Today, when we went back to our car after a few hours spent at the beach, we saw three young girls rushing away from a front yard with something that appeared to be very precious in the hands. They were mulberries. The careful attitude had a lot to do with avoiding having blackened hands and squashing the fruits! This did it for us, it was time to go and check our neighbourhood trees and go foraging for mulberries!
Mulberry Trees
Mulberry trees are not an Australian native tree species and because of that, many councils have simply cut the mulberry trees over the last five to ten years. In our area, this has not yet been the case. The tree we went to is quite large, the season is just starting. The fruits this year do not appear to be very big but there are plenty.
A child’s adventure
This foraging expedition is best shared with children. The children love it! They get really excited, so I got them to gather our “kit” and we were ready. We took boxes and a stool and off we went.
The first berries are easy to get to…
Then, a bit more strategy and skills are required…
The other solution? Shake gently one branch and gather the fallen fruits, it is quite effective.
Now, our rule is to gather just what we need and no more. It is a lot of fun and a great adventure!
After that, when we got home, we washed the fruits and removed the stalk. As a result, we did end up with fingers very purple, most of it has not washed off.
Mulberry Pie
The end purpose of collecting mulberries was to make a mulberry pie. It is after dinner now and the left over of our pie is standing on the dinning table not far from me, I can smell its distinctive fruit and buttery aroma!
The full recipe can be found on its page HERE.
