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Urban Foraging: Can You Identify This Berry?

2009-06-25-BerryID.jpgWe spotted this bush, heavy with dark purple berries, while on a walk near our apartment, but aren't sure what berry it actually is. Do you recognize it? More pictures below!

 
 

2009-06-25-BerryID3.jpgOur first thought was blackberry, but the rest of the bush doesn't quite match up. For one, there are no thorns on the branches. The leaves are also roughly palm-sized, shiny, and scalloped. Also, we'd definitely say this more of a tree than a bush. Willow-thin branches arched far above our head, all seeming to come from a central source.

2009-06-25-BerryID2.jpgWe did some comparisons of the berries and leaves online, and we're 99% sure we know what this is. If we're right, we can't wait to run back and pick all the berries we can find!

But before we reveal our guess, we'd love to hear yours. What do you think this berry is?

Update! Yes! Mulberries it is! Thanks for the confirmation, everyone. We're off to gather our berries while we may and read through your suggestions for what to do with them...

Related: Found Food: Do You Forage for Food?

(Images: Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)

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Ingredients - Fruit, Summer, Fruits and Vegetables, wild food, foraging, berries

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Comments (56)

Morus or Mulberry.
They are ready for eating when they turn a dark color.

posted by missmay on June 25th 2009 at 8:10am
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Morus alba L.

posted by cristinadb on June 25th 2009 at 8:15am
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you can eat it buonissime !!!!

posted by cristinadb on June 25th 2009 at 8:18am
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This is definately a mulberry. We have a very large bush in our yard that is quite prolific this year. I usually make jam with the berries - combined with raspberries and a bit of lemon to brighten. Delicious!

posted by ann426 on June 25th 2009 at 8:22am
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we had a mulberry tree in our backyard when i was little, except that we had robbers when i was about 7 and ever after that i was afraid to eat from it.

posted by kaitlin on June 25th 2009 at 8:23am
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Boysenberry

posted by RosaLily on June 25th 2009 at 8:24am
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looks like a mulberry to me.

posted by lovelainie on June 25th 2009 at 8:29am
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Totally a mulberry. Wasn't there just recently another kitchn post about mulberries? Hmmm...

posted by Serra on June 25th 2009 at 8:31am
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definitely a mulberry.

posted by katia / crazy for trying on June 25th 2009 at 8:38am
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mulberry...you have to watch out for worms on them.

posted by fardaesm on June 25th 2009 at 8:50am
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Mulberry! I've got some posts on foraging them here!

- Amelai of Gradually Greener

posted by GreenCayennes on June 25th 2009 at 8:53am
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Mul. Berry.

They make a mess. But can be tasty.

posted by Evan M on June 25th 2009 at 9:03am
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Another vote for mulberry!

posted by prolix on June 25th 2009 at 9:04am
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Another vote for mulberry. Just don't eat too many at once--you may get a tummy-ache.

posted by iphigenia on June 25th 2009 at 9:05am
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Yet another vote for mulberries. Does eating one stain your hands purple? Definitely a mulberry. (Put some in rum for a month! That's what I'm doing with my batch from the farmer's market)

posted by kestrel127 on June 25th 2009 at 9:14am
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same, voting for a mulberry

posted by blpeders on June 25th 2009 at 9:16am
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It's definitely a Mulberry. I just made a pie last weekend since the bush out front was ripe. If you decide to make a pie, I would suggest mixing with half raspberries. The mulberries are pretty tart by themselves.

posted by meganmiller on June 25th 2009 at 9:19am
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Not boysenberries. Boysenberries grow on vines, not trees. Definitely mulberry.

posted by ChzPlz on June 25th 2009 at 9:20am
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Awww..yes....Mulberry....these are abundant here in Iowa. My kids often come in with stained hands and mouths from these delicious little guys!!

posted by ataylor1996 on June 25th 2009 at 9:24am
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Definitely mulberry. They're delicious.

posted by kwhit9tl on June 25th 2009 at 9:32am
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Black mulberries. There is a white variety too.

posted by steenbok68 on June 25th 2009 at 9:50am
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a mulberry for sure. my favorite!

posted by maiben on June 25th 2009 at 9:52am
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Mulberry! Yum yum!

posted by 7lina7 on June 25th 2009 at 9:52am
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There *is* a white mulberry varietal? I've noticed white ones on the street a few blocks over recently and wondered... Any reason they wouldn't be prepared the same way?

posted by cath619 on June 25th 2009 at 10:04am
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Love mulberries! Growing up there was a huge mulberry tree in our backyard adjacent to the elementary school playground, and the teachers would tell the kids the berries were poison, I think because they didn't want to deal with purple-stained children.

That was okay, more for us!

posted by loulouie on June 25th 2009 at 10:17am
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Tis the season for foraging tree berries!

My wife, Chelsea's, favorite fruit! Her mulberry-orange muffin recipe:

http://thepleasanthouse.com/recipes/mulberry-orange-muffins/

@cath619 I have heard of the white varietal but haven't seen or tasted them myself. A Persian friend of mine knows of a tree and says that they are like the ones they have in Iran.

posted by art on June 25th 2009 at 10:21am
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definitely mulberry. yummy!

posted by wenkexin on June 25th 2009 at 10:25am
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@cath619: yes, there also is a white variety and a red variety of mulberry.

posted by wenkexin on June 25th 2009 at 10:26am
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mulberries for sure. we had a huge mulberry tree over the driveway when I was a kid. birds would eat them and leave purple splatters on the cars. (funny, that's my main association with them. the fruits were too high up for us to pick.)

posted by anninva on June 25th 2009 at 10:34am
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Mulberries!! Yay for you if you have them!

posted by standupstapler on June 25th 2009 at 11:17am
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Put a sheet under the tree and get some kids to help you shake it. My grandma and my cousins and I would do that every summer in the park by her house, and use the berries to make pies and jam. We would pour some of the mulberry syrup on ice cream while it was still hot.

MMM.

posted by standupstapler on June 25th 2009 at 11:18am
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Definitely a mulberry. There's a big tree near my mom's; a couple years ago we harvested a bunch and made mulberry thyme ice cream. So delicious.

As a sidenote, white mulberry trees are considered an invasive species in most of the US.

posted by epiph on June 25th 2009 at 11:20am
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Hey I've got a tree of that in my yard! I thought they were either blackberries or boysenberries. Now I know.

I used to climb those trees when I was a kid too and spend all afternoon eating the berries up there.

Good trick with the sheet, StandupStapler!

posted by clampers on June 25th 2009 at 11:30am
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here we go round the mulberry bush

posted by Kate (NC) on June 25th 2009 at 11:56am
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Woah, so that's what's dropping all over my backyard?! I have a Mulberry Tree, I guess.

posted by crazy_betty on June 25th 2009 at 12:19pm
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try mulberry granita, it's one of the best

posted by plch on June 25th 2009 at 12:32pm
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Mulberry, definitely. You can cook lots of fun things with them.

posted by LauraEvrard on June 25th 2009 at 12:49pm
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definitely mulberry.

posted by ajdt on June 25th 2009 at 1:07pm
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It's a tayberry! I just read about this on serious eats...never heard about it before!

http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/06/tayberries-are-now-in-season.html

posted by epidemickittykat on June 25th 2009 at 1:40pm
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Boysenberry.

posted by edava72 on June 25th 2009 at 1:43pm
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yes we have these trees in our neighbourhood too - Mulberry and yes they come in a white variety as well :-)

posted by Anusha73 on June 25th 2009 at 2:49pm
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Its a mulberry! My grandparents used to have tons of these and red tayberry trees in their backyard, oh my god they are so good.

posted by A Lady In Red on June 25th 2009 at 4:45pm
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Mulberry! I grew up with several bushes in our backyard...love them!

posted by spaulraj on June 25th 2009 at 5:16pm
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I actually just picked a TON off my parents' tree this weekend, and just before this showed up on my Reader, I popped a tray of Lemon Mulberry muffins in the oven! They smell amazing. (I took Dorie Greenspan's Orange Berry Muffins and just substituted lemon for Orange, and Mulberry for Blueberries).

posted by hwall1018 on June 25th 2009 at 7:43pm
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mmm mulberries. we go down to a park here pick and freeze them for later in the year. i usually end up eating them like little frozen treats before i use them for anything else.

posted by alicee on June 25th 2009 at 11:02pm
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Wow, I haven't had them in years. I grew up with a tree next door.

posted by pbelardo on June 25th 2009 at 11:21pm
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Mulberry...yum yum! I love mulberries though they are very fragile. I used them to make a cheesecake for our Daring Bakers challenge a while ago. http://www.passionateaboutbaking.com/2009/04/getting-creative-with-daring-bakers.html

posted by deeba on June 26th 2009 at 1:27am
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This is good to know because they are covering the deck as I type. My Russian landlady has been gathering them up to mull into a fruit punch and I have been picking and freezing them to make a crisp this weekend.

posted by swandiver on June 26th 2009 at 3:48am
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Also not tayberries. Tayberries grow on vines, not trees. Definitely mulberry.

posted by ChzPlz on June 26th 2009 at 10:30am
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Whoops - meant to say that Tayberries grow on shrubs (instead of vines)

posted by ChzPlz on June 26th 2009 at 10:31am
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Mulberry - very good on vanilla ice cream. Also I found out from someone in the know that the leaves of the female mulberry tree are preferred for silk worms. Just in case you should ever need to feed some silk worms.

posted by aaakid on June 26th 2009 at 11:20am
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Def Mulberry. We had a giant mulberry tree in my yard as a kid. My parents always told us they were poisonus....in retrospect i suppose they just wanted to keep us away from the tree so we wouldnt track berries into the house.

posted by brianmac on June 26th 2009 at 11:47am
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It's a mulberry. God I love and miss those.

posted by seidhr on June 26th 2009 at 3:45pm
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wait are these called moras in spanish? my grandma use to have a tree that had berries that looked like that.

my cousins and I would climb on top of each other to reach the branches.

posted by witchbaby on June 27th 2009 at 10:56pm
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Mullberry- we had a tree in front of our house when I was a child and I used to eat them right off the branches.

posted by desylic!ous on June 28th 2009 at 6:39pm
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Everyone has definitely decided that it's a mullberry, *but* there are thornless varieties of blackberries out there... I'm growing Navajo, which is an upright cane, and thornless.

posted by KimberlyM on June 30th 2009 at 8:31pm
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