MESQUITE BEAN POD HARVESTING

For those curious about the mesquite tree here are two links:

This is the WIKI LINK

This is the TEXAS ALMANAC LINK

Mesquite bean pods on a tree

It was mesquite bean pod harvesting day a couple weekends ago and I realized I hadn't posted about it yet.  There were still quite a few hanging in trees, as you can see above.  They hang in the trees and kind of drop off as they dry out and are ready for harvesting.  Unfortunately, after all our rains, this was all we'd be able to harvest this first season.

Mesquite pods on the ground

Alas, there were just as many, if not more, on the ground under the trees.  We've read that you can get the ones on the ground as long as they haven't been wet and gotten mildew on them.  I stuck to getting them from the trees themselves, it was simpler (and easier on the old back, ha).

Mesquite harvesting

I grabbed our red metal pail and started pulling.  Side note, the red bucket does not glow, LOL, the camera just didn't like the sun shining on it.  Anyway, I grabbed the tree branches (being careful of the thorns!) and started gathering.  I was in a hurry because the sky was getting dark and rain was coming.

Gathering mesquite bean pods

Ended up with a large amount for this first time and will, hopefully, get the last next weekend.  Things we've learned in the gathering process:

Should have harvested a couple of weeks ago.

(Labor Day weekend might be a good rule of thumb)

After they have turned light brown on the tree, they should almost come off in your hand without much pulling.  In fact, shaking the branch will cause many of them to just go ahead and drop off...these are the ones you want.

If you have to pull on them, they aren't quite ready.

(but if you want to pull them, it just means they have to dry them in the sun)

Shake the pod, the seeds should rattle like shaking a salt shaker.

Now, they are currently drying out in the garage in town.

Once they are crispy dry, we'll proceed on to the next step, roasting, steeping, grinding or whatever we have to do for the project we want to try.  We didn't get as many as we hoped since the rains thwarted us, but hopefully we have enough to try at least one or two of the mesquite food items.

Stay tuned!