Correction: Giving Mulberries Their Due

I owe Mulberry trees an apology. I'm not sure if trees keep track of this sort of thing or not (what with their limited Internet access and all), but I do. I recently confirmed that the tree in our backyard is a Mulberry Tree, and that the fruit is edible.

In this post I flippantly remarked that the fruit tastes "somewhere between bland and blah."

After having had fresh mulberries for breakfast for the last few days, I can say that the above statement is somewhere between obnoxious and just plain wrong.

Assuming:

1. You understand that mulberries are going to look like blackberries, but taste different

2. You pick and eat only *ripe* mulberries. And by pick I mean ever-so-gently tap on them, and if they fall off, they are ready, otherwise leave them be

you will find that mulberries are quite delicious. They work especially well in food that's already pretty sweet (like say, ice cream or in cereal with vanilla soy milk).

The other day, as we took a walk through Arlington, I was able to take my friend Mike's advice and fruit from a number of different trees. And sure enough, some are definitely sweeter than others. But assuming they are ripe, they're all pretty decent.

How I've been walking by these trees for years and not nashing on them is beyond me. It's just like discovering raspberries on the trail, except there's no fear that there's a bear hanging out around the corner snacking on the same berry bushes.