All Things Mulberry

My Pakistani mulberry tree starts producing ripe mulberries in early April.  I put a large tarp under the tree because when the berries are ripe, they fall off the tree.  The tarp makes it easier to find the berries and keeps them cleaner.  I sit down under the tree, take my shoes off, then perform what I amusingly call “Mulberry Yoga.”  I scoot, crabwalk, and roll my way around and under the tree, putting ripe berries in a bowl and the unacceptable berries in a little tub.

When the harvest starts, I get 4 to 5 pounds a day just from the tarp.  A week or so into it, the amount slows down to 4 to 5 pounds every few days, and often I shake the tree to make more berries fall.  That is what I end up getting; I cannot estimate what I lose to the birds, squirrels, bunnies, possums, raccoons, and skunks.  I don’t mind sharing with them, and the harvest is large enough that they actually share with me (unlike with my peach tree).

Pakistani mulberries are longer than a “typical” mulberry, and when they are dark purple, they are sweet and flavorful.  When they are dark, they look just like big, fat caterpillars hanging on the tree.

This is about four pounds of berries.

Forty to fifty pounds of mulberries is a lot to handle!  I decided this post would give you a sense of all the things I can do with such a beautiful and large harvest.

First and easiest, eating them fresh!  I’ll eat them right off the tree while picking and they make a great little side dish at lunch.  Fresh berries are excellent with yogurt (I like vanilla yogurt, berries, and a chocolate/coffee granola), and I think mulberries and jack cheese are a great combination (with a white wine, of course!). 

I share with friends, too.  I like to give to people who never had mulberries before; they are often surprised at the flavor.  I know that the mulberries I had as a child were Russian mulberries, which are tart and small compared to mine.  I think most of the people I give them to eat them fresh.

This year I made mulberry jam, where I cut the berries up a little and cook them in sugar with a little lemon juice until they form a syrup and thicken up.  It is not a standard jam because the fruit is bigger so it separates from the syrup more than jam.  It tastes great! I used less sugar than one usually puts into a jam, with the idea that it would be more "fruit forward."  It was, and I store it in the refrigerator to keep it fresh.  I think the next time I do this, I will chop the berries up more or maybe pulse them in the food processor.

Juicy jam.

I also started a batch of liqueur.  First, I put the berries in vodka and let them soak for a while.  Last year they soaked for 6 months before I strained them out; this year I waited two weeks.  This year, too, I used a muddler to press the berries in the jar.  This made a lot of juice, so I couldn’t fit much vodka into the jar.  Oh well, I put in what I could and tucked it away into a cupboard.  A few days later, I smelled ferment.  Sure enough, the juice and berries were bubbling away!  They smelled and tasted good but it was not what I wanted.  So, I moved the mixture into a bigger jar and added more vodka, which stopped the fermenting.

A lovely color, no?

When I strained out the berries, the mulberry-infused vodka was dark purple and the berries were mostly white – a good sign.  It tasted good, but it needed the sugar that makes it a liqueur.  Before I added the sugar, I poured in my attempt this year to make mulberry molasses.  I’ve done this in the past successfully:  basically, it is super-concentrated mulberry juice with a little lemon juice added.  But I didn’t feel I had achieved the molasses-level of reduction and the quantity was so small that I didn’t want to reduce it any further.  Then I added enough sugar to finish filling the jar.  I’ve made liqueurs for decades so I don’t really measure anything.  Now it is officially aging, which allows the flavors to blend and the sugar to dissolve.  In six months or so, I’ll taste it to see if it needs more sugar. 

Last year’s mulberry liqueur had aged for nearly 6 months, so I decanted it into a bottle.  It was wonderful!  Not an epic liqueur, but a very good one.  Smooth, just sweet enough, and a rich, fruity flavor.  The danger with such a liqueur is that it tastes so good that it is easy to consume too much in one sitting.  Sip at your own risk!

Mmmmmm.

This year I’m trying again to make mulberry wine.  Last year’s was good.  I’m not willing to call it a great wine, but it was certainly interesting.  Dry, when most people expect it to be sweet, with a mild flavor that made it clear it was not a grape wine.  One recipient thought it was excellent with a good steak.  This year I’m following the same recipe but most of my sugar was vanilla-scented.  I’m curious to see if that makes a difference in the outcome.

It sure smells good.

My experiment this year was to embed fresh berries in a lot of sugar and watch it turn into a syrup.  I took a picture every day for six days to see the changes.  What a fun and easy way to make syrup!  No cooking, just patience. 

A lot of sugar, layered with mulberries.

The view from above.

Day 1, layering is completed.

Day 2, juice is seeping into the sugar.

Day 3, more juice and it is spreading.  I shook the jar to mix it up a bit.

Day 4, look at that syrup formation!

Day 5, notice how the level has dropped?  I shook it again.

Day 6, that looks amazing.  I rolled it to mix it, too.

I was ready to add more mulberries to the jar, so I got to taste it (on Day 7).  It was unsurprisingly sweet, but I really enjoyed the strong mulberry flavor that went with it.  I added more berries, stirred it thoroughly, then put it into the refrigerator just in case it was tempted to start fermenting.  

In the past, I have made historical mulberries recipes.  One is a sort of breadcrumb pudding, called a Murrey.  You can view the recipe by clicking here.

 Another was a mulberry meatloaf, called a Red Murrey or Red Mulberry.  You can view that recipe by clicking here.  Yes, you read that right.  A mulberry-flavored meatloaf!

The other day I froze a box of mulberries knowing I want to make a cobbler in a few weeks.  

Last year I tried mixing the juice with milk, sugar, and flour, then heating it to make a thick saucelike dessert; this was a riff on an historical recipe that used cherry juice.  Unfortunately, the mulberry juice curdled the milk!  But I recovered from the blow and poured the curds and mulberry whey over sliced bread.  This was well-received and no one knew it was supposed to be different.

So there you have it.  Lots of things to do with mulberries!  I will continue to look for historical recipes that use them, with the hope I can report it on this blog.

Success! 

Persimmon Jam, yet another persimmon recipe (1940s)

I know, I know!  You are thinking, "ANOTHER persimmon recipe??"  Did I mention I had a lot of persimmons?  And, well, The California Cook Book also had a recipe for persimmon jam.  (See the February 1 and March 1 posts for the other persimmon recipes.)

Found on Archive.org.

Mine are Fuyu persimmons, which means they are not astringent if not fully ripe, unlike the Hachiya variety I learned to eat first.  You can eat them when they are crisp-firm like an apple or softer or (my favorite) so soft they are like eating pudding.  That is when they are the sweetest.  

Pages 319 - 320

Ms. Callahan said the persimmons for her jam need to be as soft as jelly, and so I saved a bunch of the very soft ones just for this recipe.  They didn't all get soft at the same time, so I kept them in the refrigerator while waiting for enough to make the recipe.  Some were much riper than others.

My Redaction with Notes

2 cups persimmon pulp from very ripe persimmons

2 cups sugar

I used a few more persimmons than what you see here to get 2 cups.

My persimmons were so ripe that cutting them up was not an option.  I broke open the skin and used a spoon to scoop out the pulp.  Remove the seeds as needed -- not all persimmons have seeds, but some do.  I did not include the skin.

Instead of pushing the pulp through a sieve, I used a stick blender to puree it.

I chose to use a double boiler and set the water level so it went up the sides of the insert.  

After I mixed the pulp and the sugar, I put the insert into the double boiler for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, while the pulp got to "simmer" temperature.  I noticed it steamed a little at that time and a few bubbles formed along the edge of the mixture.

The clean jars were filled with water and heated in the microwave for 10 minutes to help sterilize them.  I was not intending to fully can the jam, just get it in very clean jars to store in the refrigerator.

Then I set the timer for 20 minutes and stirred the mixture continuously while it cooked.  I noticed it got thicker as the time went on. 

I ladled the jam into the empty, hot jars, put on the lids, then put them into the refrigerator.

Two cups pulp.

Pureed.

See the bubbles?  I call that "simmering."

Inside the blue circle you can see a little pile-up of jam.  Thicker!

Three jars like this and a little extra.

The Verdict

I managed to keep the mixture from boiling and noticed that the maximum temperature was 175 degrees F.  So I had hoped for no bitterness.

The jam was beautifully thick; just right I would say, for spreading (or even eating off the spoon).

Beautiful!

The flavor was fascinating.  I know it was just persimmons and sugar, but I would swear it tasted like it had spices in it, like cinnamon and ginger or allspice.  I got the persimmon flavor and the sweetness, but it wasn't too sweet, which surprised me.  And no bitterness!  

The texture was intriguing, too.  It was pretty smooth, which is probably because I pureed the pulp.  It also had a slight gelatinous quality to it.  Not in an off-putting way.  I'm not sure what caused that.

So success!  

When I was first contemplating the recipe, I thought I would probably want to add spices to it, but I know now it is not necessary.  The only adaptation I might make would be to add a little lime juice to the jam once it was cooked and before it went into the jars.  Just a thought, anyway.

Mermelada de tomate, Tomato Jam -- a Pinedo recipe

My neighbors, G & T, gave me a large bag of tomatoes -- an "excess" from their family garden.  I was thrilled!  I had been contemplating Pinedo recipes and had not yet made up my mind which to make.  This clenched it.

If you are not familiar with my series of Pinedo recipes, please click on the word "Pinedo" in the Labels section of this blog or do a search on the word "Pinedo".

I reviewed the recipes that used tomatoes and decided on the one on pages 161 and 162, Tomato Jam, which would use up most of the tomatoes they shared with me.

Miss Pinedo's recipe

My Translation

Tomato jam.

         Take one ounce of sugar for each large tomato; cook to the caramel point in the pan. Add the tenth part [of the weight of the tomatoes] of onions cut into small pieces, and when it has begun to color, the tomatoes are put inside with salt, pepper, cloves, and nutmeg.

Everything will be boiled over a very high heat and when it is quite thick, it is passed through a sieve.

         It is then returned to the fire until this jam is solid. It will be emptied into jars that will be covered with double paper to preserve it.

         It can also be composed without the onion in which case it will be used for many sauces.

         You can also make pure tomato jam, which will be used for different stews.

My Redaction

6 pounds fresh, ripe tomatoes

12 ounces onion (1 medium onion)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 pound sugar

The order of steps is important here because once the sugar is caramelized, it needs to be used immediately.

Core the tomatoes and chop them.  Peel the onion and chop it.  Sprinkle the salt, pepper, cloves, and nutmeg on top of the mixture, then stir it.  Set it aside.

Use a large, heavy-bottomed kettle or Dutch oven to make the jam.  First heat it over medium-high heat.

Start caramelizing the sugar by pouring in several ounces across the bottom of the kettle.  Stir slowly and calmly with a wooden spoon -- avoid splashing sugar on the sides of the pan.  When all the sugar has melted, pour in a few more ounces.  Continue stirring.  Repeat the process until all the sugar is in the pan.  

When the last bit of sugar is melted, turn the heat to low.  Stop stirring.  Watch the sugar and, if possible, use a candy thermometer to check the temperature.  The molten sugar should be a beautiful golden brown, or reach 320 to 360 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once it is ready, pour in the tomato and onion mixture.  Stir well and turn the heat back up.

Keep stirring and bring the mixture to a hard boil.  Continue boiling to reduce the mixture and get it thick.  Stir occasionally to check that nothing is sticking to the bottom of the kettle.  Reduce the heat as needed to keep the thickening mixture from splattering outside the kettle.  This could take an hour or more.

Once the mixture is thick, puree it with a stick blender or in batches in a regular blender.  It won't be smooth but will look a lot like commercially-made tomato sauce.

Return the mixture to a simmer over low heat until it gets very thick, like a jam.  Stir often to stop it from sticking.

Put into jars and refrigerate.

My Notes

I used a food processor to get everything chopped into small pieces.  I worked in small batches and combined the batches together in one big bowl.  Note that I did not put the onions into the caramelized sugar to brown before the tomatoes went in.

Everything together, before the spices were stirred in.

One pound of melted sugar did not get deep enough for my candy thermometer to reach it, so I went by color and used a meat thermometer to get a feel for its temperature.  (I held it by hand and had a hard time keeping it off the hot bottom of the pan.)

A beautiful caramel color.

When I poured in the tomato mixture, there was a lot of sizzling and splattering.  The caramelized sugar immediately cooled to hard chunks.  But with the cooking process that followed, the chunks dissolved.  I suspect it might have been better to caramelize the sugar in a smaller pan and then pour that into the heated tomato mixture.

Newly combined

As the mixture boils, it is losing water.  If you don't lower the temperature while it is boiling, the tomato mixture will splatter all over your kitchen.  (Trust me on this!)  Check for that every time you stir it.  You will feel the mixture thickening.

Reduced to thick and ready for pureeing.

Pureed.

Miss Pinedo says to cook the pureed mixture until it is solid.  I didn't let it get that far, but it was very thick and it got thicker when it was cold.  Overall, it reduced to about one-fourth of its original volume.

The Verdict

It was thick, it was red, and bits of pepper were visible in the mixture.

We tried it by itself, just off the spoon.  It was sweet, but not like a fruit jam.  It was savory from the spices.  It was rich and had a good mouthfeel.  There was a slight acid bite and a little bitter aftertaste that was not unpleasant.  The main effect was a complex flavor that hinted of tomatoes but went much further than that.

We tried it spread on a flour tortilla - delicious!  My neighbors used it as a sauce on shrimp and found it to be good.  I think it would be a good spread on a sandwich, in the place of mayonnaise or mustard.  I would put a spoonful of it on my plate to be eaten along with roast chicken or beef.  It is robust enough to enhance beef and not be overwhelmed by it.

Look closely.  See how thick it is and notice the pepper in it.

Success!  

I got about 6 cups of tomato jam from the 6 pounds of tomatoes.  I didn't can it, so I kept it in the refrigerator.  There was plenty to share with others.

As Miss Pinedo noted, you can make this without onions and even without spices.  I would prefer the complex flavors because without them, I think I would just have tomato sauce or tomato paste.

Loquat and Mulberry Jam -- a riff on a Pinedo recipe

When I tried this recipe from Encarnacion Pinedo's book, Pear and Fig Jam, (visit here to see it) it turned out wonderfully and also surprised me.  I had expected the pear to add a background note to the fig, but the recipe had me candy the pear chunks first, then embed them in the fig jam.  

This technique intrigued me, and I wondered how I could apply it to other fruits.  

My loquat tree is producing great quantities after the wet winter, and my mulberry tree is mature enough to produce well, too.  I decided to try candying the loquat chunks and embedding them in a mulberry jam.  Why not?

My Recipe

2 pounds, 3 ounces mulberries

3 pounds, 8 ounces loquats (weight before removing seeds and most of the peels; 1 lb, 12 oz after)

3 cups water

1 pound sugar

a splash of lemon juice

Mmmm.  Loquats and mulberries!

Loquats halved, seeded, and peeled

Mix the water and sugar.  Bring to a boil and hold it there for 2 minutes.

Cut the loquats into small chunks and add to the sugar syrup.  

Bring to a boil and then simmer for two hours.  I noted the temperature reached about 200 degrees F, the syrup was getting thick, and the loquats looked candied.

Cut the mulberries into small chunks if they aren't already small.  (Mine are Pakistani mulberries, so they are long.)  Add to the loquats.

Add the lemon juice.  Stir it in.

Continue to simmer until the temperature reached 210 degrees F, then remove it from the heat.

Put into jars.

Loquat chunks, nearly candied

Mulberries ready for the pot.

Finished jam

The Verdict

The color is a lovely dark red, the seeds from the mulberries and the orange loquat chunks add visual texture.  The scent is of mulberries but also a little something else.

The flavor is absolutely luscious.  Mulberries with little bursts of loquat, and it is sweet but not overly so.  The splash of lemon juice was a good choice -- while the lemon flavor is not discernable, the acidity helps the jam from being too sweet.

Oh my, success.  Wonderful success!  I would do it again if I can get enough mulberries at one time.  

I'm glad I was able to make this technique work.  Now I wonder what other combinations would be good?  Also, if mulberries aren't available, I think blackberries would also work well.

Later I made a jam from mostly loquats with a small handful of mulberries and a splash of lime juice.  The loquats didn't break up in the cooking process, so I used a stick blender and pureed the mixture once it cooked to about 210 degrees F.  This made it more like a spread or a fruit butter, and it was also very tasty.  I do love loquats.