How to cook mulberries

Family – Moraceae
Scientific name – Morus species

Common name – mulberry

Botanically, the mulberry is not a berry but a collective fruit. After the flowers are pollinated, they and their fleshy bases swell and become succulent and full of juice, like the drupes of a blackberry, which the mulberry resembles in size and shape.

There are three principal species, the names of which refer not to the color of the fruit but to the color of the buds. The black mulberry (M. nigra) is native to western Asia and has been grown in Europe and the Middle East since ancient times for its fruits. Large, juicy, and bluish black, the black mulberry is no doubt the most flavorful, with its refreshing combination of sweetness and tartness. The American, or red, mulberry (M. rubra), indigenous to the eastern United States, grows wild from Massachusetts to the Gulf Coast. Usually a deep red-purple, the red mulberry is not as tasty as its black cousin. The white mulberry (M. alba) is the least tasty of the three, with an unpleasant sweetness that lacks the pleasing tartness of the black mulberry. The plant is native to eastern and central China, where the tree has long been cultivated for its leaves, which are the essential food for silkworms. The white mulberry became naturalized in Europe, and both the trees and the silkworms were introduced to the United States in early colonial times in an attempt to start a silk industry.

How to cook mulberries

Mulberries can be eaten raw or used to make jams, jellies, sorbet, ice cream, frozen meringue, pudding, and sauces. Slightly unripe, tart berries are best for making pies and tarts. Mulberries also make an interesting wine and are excellent as dried fruits. In medieval England, the berries were pureed to make murrey, which was added to spiced meats or used as a pudding.

Mulberries are high in vitamin C.