We 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!
Our 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.
We 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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Comments (57)
Morus or Mulberry.
They are ready for eating when they turn a dark color.
Morus alba L.
you can eat it buonissime !!!!
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!
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.
Boysenberry
looks like a mulberry to me.
Totally a mulberry. Wasn't there just recently another kitchn post about mulberries? Hmmm...
definitely a mulberry.
mulberry...you have to watch out for worms on them.
Mulberry! I've got some posts on foraging them here!
- Amelai of Gradually Greener
Mul. Berry.
They make a mess. But can be tasty.
Another vote for mulberry!
Another vote for mulberry. Just don't eat too many at once--you may get a tummy-ache.
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)
same, voting for a mulberry
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.
Not boysenberries. Boysenberries grow on vines, not trees. Definitely mulberry.
Awww..yes....Mulberry....these are abundant here in Iowa. My kids often come in with stained hands and mouths from these delicious little guys!!
Definitely mulberry. They're delicious.
Black mulberries. There is a white variety too.
a mulberry for sure. my favorite!
Mulberry! Yum yum!
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?
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!
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.
definitely mulberry. yummy!
@cath619: yes, there also is a white variety and a red variety of mulberry.
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.)
Mulberries!! Yay for you if you have them!
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.
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.
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!
here we go round the mulberry bush
Woah, so that's what's dropping all over my backyard?! I have a Mulberry Tree, I guess.
try mulberry granita, it's one of the best
Mulberry, definitely. You can cook lots of fun things with them.
definitely mulberry.
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
Boysenberry.
yes we have these trees in our neighbourhood too - Mulberry and yes they come in a white variety as well :-)
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.
Mulberry! I grew up with several bushes in our backyard...love them!
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).
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.
Wow, I haven't had them in years. I grew up with a tree next door.
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
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.
Also not tayberries. Tayberries grow on vines, not trees. Definitely mulberry.
Whoops - meant to say that Tayberries grow on shrubs (instead of vines)
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.
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.
It's a mulberry. God I love and miss those.
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.
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.
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.
I have atleast 3 massive trees in the backyard. Are these mulberries worth anything?