Native Americans have used Mesquite for millennia as a food source. Now, others are recognizing its value.
Mesquite flour, mesquite jellies, mesquite muffins, mesquite pancakes. Anything you can make with wheat flour, you can make with mesquite flour.
Native Americans used the dried, ground mesquite beans as flour (known as pinole), as a tea and syrup.
Now, people around the world are recognizing the value of mesquite as a food source, and a spice or as an additive.
It is high in dietary fiber, and, according to commercial producers, is helps lower glycemic loads of high carb foods.
People who bake with mesquite flour mix it with wheat flour at a 30%-70% ratio (30% mesquite flour). As a spice, cooks simply sprinkle it over foods.
In addition to high dietary fiber, it also has high protein content and reportedly high lysine (an essential amino acid) content. It has potassium and zinc as well.
Proponents say that use of mesquite flour (a teaspoon in a glass of water) can stave off hunger for four to six hours.
Folk remedies call for use of mesquite in both the U.S. and Mexico. Reported to be an emetic and a laxative, it reportedly has an effect on dyspepsia, hernias, skin ailments, sores, sore throats, and umbilical ailments.
In Mexico, an extract from the seedpods and the fermented leaves are used as an antibacterial against Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli.
