2007 Cascabel Mesquite Milling

The 2007 Cascabel Mesquite Milling will take place on November 10 at the Cascabel Community Center. (See directions below.)

Collect mesquite pods this summer and bring them to Cascabel for milling into flour.

Milling is free for non-commercial home use, though donations are gratefully accepted.

9:00 AM: Mesquite pancake/waffle breakfast, followed by milling, music, and local foods potluck, which usually starts at 2:00 PM.

More details will follow in late October.

Gathering suggestions:

We are a bit late in getting this announcement out, but we hope many of you have already collected your mesquite pods for this year. If not, there may yet be opportunity, since mesquite pods can ripen anytime from late June through September or October, depending on conditions. Ripe pods are dry and brittle. They come off the tree with little pulling.

After gathering, rinse the pods, then dry them in the sun for 2-3 days. Store in a dry place until milling day. We don't worry much about bugs hatching out during storage, but the week before milling we do rinse and dry the pods again, which seems to mostly get rid of bugs that have hatched.

Directions:

Take I-10 Exit 306 just east of Benson and go north on Pomerene Road. Turn right at stop sign in Pomerene and proceed north on Cascabel Road to mile marker 23. About halfway between mile markers 23 and 24, look on right side for the green and white county address sign #5871 and a "Mesquite Milling" sign. Proceed up the lane to the community center.