Mesquite Trees A Wild Natural Food

Mesquite Trees are a very common tree or shrub that grows well in the Desert of the Southwest. Mesquite Trees are members of the legume family. And that means they can actually put nitrogen from the atmosphere into the soil. It also means they are probably going to be a good source of food. And they are!

There are three common species that you can encounter in the deserts of the Southwest. The Honey Mesquite, Screwbean Mesquite, and the Velvet Mesquite, each has the ability to provide you with edible, nutritious food.

Each of them produce the characteristic bean pods which are used by wildlife, livestock and people as food during the summer months.

The Mesquite can be found from western Texas to southern Utah and over to California and southward from there.

You can identify a mesquite tree fairly easily. It will be a small shrub to a small tree in size. They produce long bean pods that mature in the summer. The leaves are bi-pinnately compound. The flowers are yellowish or greenish in color and bloom from spring to summer. The flowers are very small, five-petal flowers.

Mesquite plants have thorns on their young branches. The leaves are shed during the winter months.

As you have probably guessed, it is the bean pods that provide the food we get from a mesquite tree. The mature, now tan colored, beans can be boiled or roasted or pounded into flour. One great advantage that the mesquite provides is that they can be stored for a few years without spoiling.

Mesquite also has medical and other uses as well. Which I hope to link to from here soon.