Mulberry Gathering 2010

Last year, in May, I noticed that two of the trees along the side of my house were full of funky little blackberry-esque looking berries.  I did not learn until a bit too late in the season that these were edible mulberries.  This year Iwas not as take by surprise and so have collected a bunch of the delicious little fruits over the past couple days.

Yesterday I gathered a good amount from my two trees and froze them with the intended goal of making a beer flavored with them in the not too distant future.  Eliza and I also gathered a good amount of the berries from Ryan’s house yesterday (both red and white varieties). 

Collecting mulberries is relatively easy to do (assuming you beat the squirrels and birds).  You don’t even really ahve to pick them if you don’t want to.  Simply lay down a sheet under the tree and shake the branches and the ripe berries will easily fall off providing convenient collection. 

I think they taste wonderful.  Similar to blackberries but with a lighter more honey like sweetness and hardly any bitterness.  They are a fun easy to find fruit that I think often gets over looked.  I’ll let you all know if and when I brew some beer with them.

~ by Nathaniel on May 14, 2010.