The Seri Indians—or comcáac (people) as they call themselves in their language—are an indigenous people living in the villages of El Desemboque del Sur and Punta Chueca, on the coast of the Gulf of California, surrounded by the rocks and ancient cacti of the Sonoran desert in Mexico.
For centuries the Seri have lived in a habitat that receives less than 100 mm average annual rainfall: they have developed food traditions that do not depend on cultivating crops but are based on the more than 180 species of fish and seafood, game and hundreds of herbs and wild plants growing in the desert. Among these, the place of honor goes to mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), a wild legume species which is widespread throughout the region in various varieties but only the Seri continue to eat the fire-roasted seed pods of this mesquite species on a regular basis. The mesquite bush can live as long as 100 years and over time grows into a leafy tree. It has thin thorns and dark green leaves. Its sweet fruit—which resembles long flat beans—is gathered when dried to a yellow-tan.
The woman of the villages, in charge of the harvest, venture into the desert and move from bush to bush, removing pods one by one or shaking the branches with sticks and rakes to knock the mesquite onto sheets laid on the ground. The best locations, which yield the sweetest fruit, are the beds of old rivers. The soil is dry but water remains deep down. Until a few years ago, each family would take their pods home, dry them, toast them on burning coals and grind them with a stick to reduce them to a fine flour. Two small technological innovations have now been introduced to the Seri villages: a roasting machine (a cylinder with holes which is rotated over a gas fire by a handle) and a mill to grind the pods. These two simple pieces of equipment allows the villagers to avoid using burning coals, a very tiring process since when the pods are gathered in July the temperature rarely falls below 40°C. Mesquite flour is yellow, tending to bright green, with a fine consistency and sweet, smoky flavor: after being sieved it is weighed and packed into paper bags. The flour is the basis for most traditional recipes eaten by the Seri, as well as being an important source of protein: it is used every day to make tortillas, tamales, atoles and pastries filled with cactus fruit sauce; sometimes it is mixed with a little water or milk. In recent years mesquite flour is also proving to be an essential factor in safeguarding the health of this people who are particularly susceptible to conditions such as diabetes and obesity. The benefits are due to galactomannin gums and other complex carbohydrates contained in the pods, which once consumed, are digested and absorbed slowly into the blood, reducing the level of sugar and promoting the proper functioning of insulin.


The Presidium
The Presidium for Seri fire roasted mesquite, formally established in the summer 2007, aims to defend the use of mesquite flour by the Seri and to promote the use of this traditional product on the local market. The Presidium activities involve a group of women from El Desemboque del Sur (to be later extended to include the village of Punta Chueca), who take the gathered pods to the mill, and will receive a fair price which directly depends on the quality of the product: the pods must be selected and well dried. Two young people from the village—Erika Molina and Angel Romero—deal with the final stages of toasting, grinding and packaging. Community-based production protocols will guide gathering and processing work, and a cooperative structure is being developed. A brand name will make it easier to commercialize the product and a cookbook will be published containing mesquite-based recipes to accompany special packaging made of cactus baskets and boxes. The flour will be offered to restaurants and shops in the main cities of Mexico, and also in the United States.


Production area
Indigenous Seri community of El Desemboque del Sur, mainland coast of the Gulf of California, State of Sonora