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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] preserving mulberries

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  • From: Louisa Rogoff Thompson <louisathompson@erols.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] preserving mulberries
  • Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 22:18:01 -0400

Martha,

I assume you are talking about the most common mulberry, the one with multi-lobed leaves, which is Morus alba despite the fact that the fruit are black.
I love to eat mulberries fresh and have had good luck freezing them. They are always ripe or overripe by the time they hit the ground, so keeping them clean is the tricky part, because if you try to rinse them they fall apart. I use a plastic tablecloth on the ground under the tree to collect them. Freeze as is. Great over vanilla ice cream.

I disagree about the mess, though, because every fruit-eating bird around will eat some and drop purple poop on your deck, sidewalk, car, etc. Also, you will get the same purple dye on your shoes and track it into the house unless you remember to take your shoes off.

I must also point out that white mulberry is extremely invasive and also extremely hard to kill, so be sure you want it before you plant it. If you are near a natural area that is not already invaded by mulberry, please consider not planting it, because, as I said, it is very invasive and will eventually displace native trees. You can usually find a friend or neighbor who will let you harvest their mulberries, or a place where they grow wild.

A root fungus carried by white mulberry (without symptoms) infects and kills the native red mulberry (Morus rubra). In my area (near Baltimore, MD) there are almost no red mulberries left.

Louisa Thompson
Zone 7

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Message: 2
Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 12:38:25 -0500
From: Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] preserving mulberries
To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <6.2.1.2.0.20050821123418.01e8f920@mail.murraystate.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 12:31 PM 8/21/2005, you wrote:

What experiences have people had with preserving mulberries? I am considering
planting one, but they are large trees with lots of fruit that could become a
nuisance if I don't have good things to do with them.

Martha, unless it's planted in a spot where it overhangs your patio or sidewalk, the dropping fruit are not a problem. They sift down into the grass - and, at least here, it's hot summertime when they're ripening, and any that do drop usually dessicate fairly rapidly, or are consumed by the insects.

I've made mulberry pie - very tasty, though I suspect some of my friends here at work would be put off by the presence of the stems, but even when I'm eating straight off of the tree, I eat them stem and all, and there's no way I'd spend the time removing the stem from each berry.

I've got a couple of gallons of mulberries in the freezer right now. Have considered pulling out a bag of them and trying them in the dehydrator.

Lucky.










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