You might be surprised to learn that those funky little twisty beans on the mesquite trees in your McAllen backyard can be used to make tasty syrup — and the truth is these pods can just about do it all. From flour to jellies, even to syrup, these beans can be ground up, soaked, or baked to make delicious, gluten-free treats of all kinds — some people even chew on them straight from the tree!
Today, Cappadona Ranch will reveal the secret to mesquite bean syrup, as well as how to make some for yourself!
Sure, it makes sense that dried bean pods could be ground into flour, but syrup might sound like a stretch. However, it’s not as strange as you might think to make syrup out of part of a tree. In fact, maple syrup is made by concentrating the sap of a maple tree, and hickory syrup is made by soaking and cooking hickory bark.
While many mesquite bean foods are made by the grinding up of the pods, mesquite bean syrup actually uses the whole pod itself. The pods are soaked and cooked, releasing their natural sugar into the water to make a syrup that’s perfect for health-conscious sweet tooths. Careful though — cook your syrup at too high a temperature and you might end up with mesquite bean beer!
Making mesquite bean syrup is surprisingly simple. Like most syrups, this recipe involves heating your sugar source to extract its sweetness. In this case, the natural sugars that give mesquite bean foods their characteristic taste will be concentrated into sticky goodness.
What You’ll Need
The Time It’ll Take
Making Your Syrup
