Comments on: June Jubes

By: Marsha

Marsha — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 14:58:08 +0000

Mulberry trees are a favorite of mine. There was one near my house when I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn. My sisters and I didn’t know what this tree was. With the intrepid foolishness of youth, we simply picked the berries every summer and ate them.

When I was older, I went to someone in the Farmer’s Market and wanted to know what this tree and fruit were. The man asked me to describe it and I couldn’t; I hadn’t taken note of the details. I found the tree, peeled off a thin branch with the leaves and some of the berries and brought it back. He told me it was a mulberry tree.

Later independent research revealed there are three kinds of mulberries: red, black and white, with black producing the sweetest berries. White mulberry trees make excellent nesting homes for silkworms and cause them to produce the best silk in the world (no one knows why).

I have found various places in the city that have mulberry trees of all three colors and flavors. My bookclub has a member who takes interested parties on mulberry foraging near a river and, boy, do we clean up.

If I can gather enough this year, I’m making jam. I’ve already made blackberry and strawberry jam. Mulberry would be a great addition.

By: vanessa (of vanesscipes)

vanessa (of vanesscipes) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:45:38 +0000

Wow! it’s so cool that you picked these berries! I was once wounded by a raspberry patch in winter when my sled found it’s way smack dab in the center. but I don’t hold it against the berries

Have you read “Plenty” or “The
100 Mile Diet” by Alisa Smith and JB MacKinnon? They’re on my to-read list.

I recommend Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. Fab!

By: cathy

cathy — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 21:05:56 +0000

I was staring at a mulberry tree just yesterday at McCarren Park Pool and the berries were taunting me as they were too high to reach. These are great finds, though — masticator, I’ll trade some black ones for some red??

By: W

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:29:58 +0000

there’s a mulberry tree right by a busy intersection, on a corner where hundreds of people walk past where I live in Jersey City. My friend discovered it last summer, biggest problem is the massive amounts of road dirt you have to wash off them! Easy to spot though, look for the black stained sidewalk and birds in an eating frenzy!

By: masticator

masticator — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 22:47:14 +0000

I was wondering who picked all the berries. These are truly the rarest of the rare – wild black raspberries. But there are also red raspberries in the park(many near the Nethermead and along Center Drive(?)) that will be ripe later in the summer.
Also, for those interested, there is a large mulberry tree on 19th St near Prospect Park West(right above the Prospect Expy), positioned for easy harvesting.

By: Yvo

Yvo — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:37:14 +0000

Wow, nice. I’m allergic to raspberries but it sounds so fun to go berry picking!!!

By: erin

erin — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 22:08:38 +0000

Yay! I am moving to NYC in August after 5 years in LA and I’m already worried about produce withdrawal. I know you can get good stuff in NY, but it won’t be the same. But foraging berries? Awesome. I’m going to be a poor grad student, so I imagine I’ll check your blog frequently!

By: cathy

cathy — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:32:59 +0000

Thank you so much for the memories, Nancy! Yes, there are mulberry trees in New York — they sometimes line the sidewalks where I live in Brooklyn and the berries get mashed under everyone’s feet for a few weeks of the spring. I think mostly squirrels eat them, because those berries can be so hard to reach most of the time. I don’t know of any recipes for them specifically, but wouldn’t mind trying them out in pies and other desserts!

By: mark

mark — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 22:09:46 +0000

Love the verticle farm idea. Especially when you see the large dish on top of the building…you broadcast live images of plants as the grow (for those really addicted ‘reality tv’ fans). Very cool idea!

By: Nancy

Nancy — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:46:30 +0000

I grew up in Ohio with mulberry trees. It is such a summertime childhood memory being out in the woods with my friends and spotting a few mulberries turning big and black on their branches. We would go running to our moms, begging them for old sheets so that we could spread them out underneath the trees. We would take turns being the shakers up in the branches or the eaters on the sheets below. Are there any recipes for mulberries? Are there mulberry trees in New York?