Title: Mesquite - description, history, use and benefits
Headings: MESQUITE

Content: Mesquite - description, history, use and benefits
MESQUITE
Check out my great Mesquite
Bean Jelly recipe at the bottom
of the page! It's delicious and
tastes like honey. Mesquite is the most common shrub/small tree of the Desert
Southwest. Like many members of the Legume Family
(called Fabaceae these days), mesquite restores nitrogen to
the soil. There are 3 common species of mesquite: Honey
Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), Screwbean Mesquite
(Prosopis pubescens ) and Velvet Mesquite (Prosopis
velutina). All 3 are deciduous and have characteristic bean pods which have long
been used by humans, wildlife and livestock as a food source. It is
estimated that over 75% of a Coyote's diet in late summer is mesquite
beans. Native Americans relied on the mesquite pod as a dietary staple from
which they made tea, syrup and a ground meal called pinole. They also
used the bark for basketry, fabrics and medicine.