Here we go 'round the mulberry bush...er, tree...

Okay --

The mulberry trees -- those gifts from the birds which sprout anywhere and everywhere and are the bane of homeowners everywhere -- are hitting their peak in producing those enticing black berries (which are perpetually staining my sidewalks & fermenting in the sun, releasing a wine-like scent which wafts through the neighborhood).

My question:

Does anybody harvest & eat these things?
Does anyone have a recipe they use them in?

I've never done anything with them but sweep & shovel 'em into garbage bags. And cuss at them.

When I lived in Northbrook I had a giant mulberry tree that dropped bushels-full of berries, and all three of my dogs just loved them. They rolled in them, they dyed themselves purple with them, and they ate them ... and then they puked them up all over the house with shocking regularity. So, based on that experience, I'd say probably you don't want to eat mulberries. But that's just one opinion.

Jeffrey Steingarten includes a recipe for Black Mulberry Granita in his book "The Man Who Ate Everything".

I'll reproduce it here, but if you don't have the book, you should go grab it.

1/2 lb black mulberries or wild strawberries
2 cups spring water
1/2 cup superfine granulated sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon

puree the mulberries or strawberries in a food processor and ensure you have 2/3 cup of puree. scrape the bowl well and mix with the other ingredients. pass it through a strainer coarse enough to let through just a few seeds and bits of pulp. cover, chill, and freeze.

he also enjoys preparing it with 3 cups of water instead of 2, which he finds more refreshing but not nearly as intense.

his method for freezing/making the granitas:

pour the mixture into one or more shallow metal trays and place them in a freezer.
after a half hour or an hour, when ice crystals begin to form, stir them into the liquid.
repeat a half hour later.
freeze overnight.

remove, leave at room temperature for five minutes or so, and scrape the surface with the tines of a fork. spoon the shaved crystals into chilled serving dishes.

I've eaten them before with no problems, & S.O. grew up eating them off the tree in front of his house every year. Dogs aren't really meant to eat fruit, no wonder they threw up.... Anyway. I think they're nice and sweet with not as many seeds as blackberries. I haven't cooked anything with them thought but I imagine they'd perform the same way.

i think it depends largely on the type and quantity of the fruit. my guess is that the dogs were gorging themselves.. my three year old golden eats fruits all the time without getting sick, although he can handle fewer grapes than he can most other fruit. he regularly eats apple and pear cores happily and without incident.

besides, fruit is designed to be eaten. its sweetness and perfume exist to make it more tempting to all species, especially those with good noses. wild dogs and wolves eat fruit in the wild and seem to do just fine..

There was a mulberry tree in my grandmother's backyard and also one in the park behind my elementary school growing up. I have fond memories of climbing these trees at the end of the school year and eating and eating and eating and eating. They're sweet and very similar to a blackberry. I think the only time I ever got sick was due to the sheer quantity of berries I consumed.

I love mullberries also. Very fond memories of eating these off the neighbor's trees until we were chased home in mullberry stained clothes with little mullberry stained hands, mouth and teeth.

I can't explain the dogs, I'll leave that to someone else. I do know that eating the mullberries is labor intensive, if you strip the very ripe berry from the small core....probably why on those with nimble little fingers are seen eating them.

I do recommend heading to the nearest Middle Eastern grocery near you and at least trying the dried mullberries...they seem not to have been cored. I am not sure how they use them otherwise, but it is a riff on raisans in the trail mix they sell at Pars, the Iranian grocery on Clark a few block north of Foster. Also sold at Middle East Bakery on Foster, just west of Clark.

pd

There is quite the crop on the tree across the street from me, the kids like to pick them and eat them, as did I when I was a kid. Sadly, I am now more worried about staining the carpets purple than enjoying the berries...I should go have some before the birds eat them all.

I have had, and my Mom has made, lots of Mullberry jam, too.

Well, folks....

I've been sampling of my bounty AND....

...I find the darkest, ripest berries to be pleasantly sweet, if somewhat uninspired, flavor-wise. The less-ripe berries have a pleasant tartness to them; I think a mix of the two is a happy compromise.

The most curious thing I find about them, is the utter lack of insect interest.

I've had fruit trees - apples, sour cherry, peach - and it was always a challenge to find fruit that hadn't been invaded by worms or ants or
yellow jackets.

Dicksond - I'd be interested in your Mom's jam recipe.

Any other recipes would be welcome, too. Mulberry wine sounds like a promising idea...has anyone ever made it?