Arizona Chickens

[Demosthine]

Quote:
Contact the Desert Harvester website for their seasonal milling services. I also sent a personal message to the couple that I bought my mesquite flour from in Tempe. They had just had a fresh batch milled for them, so I guarantee they'll know for sure. It's out of season, so you should be able to find it cheaper right now. I'm looking at starting up this summer, too, so I'm trying to find a machine that will work. At roughly $3 per pound, Desert Harvester is a great deal, though. I bought mine for $16 a pound to make sure we like cooking with it. I've only tried pancakes so far, and it was a failure. They burned quickly, rather than setting up nicely and cooking. I want to try again this coming weekend.
Canning and freezing another 20 pounds or so of asparagus comes first. At the current price at Sprouts, it's a heck of a deal!

 

[desertmarcy]

Quote: Did you use 100% mesquite flour? If so, you need to mix it up. Here is the recipe I use. It is from Pearl, who runs the mesquite milling workshop in Cascabel along with her husband Daniel. We took pods out there to mill and have enough to last a long time. I keep it in the freezer.
Make a base of dry ingredients. You can double or triple. Mix well and store in airtight container:

1 cup mesquite flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached flour
1 tablespoon baking powder (I use Redmond's since it is aluminum-free)
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt.

When ready to make pancakes:
Mix together:
1 egg
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup buttermilk, sour milk or fresh milk made sour with a tablespoon of vinegar added

Add 1 cup of the dry mix to the liquids and whisk together until just moistened. Don't overmix or the pancakes will be tougher.
Add more milk to thin as needed. Cook on hot griddle and enjoy with your favorite syrup or toppings.

 

[Demosthine]

Quote:
That is a completely different recipe than I had found, but it sounds great. I'll have to try it next. The one I found was from the Cooking Campus. It was at http://www.health.arizona.edu/health_topics/nutrition/recipes/Mesquite Pancakes.pdf and I'm sorry for the horrible link, but I'm on Internet Explorer, which does funking things to this website. Their recipe sounded great, though it didn't cook that way. I loved the idea of the spices, so I may try a batch with and without the extras. I just can't wait until I can get it cheaper. Our neighbor has a huge Chilean Mesquite I'll try on the off-chance that he has the wrong species of tree, but it is supposed to be a more chalky texture. I still have to look up and find the best trees.

 

[desertmarcy]

Quote: I have mostly Chilean or Chilean hybrid mesquites and a couple of the native. I mixed all the pods together. It made a nice flour. I would not call it chalky. Too much mesquite in the recipe will make flat pancakes.

 

[flower]

I did get a call this morning from someone wanting a turkey after listening on NPR. I asked her if they listed my phone # and she said no, she goggled me and found the Arizona Daily Star article about my chickens which did list my phone #. Why does no one use the phone book anymore? I have never been unlisted. I'm easy to find

Because we were tuned into the www !

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
There is a huge variation in flavor between individual trees. I have several velvet mesquites in my yard. A couple are nasty tasting. Most are ok but not great. One is pretty good. But I've found really great-tasting mesquite pods elsewhere. So do a taste-test on your pods before collecting a whole batch of them if you are concerned about the flavor. Just take a pod and nibble on it - you'll get a sense of how sweet it is. And don't collect pods from the nasty-tasting trees.

 

[Arizonachicken]

Thanks for the feedback on the Chiltepins!

Interesting about the mesquite. Does anyone here have the grain mill for the Kitchen aid stand mixer?

 

[desertmarcy]

There is a huge variation in flavor between individual trees. I have several velvet mesquites in my yard. A couple are nasty tasting. Most are ok but not great. One is pretty good. But I've found really great-tasting mesquite pods elsewhere. So do a taste-test on your pods before collecting a whole batch of them if you are concerned about the flavor. Just take a pod and nibble on it - you'll get a sense of how sweet it is. And don't collect pods from the nasty-tasting trees.

Interesting! I have tasted a few, but not all. Maybe I am lucky and have all sweet pod trees in my yard since the flour has been good. The bugs certainly favor the native velvet mesquite pods. I wonder if the flavor is influenced by how much water the tree gets or the soil in which it is grown?

 

[Demosthine]

Thanks for the feedback on the Chiltepins!

Interesting about the mesquite. Does anyone here have the grain mill for the Kitchen aid stand mixer?

My understanding is that the mesquite pods are far too hard for most consumer mills. I haven't found one that will work, yet.

 

[AZKat]

LKD: They sell already ground flour and as well as unmilled grain. I've only bought the flour, since I don't have a grain mill.