Regenerative agriculture creates economically productive agricultural systems that rebuild the natural fertility of soils, restore hydrological processes, increase biodiversity, catch carbon from the atmosphere, and improve the life quality of producers and consumers.
One of the main components of this mission is mesquite, a tree native to the desert and semi-desert areas of the American continent. No other plant has played such a crucial role in the ecology and human settlements of the regions where it grows. This resilient and adaptable tree has a rich ethnobotanical history and great potential to become a strategic crop in the world’s arid regions. Moreover, it supports the efforts to mitigate climate change by sequestering atmospheric carbon and bringing food security in the face of the desertification, hydric stress, and climate instability that we live in nowadays.
In an attempt to rescue this ancient food of the indigenous culture of Aridoamerica and promote its use in regenerative agriculture, I started a pilot project in 2016 to manufacture products from mesquite pods, which today is ARBORIGEN, a collective brand with the mission of providing highly nutritional foods based on long-lasting plants of the Mexican deserts.
A fundamental element of regenerative agriculture
In an attempt to rescue this ancient food of the indigenous culture of Aridoamerica and promote its use in regenerative agriculture, I started a pilot project in 2016 to manufacture products from mesquite pods, which today is ARBORIGEN, a collective brand with the mission of providing highly nutritional foods based on long-lasting plants of the Mexican deserts.
Our flagship product is mesquite flour, which we obtain from the pods collected from wild trees by women of the rural communities of the semi-desert plateau of the state of Guanajuato. The pods are hand-picked and carefully inspected, then sundried at a low temperature to preserve their nutritional value. You can add raw mesquite flour as a supplement for juices or smoothies or bake it to enhance its flavor in bakery and pastry.
Other launches are MEZCAFÉ, a coffee-like beverage made from toasted and ground pods rich in essential minerals, naturally sweet, and caffeine-free, and mesquite syrup, a healthy natural sweetener similar to agave or maple syrup that can be used in beverages, cocktails, and desserts.
We will soon open “La Mezquitería” in San Miguel de Allende, a one-of-a-kind bakery & coffee bar concept where all the products will be elaborated with mesquite and other desert plants, such as maguey, nopal cactus, or bilberry cactus.
We invite you to visit our Website to be part of the resurgence of mesquite in Mexico and the large-scale regeneration of the arid areas through revolutionary agriculture.
www.arobrigen.mx
gerardo@agroasis.mx
