They don’t store well. You’ve got to use them within a day or two of picking, even if you refrigerate them. And they don’t ripen off the tree, so there’s no picking them green and using the two weeks it takes to get then to market for ripening time. But they are nice because not all the fruit ripens at once, so you get a good long harvest out of a mulberry tree in your yard.
I made mulberry mead once. Left town during the fermentation, and it got way too strong by the time we got home! hic It was a dry, potent mead, something like 20% alcohol. About as high as you can get without distilling, I think.
I live in NE Kansas. And it’s going to be a good year, if the fruit setting on the trees is any indication. I’ll go out each day, after what I picked today, and get some more.
There’s pies, sauce, ice cream, muffins, and, if I can get the recipe from Ogre, a mulberry-peach cobbler. And sugared berries on top of ice cream, num!
Basically, I like a buttermilk batter with cobblers. If I use cast iron (which is most of the time), I also like to put a thin layer of batter on the bottom, for a bottom crust. You have to start with a hot pan, though.
So, let’s see:
5 or 6 ripe peaches, cut into wedges.
2 cups mulberries
Whisk together 1 cup of flour, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1/4 tsp salt.
Cream 1/2 stick softened butter and 1/3 cup sugar, then beat in an egg.
Slowly incorporate dry ingredients, and add buttermilk until smooth.
Place a thin layer of batter in oiled, heated cast iron.
Layer in fruit, sprinkle with sugar. Add batter in spoonfuls on top to cover.
Ah! Childhood! Our mulberry tree was seven acres from the house, and so mom never made much of an effort to gather the berries to cook with, or freeze, like she did most everything else. We just climbed the tree and ate ourselves sick. And sucked the nectar out of clover blossoms.
On a related note, do they sell mulberries in the stores when they’re in season? I never see mulberries where I live but maybe it’s different elsewhere.
So happy to see a mulberry thread! Mulberries always reminded me of my mom’s family’s farm…there was an entire row of windbreak that was some kind of coniferous trees, with mulberries right beside. Mulberries taste like farm…in a good way.
So I was stoked to discover that the house I moved in to a couple years ago has 5 or 6 mulberry trees! And they are going nuts (berries? ha!) this year. Unfortuntely I haven’t been out to pick as much as I’d like.
But I currently have plenty in the freezer to make this Can’t wait!
Wow…a little jealous of this. How long does it take you to pick x amount of berries? It seemed like it took me about 30 minutes to pick a pound and a half, however many cups that is. Granted, it was early and the tree wasn’t just loaded with ripe berries.
That’s what I did with my first crop of mulberries a couple years ago! Made several batches…of just mulberries, but also mixed them with blackberries for a batch, which was probably my favorite.
I never ate mulberries growing up, but now I live on a street where a number of people have mulberry trees conveniently growing next to the sidewalk. Naturally, I do my duty to keep the sidewalk clean while I’m walking around the block…
On one of the side streets, they have saskatoon bushes, too (or at least a close relative).
I’m just starting to pick mulberries, as spring was cool and the fruit is a little later than usual. But the tree I pick from is loaded, so in the next week or two I expect a bonanza of fruit.
Any more good recipes or stories to tell about mulberries? I’m hoping to find a good sauce recipe this year. I scored my grandmother’s ricer, and with luck will have juice with few or no seeds.
Can’t wait!