There's something appealing about walking over to a neighbors house (Thanks Claude!) and shaking her Mulberry tree for dessert. The only real work involved is picking out a few twigs from the takings.
They are delicious eaten plain, topped with yogurt, or in a simple tart.
H2 and I spread out an old bedsheet under the tree and Art shook the branches with a pole.
On a related note, I'd like to thank Art and Chel at Pleasant House for reminding me that Juneberries/Serviceberries are edible. Add to that bit of info the fact that I've got one growing in my sideyard...........
9 comments:
Love that you shook the tree and had desert...you are indeed my kind of people.
I am so impressed and inspired.
Bravo...!
xxx
I had dessert while we were picking. That's my hand in the top photo and it's slightly out-of-focus because I was on a sugar high from all the berries I accidentally ate while Bruce and Art were telling me where to stand.
My pleasure! Anything I can do to spread the juneberry love. We just harvested a big batch last night for some pies and Chelsea is whipping up a pancake recipe for them right now.
Yesterday, Chelsea and her mom were walking the neighborhood and saw a shop owner cutting the branches off a mulberry tree. He said someone told him they were poisonous and not edible. Chelsea's mom started eating the berries of the tree. Then he ate a berry and said, "hey! these are good!" I wish I could have seen it!
Hi Art:
What a perfect story about people being distanced from food!
I think Bruce told us you had some pickle buckets to offer? Are you at Bijan? It was one of my favorites from the old days (I've never been to the re-imagined one)--no better steamed vegetable plate, omelet, and ambiance.
So let me know if you have buckets to donate? We like to keep a stash in case we need to hand them out.
I have never made mulberries into a pie or any other kind of dessert. But now I might just try it.
Great story btw with the store owner. I wonder what he thought about all the birds that gather in the tree every year.
Hi Chris,
The tart recipe I linked to is really easy to make. Spread the batter in the bottom of a 9" tart pan, set the berries on top and bake.
I like to top it off with a bit of plain yogurt. Ice cream would be nice too.
Yesterday I went to the Grayslake Farmers' Market as I usually do. While passing by the fruit stand I overheard a woman ask the farmer if mulberries could be eaten and if he had any. His answer was a bit blunt, "People have been eating mulberries for thousands of years and why would I sell them to you when they are on just about every street."
Thought this conversation was quite interesting after reading this post.
That's funny. It must take a fair amount of patience for farmers to answer questions from people accustomed to buying food in plastic, not to mention picking it from trees.
Over here at Wicker Park farmers market, one of the nice guys from Nichols Farm & Orchard told me they spend an enormous amount to wash produce, esp root veggies, because people don't want to buy them dirty.
Go figure...
I wonder how much money they mark the veggies up for all the extra washing? Maybe they could have a washed veggie price and an unwashed veggie price. Wonder how that would change the minds of the customers.
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