I got myself the coolest cookbook ever! It is called "Eat Mesquite and More" and is all about cooking with forgeable foods from the Sonoran Desert. Each section is a built in adventure- we go find some plants, forage for them, then make them into something yummy. So cool!
The first adventure was Mesquite pods in early July. I think we hit it a little late- a bunch of them had holes from bugs in them. We set out later than planned, and my helpers (mainly Catherine) started melting in the heat, so we didn't gather that much. I roasted it on low temp in the oven to dry it out completely, then put it in the food processor to make it into flour. We ended up with enough to make some pancakes that had a unique nutty flavor. Next year, I want to go big and take a ton of pods up to a milling event that happens in town every year.
Next up- prickly pears! I have made prickly pear jelly for years, but we majorly upped our game this year. We picked maybe 15 lbs of the fruit!
Washing one batch
Two juicing methods. The one on the left went through Stephen's juicer while the one on the right was frozen and thawed and smashed through coffee filters. You can see how much more of the color gets sucked out with the juicer!
Jelly on the counter, the juicer steaming away on the stove, and prickly pears to be processed on the tray. A thing of beauty.
The kids were begging to drink some of the juice. It's really not good on its own. We later made some into prickly pear lemonade, which is really normal lemonade with a little bit of prickly pear juice added.
I made prickly pear cheesecake, upside down cake, lassi, soda, and sonoran sweet and sour sauce for a stir fry. I also bottled some juice for use in recipes in future seasons. It's been a hoot and a half.
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