Desert Foods: Nutritious, Delicious and Necessary for Survival

 

The raspy sound of grinding mesquite beans fills the humid summertime air. Monsoon rains have returned to the Tucson basin to quench the desert's thirst, sprout wildflowers, and help to produce a healthy crop of kui (O'odham for mesquite beans). As I sit in front of the grinding stone, the edible seed-pods became a fine golden powder, filling the air with a sweet, wholesome earthiness not unlike the smell of the desert after a monsoon.