Mulberry Bonanza

It's that time of year, folks: Mulberry season!

For those of you not in the know, mulberries are where it's at. They are misunderstood and neglected, but you can totally use that to your advantage. Mulberries are considered a weed in a lot of the country and many homeowners despise them for the stains left on sidewalks, driveways, cars and bare feet, not to mention the blue-colored bird droppings that can stain everything else.

But the mulberry is so much more than that. Mulberries are a delightful delicate berry that would certainly sell like crazy at the farmers market if only it could handle the ride. Their hardiness is also a great boon for homesteaders and gardeners who want a dependable crop. They have a delicate flavor that can border on blandness depending on the variety (more on that later).

When I was young, my grandma would have me over to harvest mulberries. We would spend the entire day harvesting her many trees. I'm pretty sure I ate more than ended up in the buckets, but she was awesome and let me eat my fill. My hands would be stained purple for days and I loved it. I felt like I was in a different world. It was the essence of youth and summer and living forever. When Grandpa came home from work, we would gather in the living room and fill big bowls with mulberries, cover with milk and eat. It is still one of my favorite snacks. And just a hint, use milk, not cream as the heaviness of the cream seems to overwhelm the delicate flavor of the berries.

They are very nutritious and low in calories. They have a fair amount of potassium and iron (1 cup provides 14% of the recommended daily value). They also have a lot of vitamin C, some calcium and plenty of other nutrients.

Unripe berries that will turn purple.

If you want to harvest mulberries, first you need to find some trees/shrubs. If you are not so fortunate as to have them on your property (my house came with 7!), you can easily find them. Look for red/purple stains on sidewalks. If it is public property, harvest as you please. If it is on someone's property, technically you can harvest anything overhanging the sidewalk, but it is better to ask. I can almost guarantee that you'll never have someone say no; they'll just be happy to have less of a mess (hint: frame this as you being a kind-hearted person selflessly helping them avoid said mess). Check parks as well. In my neighborhood, I have dozens of trees, so I am never in want.

Now, a mulberry is not a mulberry is not a mulberry. In fact, there are a few kinds of mulberries and they are all slightly different. Red mulberries are native to North America. White mulberries were imported from Asia with the intent of creating a silk trade here. That didn't work out and now these are considered an invasive species (so really, by eating them so they don't grow new trees, you are doing a public service). This does not necessarily refer to the color of the berries when ripe, and they can also hybridize. Many mulberries start green, then ripen through white, pink, red and finally to a rich purple/black color. However, many varieties will be ripe at red, pink, lavender, or even white! The varieties that are red or purple when ripe tend to taste the best and have the most pronounced flavor. White and lavender varieties tend to be on the bland side. They are super sweet but lack the tartness that balances it out. I harvest whatever I can get. I prefer the red and purple ones for eating fresh, but the white ones are fine when mixed with others in baked goods and sauces. And honestly, I'll take whatever I can get. In my neighborhood, I've found that the tree that gives lavender berries has the largest berries, so I get more bulk by harvesting that tree.

The leaves are serrated and can be either heart shaped or lobed. Generally, the younger trees tend to have lobes. See photos.

So how do you tell if a mulberry is ripe? Basically, it's ripe if it is laying on the ground. Many people mistakenly think you pick mulberries, but this is guaranteed to leave you with fewer berries and most of them unripe. When mulberries are fully ripe, they drop off the tree at the slightest touch. If you go to pick one, 50 fully ripe berries will drop to the ground. If you have to pull at all, they aren't ripe yet.

When you have found your tree, watch it carefully. Once you see a few berries laying on the ground, grab a tarp or old sheet. Lay the tarp under the tree and shake the branches. You can use a hoe or stick to get higher branches if needed. All of the ripe berries will drop onto your sheet and you just pick it up at the corners and carry in your harvest. It's that simple. Not only will this give you the best berries, but you'll be able to harvest huge amounts in no time.

The berries don't all ripen at once, so you will need to go back a few times to get more. This is ideal though because you can get just what you need over a longer period of time.

Ripe purple mulberries

When you plan to use them, you'll want to clean them well to get rid of dirt and the tiny bugs they often have. Just submerge in water and remove the bugs that float. A couple washes should be sufficient.

They won't keep long, just a few days in the refrigerator. If you need to keep them longer, either cook them and store the cooked berries in the refrigerator or toss into the freezer. They are delicate, so avoid manhandling them. Don't store in deep containers as the berries on the bottom will be crushed.

A lot of people recommend clipping off the tiny green stems before using. Honestly, I don't have time for that. I use the berry whole and have never felt that the final quality suffered for it. If you decide that you need to, use scissors or nail clippers to easily (although not quickly) remove them. And if you are going to use them for juice, jelly or syrup, leave them on and strain them out.

If you are not one to wear the purple hands as a badge of honor, there are two methods to remove the stains. Rub lemons/lemon juice on your hands or rub unripe fruit on your hands then wash them with soap.

Use them as you would other blackberries or raspberries. Use in muffins, cobblers, crisps or scones.

Toss a few into your morning smoothie. The flavor won't stand out much, but it is a good, nutritive filler and adds some nice color (if you use a darker berry).

Add to oatmeal or toss in with cold cereal such as bran flakes.

These make an excellent pie. In fact, it is my favorite berry pie. They would be lovely in little tarts or a cooked puree added to thumbprint cookies.

Add whole to cheesecake or swirl in a cooked puree.

Add to pancake batter. Double points if you serve with a syrup made of the berries (Cook them down in a little water and a healthy amount of sugar, then run through a strainer).

Make a berry sauce or ice cream topping.

Put them in parfaits, popsicles, slushies.

You can juice them, I suppose, although I've never tried. You could also make wine.

Use in tea.

Make ice cream or sorbet.

Mulberries are a fantastic fruit for the frugal foodie or aspiring homesteader. Free, low maintenance, great nutrition and a lovely flavor make this one of my favorite plants for growing my own food.

Give it a try! You'll love it!

Summertime Food Scrounging

I don't know if it's some leftover primal urge leftover from our hunter gather days, whether it's the excuse of getting out into the sun, or maybe just a bit of wild desperation for nature after a long, cold Ohio winter has kept me under lock and key for months. For whatever reason, when the days are getting warm, I get to food scrounging.

Over winter, I eat a lot of foods that I put up over the previous warm season. Smoothies are made of frozen berries foraged in the neighborhood. Work snacks are crabapple candy, delicious sweet-sour treats of dehydrated "waste" fruit. Soups are made of a handful of this dehydrated goody and that bag of frozen greens and that ham bone that's been waiting in the freezer for a chance to shine. By the time June comes along, the pantry is a little more bare, the selection a bit more paltry. So out I go to restock the larder and prepare again for the cold days that will come.

Anyone who follows this page knows that I have two primary ways to cut my grocery spending: gardening and salvage grocery shopping. Both are fantastic ways to trim back the budget. Gardening requires little money, but lots and lots of time. Salvage grocery shopping takes little more time than regular grocery shopping, but still takes a fair amount of money. So while foraging doesn't make up a large percentage of the yearly calories, it is a worthwhile pursuit. It takes little time, compared to a full season of gardening, and it takes absolutely no money. It also adds lots of variety to the diet that would otherwise be impossible. Wild foods are very nutritious and can be delicious.

Starting out in early spring, but still viable in early summer, is foraging for wild greens. They are best early, and by this time of year (June) are a bit bitter. However, even now, they're worthwhile, especially if the bitter greens are going into a robust dish with lots of garlic and cream. Dandelion greens are the best green to get started with simply because everyone knows what dandelion looks like. You don't have to worry about accidentally poisoning your family (provided you pick from a yard you know is unsprayed). Harvest those dandelion leaves when they are tiny and haven't flowered yet for the tastiest treat. Once they flower, they are tougher and more bitter, so you'll want to use them in cooked dishes, rather than fresh salads.

Creasy greens with a baby bud in the center.

I also harvest creasy greens. These are a southern favorite that should be a northern favorite too. I love them steamed or tossed into a stir fry. Once they send up a flower stalk, stop harvesting the leaves, but then, oh then, you get the stalks. They look like mini broccoli stalks and taste like a wilder broccoli. Trucker loves broccoli, but I've never been able to grow it in my garden. This year I only harvested enough for us to eat fresh, but next year I plan to freezer in meal-sized portions for winter.

Research the wild greens that grow in your area, sample them and harvest bucketloads of the ones you like. To preserve them, simply steam them until they wilt, then cool and pack into freezer bags. Depending on family size, you can pack 1, 2 or 4 cups into each bag. Freeze flat for maximum storage in the freezer. Pull out a bag at a time to reheat as a steamed vegetable, add to omelets/frittata/quiche/souffle, or mix into a dip, similar to spinach dip but with free greens. Creasy green flower buds can be steamed or boiled a couple minutes, then dunked into an ice bath before packing in freezer bags.

Dandelion flowers can be fried for perfect fritters or the petals added to fresh salads. If you want to fill your larder with them, think of dandelion wine, dandelion jelly or dandelion syrup.

Edible flowers (Violets, Grape Hyacinths) add pretty color
to salads. Candied violets are great for cake decorating.

If you live in morel country, then it is the best foraging to be done. Nothing, absolutely nothing compares to a morel. If you have good huntin' ground, eat as many as you can fresh, as this is the best way to enjoy them. If you are really lucky and get a huge harvest, you can dehydrate them to use in winter. I once saw dried morels for sale for $230/lb.

Violets are edible and prolific, at least in my garden beds. You can eat the flowers or leaves in salads, or you could steam and freeze the greens. The flowers can be added to tea blends, mixed into sugar for a floral note for teas, or candied for decorating desserts.

Then it's berry season. For me, that means mulberries. When I was a kid, my grandma used to take me out mulberry picking. We'd pick bushes of them. After a long day of picking, Grandpa would come home and we'd all sit down to bowls of mulberries with milk. It's still my favorite way to eat them, but I do preserve some for winter. There are two main types of mulberries: red (which ripen to almost black) and white (which start lime green and fade to white when ripe). Then there are hybrids which can be pink or white with purple frosting. I prefer red berries to all other kinds due to the taste, but the other kinds don't stain the hands as badly. To harvest, you can pick them by hand, but it is labor intensive and wasteful. When mulberries are fully ripe, they fall off the tree at the drop of a hat, so if you pick one berry, five more fall to the ground. Instead, lay down a sheet or a blanket you don't care about. Gently shake the branches over the sheet. The perfectly ripe berries will fall onto the sheet. just grab the corners to pile the berries together, then bag up. This makes harvesting a breeze and you can get a whole tree harvested in twenty minutes. You can also harvest wild blackberries or raspberries if they grow in your area. These taste fantastic and you'll love them more than anything sold in stores. I freeze them on cookie sheets; one frozen solid, they are packed into freezer bags to dump a little at a time into smoothies or to eat as a chilly snack later on in summer.

Plantain seeds air drying on a cookie sheet.

Broad-leaved plantain is an edible green, but also provides some healthy seeds. When the stalks are mature and the tips of each seed is starting to turn slightly brown, I harvest them by the handfuls. I strip the seeds from the stalk by gripping near the top and pulling back to the base while holding it over a big bowl to catch the falling seeds. I don't worry about the immature seeds at the top. It doesn't add up to a lot, but it is nutrient rich and provides good variety. I use them in teas for respiratory problems sometimes, but often, I just crush some seeds into any baked goods/pizza crusts I'm making for extra fiber. It provides nominal cost benefits, but good nutrition. It also is nice, relaxing work for a warm evening with a beer on the patio, so I continue to do it.

Any and all surplus greens from the garden, and some wild greens are preserved into green powder. This bitter-as-heck powder has nothing going for it, flavor-wise, but is a healthy addition to the diet. I use greens with bad texture, like the full-sized greens on a radish bulb, carrot greens or tough dandelion greens. I dehydrate them until they are bone dry, then crumble them by hand or in the blender until they are a course powder. This powder is a nutritional powerhouse, and is an easy addition to meatloaf, casseroles, green smoothies, even brownies, anything that could use a little more veg. I try to limit its use to dishes with strong flavors to mask the bitterness. In winter, even that bitterness is welcome when there is such a limit to veg.

Crabapples waiting to be processed.

All season long, I keep an eye out for feral fruit trees. I know of countless crab apple trees, several apple trees, and 3 pear trees. All of these trees litter the sidewalks of hapless homeowners who don't connect the rotting fruit on ground with the self-sufficient thoughtfulness of previous owners. Since they don't want to bother with it, I help them out. Since I'm harvesting the stuff, they don't have to clean off their sidewalk. It's a public service, really. For apples and crabapples, taste them occasionally. Once they taste good, harvest. For pears, I tend to wait until I see the first pear on the ground, then harvest the tree clean. These apples and pears might not be the tastiest, but can be used creatively. Juice them with other apples, pears or other fruits. Add them to applesauce. Bake with them. Dehydrate them into chips. Blend with other, more tasty fruit and dehydrate into fruit leathers. If there aren't too many bug holes, they will even store in the frig for months.

Crabapple candy ready to go into the dehydrators.

Crabapples are a special thing. They take effort to use, due to their small size, but they are fantastic. They add great zing to apple juice, cider or sauce. The bright red ones in particular add fantastic color to a basic sauce. I add them to apple crisp for a bit of color. My favorite, albeit labor-intensive way to use crabapples is to make crabapple candy. I cut each crabapple into halves or quarters, then pop out any seeds. I toss in sugar until it is coated well. I load them onto dehydrator trays and dry until leathery. These candies are delicious, and while not a health food, go a long way to reduce consumption of scary store-bought candy. I think they are like a chewier sour patch kid.

Many herbal teas can be put up from foraged weeds. Use a dehydrator for quick drying to minimize flavor loss. If you don't have a dehydrator, use a low oven or hang in a cool dry place. Pineapple weed (related to Chamomile) is my favorite wild tea. It has a lovely exotic tropical floral taste and scent. You can also dry violets, dandelion leaves, mints, dead nettles, clover blossoms, strawberry leaves, or many more. Dandelion roots can make a mock coffee that's to die for.

By the end of the summer, I like to have scores of different wild foods put up for later. It makes winter much more enjoyable to pop open some jar of summery goodness and remember that spring will come again.

Dandelion Coffee

I love the real stuff, but there are plenty of benefits to brewing caffeine-free dandelion “coffee”: It’s a great tonic; it uses something that is otherwise considered an invasive weed; it’s an easy DIY project; and it’s free! It’s also as local as you can get, since you can dig dandelion roots right out of your yard. And unlike coffee, you can make it almost anywhere.

You'll need:
* in-ground dandelion weeds
* trowel
* veggie brush
* skiller
* coffee grinder

Dandelion roots are best dug in either early spring or late fall. Whenever you dig, be sure you’re doing so in a chemical-free yard or green space. Dandelion roots go deep, so dig deep down before firmly pulling up on the root, using the top of the plant as a handle. Whenever you are breaking sod on a new garden bed or weeding an existing bed, set aside the dandelions as the hard part is already done.

Once you have a large quantity dug, cut off the entire top part of the plants. (If you harvest in early spring, the leaves are awesome as a salad or a cooked green.

The roots are very dirty, so you need to take care to clean them thoroughly. They will be easier to clean if you let them soak in water for a half hour. Run the roots under cold water and use the veggie brush to clean them well. Repeat until the water runs clear. Dry them on a towel.

Chop them into small pieces. Allow them to air dry for two weeks. When the roots have thoroughly dried, roast them in a dry skillet, stirring frequently, until they are a dark, rich brown—about 10 to 15 minutes. Then grind them in a coffee grinder.

You can brew a "coffee" straight from the ground dandelion roots or you can mix the ground roots 50-50 with coffee. If you’re going roots only, use 1 Tbsp roasted dandelion roots per cup of water. I usually do the 50-50 version and brew it in my coffee pot, although you can also simmer the ground roots in a saucepan on the stove top until the liquid is a rich brown and then strain out the roots.


Either way, the brew is earthy, nutty and slightly sweet—perfect as is, or you can dress it up with cream and sugar. (It does have a slightly sweet flavor on its own, so I skip the sugar.) Dandelion roots have no caffeine, so dandelion coffee is ideal for evening sipping or for those who are trying to cut back on the hard stuff. Enjoy.


I originally published this on Homegrown.


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Broadleaf Plantain

Now is the time of year when I'm really starting to get into putting food by. I always feel a little more secure knowing that my food stores will see us through the roughest weeks of winter. I don't currently put up enough food to not have to shop for groceries at all, but I try to keep enough on hand to keep grocery bills modest and provide a bit of safety in case of winter weather emergency. Any time I can get free food to put by, I'm thrilled.

Broadleaf plantain  (plantago major) is such a food. It's nutritious, versatile, free and easy to preserve. The seeds are rich in fiber and are a great way to add back some nutrition to white-flour based baked goods. They make a nutritious tea and can be added to a variety of dishes.

It's insanely easy to harvest and preserve. The day before you mow your lawn (so the stalks have plenty of time to mature and you get the largest stalks possible), simply walk around the yard and yank up any large stalks that are mature. What you are looking for is green stalks with the slightest bit of brown on the tips of the seeds. If it's pure green, they aren't fully mature and will be harder to strip. If it's pure brown they are also harder to strip and may be too old. Get at least a huge handful to make it worth the effort. It's best to let them sit for a couple of days on the counter before stripping the seeds. This lets the stalks dry out just a little so they don't break as easily.

I like to watch gardening videos on youtube while stripping them. It's mindless work, and gives me an excuse to sit down and relax with another Wisconsin Vegetable Gardeners video. To harvest, simply grasp the stalk at the top and pull your fingers towards the bottom while holding the stalk over a large bowl or cookie sheet. You'll end up with a small handful of tiny seeds. Some seeds will scatter, so it's best to do this at a table so you can sweep them up. 

After you have them stripped, you can air dry them. I simply put them in a thin layer on a cookie sheet, and throw them in a cabinet for a couple of weeks (or a couple of months by the time I remember). When they are fully dry, put them in an air tight jar. If you want to speed things along, use a dehydrator on a low-medium setting and check after a few hours, or use a low oven. 

To use them, you can either make a tea by pouring a cup of boiling water over a heaping tablespoon of the dry seeds.  This has a grassy flavor, but it is not unpleasant. My favorite way to use them is to add fiber and nutrients to baked goods. I replace up to 1/5 of the flour in a recipe with ground up plantain seeds when making pizza dough, highly flavored muffins, or even pancakes. If using a smaller amount, the taste isn't noticeable, but if you want to use a larger amount, make sure that there are other strong flavors to outweigh it. I've even mixed a small amount into granola.

If you are making tea, you can leave them whole. If you are adding them to baked goods, it's best to grind them up. I usually just pinch a small amount and smash them with my fingers a bit. If you want a more uniform grind or want to grind a large amount at once, use a blender or coffee grinder and then work through a sieve, regrinding the larger pieces as needed. These store really well over the winter. The longest I've kept some in storage was a year and a half, and they weren't rancid at that time, so feel free to put up a lot.

The leaves are also edible, but are best when young and tender. Harvest them while small and use like you would spinach. You could also dehydrate some of the leaves to add to your veggie powder jar. You can also use leaves of any age as a poultice for wounds. Just mash/chew up a leaf or two and place on the wound. Place a bandage or cloth over the area to hold in place. The young, softer green shoots can be steamed or stir-fried.

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