Continuing with the wild foods aspect of cutting costs while staying healthy...

Let's get into some of the more common regional plants found in the deserts of the Southern United States, Mexico and Central and South Americas… places you might not think very plentiful in wild forage. In some ways this is true, but the useful plants here generally have amazing versatility.

First is Mesquite… one of my favorites.
There are several types of mesquites. It was introduced into Australia as well, where it is considered invasive and steps to control and/or eradicate it are being taken.

This site has some useful information and very good photos for identification purposes.
[link to www.desertusa.com]

Every part of this plant is used in some way. As food, the blossoms and seedpods are most commonly harvested. Nutritionally, it is a good source of fiber, protein, is rich in lysine and contains traces of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc as well. It was an essential food staple for most of the indigenous peoples living in its native habitats.

The almost ripe pods are a favorite with children. They are sweet and quite a treat right off the tree to chew as a snack. These may also be used to make very tasty, almost a caramel nutty flavor, syrup, though it does take 12 to 15 hours to slowly cook down.

The ripened, dried pods may be crushed whole and the seeds winnowed out to make an exceptionally good meal for adding to breads, soups and many other dishes. Both, casings and seeds or seeds alone, are often ground into fine flour that lends wonderful molasses-like flavor to anything made with it. This flour is now widely available commercially due to this unique flavor and its exceptional nutritional and medicinal properties. Driving this popularity is the beneficial effect it has on type II diabetes. Take a look at a New Mexico State University site for more information on this…
[link to medplant.nmsu.edu]

There are so many medicinal uses for mesquite that it is probably better to refer you to some links with more complete information… It has antacid, antiseptic, antibacterial and antibiotic properties. I have used the pods and gum to treat eye inflammations and the bark or gum, as a tea, for urinary tract infections, sore throat, infected wounds and chapped skin with good effect. The inner bark can also be used as a laxative. The gum is similar to gum Arabic and can be used in much the same way.

[link to medplant.nmsu.edu]
[link to www.foodreference.com]
[link to www.texasbeyondhistory.net]
[link to medplant.nmsu.edu]
[link to www.ranchmagazine.com]
[link to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

One of probably many sources of mesquite meal for diabetes sufferers, in case you don’t live where it grows…
[link to www.fresh-network.com]