For the past 26 years, two brothers, Aam and Brandt Coetzee have been researching the health and nutritional benefits of the Mesquite tree.

“In 1996, Minister Kader Asmal launched the ‘Working for water campaign’ nationally and I was living in Prieska,” Brandt Coetzee recalls.

“The infestation of mesquite trees, which is alien vegetation plays a major role in depleting water resources. This led me to researching how we can try to reduce their spread in a way that would also benefit the local economy”.

Mesquite powder is considered a superfood as scientists and researchers have discovered its unique restorative benefits for diabetes by regeneration of beta cells in the pancreas, which is vital for diabetics.

The pods produce a powder that can lower the glycemic index of any food that it is added to, meaning that anyone on a low GI diet can still consume carbohydrates. They simply have to add a sprinkling of mesquite powder to the meal.

The brothers started producing pure mesquite powder in supplement form, for blood sugar support, helping diabetics to lower their blood sugar levels.

In 2020, Brandt Coetzee decided to experiment with roasting the pods for a coffee-like brew. They designed a convection oven for dry roasting the pods and after much brewing and sipping, MannaBrew’s Mesquite Superfood Coffee was created.

“Traditionally mesquite trees have been harvested for their wood. I had a furniture export business that was exporting furniture made from mesquite wood to the United States, however, with the rand being strong against the US dollar, it was no longer profitable for the importers to import our products. That’s when I started looking at alternative ways to utilise the mesquite trees,” Brandt Coetzee explains.

There is a small window of about two to three weeks for harvesters to collect a year’s supply of the mesquite seedpods before the summer rains start to fall. Due to the thorny nature of the trees, the pods have to have fallen off the tree so that the sugar content is correct, meaning that they have to be manually harvested.

alien vegetation

Mesquite could be the next ‘diamond rush’ for the Northern Cape