Hi all,
I apologize for sending you all a message - got confused on where to start a discussion here, kind of strange having the ADD button down so far past really old topics.
At any rate, I had to bathe the horse today and pulled off a few pods from the foothills palo verde there at the rack to give to him. I'd only ever tried to shuck some beans out once the pod went dry and I found bugs in the beans. But these pods were still somewhat soft and green so I pulled out a couple of beans and tasted. Excellent, almost like a cross between edamame and fresh peas.
I'm planning to harvest some for a stir fry this weekend. Not thrilled with the shucking work but I think it will be fun to have a dish using them.
Replies
Never got the stir fry made but did make a lovely little salsa to go with Mexican foods.
1/2 c blanched shucked palo verde beans
2 small diced avocados
4 T minced cilantro
1 large clove garlic minced
1/2 c fresh sweet corn kernals
1/2 large tomato diced
juice of 1/2 lime
1 1/2 T red wine vinegar
2 T extra virgin olive oil
salt, pepper and ground cumin to taste
Gently tossed and served alongside plain brown rice, cooked pintos and enchiladas. Verdict from family: YUM!
They are awesome I learned about them around 20 years ago and have used them making chili. this is the time of year
to be picking one they are dry they are impossible to rehydrate. If you blanche them for a minute it makes schucking easier
Yup, Treasa, you're right, the blanching really makes them much easier to shuck. To my amazement though, the blanching water has now turned from light yellowish to a deep redwood color after standing in the pot for awhile. It's still slightly warm, was saving it to water a plant outdoors, kept the lid on to keep down the heat in the kitchen and was surprised to see that color change while I was cleaning the kitchen after dinner. Wonder why....
Thanks for that tip, Treasa. I'm going to get a bunch and see what I can come up with. Had not thought about chili but that would be a good.
Kathleen, Thanks for the info on the edible tree pods. After eating my 'leucaena leucocephala pods last night I want to find more tree pods that are edible. I am exited about the tree pods, since my gardens are not producing much at the moment, I was getting a little frustrated with my urban farming. I read last night that you can also make beads out of the tree seeds.
We've done this before withg the green beans & stir frying and and I agree - they are very tasty! They ARE alot of work to shuck, so we've really just done it for company meals. We've also found that some trees' beans are sweeter than others. Farraday
Cool, Farraday. Good to know others have tried them green like this. There is so much focus on collecting and grinding dry pods of mesquite and others, but not so much on the green foods these pods offer. I just wanted others to realize the time is NOW to taste the fresh green beans of our native trees.