Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Mulberry Recipe - Mulberry Jam


Mid June brings us mulberries in two different colors, red and white. Calling them red and white mulberries is a bit misleading, as the red mulberry (Morus rubra) will ripen to red or black, and the white mulberry (Morus alba) will ripen to white or a light purple. The red mulberries have a more balanced, sweet-tart flavor while the white mulberries are incredibly sweet. We often see small trees along city streets, with a berry-covered sidewalk beneath them, filled with squawking birds. Mulberries are quickly gathered by spreading a tarp or sheet beneath the tree and giving the branches a shake. We de-seed and de-stem our mulberries with a food mill, the Roma Food Strainer with a berry screen for a thick, pulpy jam that goes really well spread over toasted cornbread. If you don't have the food mill, you need to cook the mulberries with a bit of water and pass the pulp through a mesh strainer to remove the seeds and stems and obtain 5 cups of pulpy juice. So far, we have made some jam from the ripe, black berries. The white mulberries are about a week behind in ripening.



Mulberry Jam                makes 9-8 oz. jars

5 c. seedless and stemless, pulpy mulberry juice
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 box Sur-Jell pectin (1.75 oz)
7 c. sugar

1. Sterilize and heat jars and lids.
2. In a large pot, add mulberry pulp, lemon juice, and pectin, whisking together. Bring the mixture up to a rolling boil.
3. Add all of the sugar at once, stirring until it is dissolved. Return to a rolling boil and cook 1 minute.
4. Remove from the heat and skim off any foam. Ladle into hot, sterile jars, and process in a water bath for 10 minutes. Cool.


7 comments:

  1. we have a mulberry tree in our backyard, a purple one. During the season all our patio is in purple polka dots even though I make jams and we eat berries fresh. :)

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  2. Thanks for the mulberry jam recipe.
    I'll create one for sure, my kids are gonna like it :)
    If you don't mind, can you submit your mulberry jam photo in http://www.foodporn.net ?
    It's a food photography site full of all DIY food pictures from members around the world. Or perhaps you'd like to submit by yourself? Let me know when you did, so I can share it.

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  3. Thank you for this recipe. I have trees here, but I don't know if I'll get that much. I will have to make this some time. Yum!

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  4. When we used to live in the country, our house had tons of mulberry bushes and it was such a joy to have this wonderful fruit each year!! LOVE them (:

    I just found your blog and became a follower (: Can't wait to come back for more posts! Hope you have a lovely weekend!!

    Michele
    xoxo

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  5. I've got some jars cooling on the counter right now! I had to half your recipe, so hopefully it turns out okay. I've never had mulberry anything before, so this is a new adventure. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Wow, your Mulberry Recipe looks delicious. By the way, can you list some of its health benefits?

    Regards,
    Heather James
    Fermented Foods List

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  7. We "urban forage" and can you imagine our surprise when we found a massive, in bloom mulberry tree next to the park our children play in?! We grabbed as much as we could and are still thinking about what we can make. We're raw vegan foodies and we are gonna tweak your jam recipe :D Take a look at our recipes, we love your blog!

    http://yummyvegancreations.blogspot.com.au/

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