to have a PRACTICAL use for them :0) Thank you. Now to get my kids to harvest them………….. Shirlee
April 9, 2013 at 7:08 pm
Mesquite Flour Tortillas | Cupcake Project
[…] got the recipe for the mesquite flour tortillas from Tucsonivores. The only major change that I made was to leave out the chiles. Here is the recipe in my own […]
April 22, 2013 at 12:23 am
brickiepedia
I just purchased my first lot of mesquite power cannot wait to try this!
January 23, 2014 at 1:05 pm
Mr james
Tacos are fantastic and very excited to cook it at home.
April 29, 2020 at 4:50 pm
Zubi’s Organic Authentic Mexican-Inspired Sauces: Makes Dinner at Home a Fiesta! | Green Gal of the Midwest
[…] Tusconivores also offered a basic tortilla recipe that I adapted for my Zubi’s tacos. Worked so well that I am now working on different variations of the tortillas. I’m not there yet, but I hope to use commercial gluten-free flour mix to create a gluten-free tortilla, since another bonus of mesquite flour is the absence of gluten! And the Zubi’s Queso is so good on these light, soft tortillas! For now, let’s heat up that cast iron… Mesquite Flour Tortillas […]
July 30, 2020 at 3:25 pm
Mesquite Flour Tortillas | Cupcake Project
[…] got the recipe for the mesquite flour tortillas from Tucsonivores. The only major change that I made was to leave out the chiles. Here is the recipe in […]
May 17, 2021 at 10:15 pm
Suzanne
Can you use a tortilla press with this dough?
July 26, 2023 at 6:19 pm
Dennis
where can I buy the mesquite flour?