IT'S MULBERRY SEASON!

Once again it is that time of the year when those who have a mulberry tree in their back yard suddenly find their fingers turning purple, stained clothes are being sent to the laundry to get the purple juice out of them and Mr.Google is kept busy trying to find multiple recipes to use up the luscious berries before they disappear again for another year.

This year I wanted to try out a few different recipes other than Mulberry Pie and I did find a couple that I thought would be tasty but I cut down on the amount of sugar in the ingredients and the results were not good as the mulberries tasted quite bland. 

As I had been waiting since September when the mulberries were...

just forming ....

...then turning red...

...and finally to purple, I was very excited when there were enough ripe ones to experiment with a few recipes. I had a couple of tries at making Linda Woodrow's Mulberry Black Forest Cupcakes from her eBook The Muesli Bar Challenge. However, as I already mentioned, I cut back on the amount of sugar in the ingredients and also replaced the flour with coconut flour and it just didn't taste all that wonderful. I should try them again using the recommended ingredients. 

I finally had success with the Mulberry Cobbler recipe from Circle B Kitchen although the finished product doesn't look quite the same as the cobbler on that site.

 

 Still....with a 'little' cream poured over it was very tasty and we all had our sugar hit for the day!

The next recipe to try out will be Mulberry Ice Cream from a recipe I found after doing a search for mulberry recipes on Pinterest. I have already made yoghurt for the ice cream to it will be interesting to see what it tastes like. There are heaps of recipes on Pinterest so check them out if you would like to try something different. 

On Pinterest there are links to sites where you can read about the health benefits of mulberries such as the fact that it is a 'natural cognitive enhancer and neuroprotectant' but I had a laugh at the recommendation to apply mulberry juice to grey hair as it would result in 'blacking of the hair'. :-) I think it would result in the hair turning purple...and the pillow one slept on! 

So before we know it mulberry season will be over.

Then our Jaboticaba tree will be laden with fruit as the branches were covered with flowers last week so it will be a busy time picking and preserving them. They are a bit like the mulberries as they also have a short season.

Backyard fruit trees can be a real joy to have if the birds, possums and flying foxes don't eat all the fruit. If you have a mulberry tree I would be keen to know any favourite recipes you have for using up the fruit. That is...if the fruit gets as far as the kitchen. :-)