Mesquite Bean Jelly
I did a search for mesquite bean jelly and much to my surprise - there isn't one on TBH. So, here's mine:
Pick mesquite beans when they are ripe - they should practically be falling off the tree or very easy to pull. Most of the trees will have beans with brownish or reddish streaks. I actually picked some from a tree that the bean pods were white. For my area, this is about the end of July, beginning of August time frame.
Wash the bean pods off, break them in half and put them in a large pot. Add enough water to cover the beans and boil the sap out, about 30 minutes of boiling. You do not need to pop the beans out, they can stay in the pods.
At this point you can cool the juice, strain it, and then freeze it, or you can move onto the next step. (Mom boiled the beans and 2 feed sacks of pods made 8 containers of 4 cups each, which were frozen. See below for what she did with the extra juice that didn't make 4 cups.)
Put 4 cups of liquid in a pot, boil, then add 1 package of regular Sure Jell. (you are following the Sure Jell instructions) - boil for 1 minute, add 3 cups of sugar, return to a boil and dissolve the sugar.
Now you can pour it into canning jars and seal them. It will take about 2 weeks to jell.
__________________
You can also use the mesquite juice to cook beans in. YUM!!
Remember those white beans that I picked? They have a slight smoky flavor to them. The red - brown beans are more sweet, too.
____
Another survival note - the beans can be removed from the pods and ground into flour.
Pick mesquite beans when they are ripe - they should practically be falling off the tree or very easy to pull. Most of the trees will have beans with brownish or reddish streaks. I actually picked some from a tree that the bean pods were white. For my area, this is about the end of July, beginning of August time frame.
Wash the bean pods off, break them in half and put them in a large pot. Add enough water to cover the beans and boil the sap out, about 30 minutes of boiling. You do not need to pop the beans out, they can stay in the pods.
At this point you can cool the juice, strain it, and then freeze it, or you can move onto the next step. (Mom boiled the beans and 2 feed sacks of pods made 8 containers of 4 cups each, which were frozen. See below for what she did with the extra juice that didn't make 4 cups.)
Put 4 cups of liquid in a pot, boil, then add 1 package of regular Sure Jell. (you are following the Sure Jell instructions) - boil for 1 minute, add 3 cups of sugar, return to a boil and dissolve the sugar.
Now you can pour it into canning jars and seal them. It will take about 2 weeks to jell.
__________________
You can also use the mesquite juice to cook beans in. YUM!!
Remember those white beans that I picked? They have a slight smoky flavor to them. The red - brown beans are more sweet, too.
____
Another survival note - the beans can be removed from the pods and ground into flour.
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