OT: Mulberries (and other berries too)

Khukuri Monster

Khukuri Monster

Joined
Aug 4, 2004
Messages
373
Does anybody have some good recipies for black mulberries? I found several trees growing amongst some old grape vines, and I would like to do something with the berries. From what I've read so far, the only thing people use mulberries for is jam.

Lately I've been picking a bunch of wild black raspberries. It seems like a good year for them here in Michigan. It seems to me that the flavor of the wild berries is much stronger than the ones we have growing in our garden - plus you don't have to weed, prune, or water them. They take care of themself.

Today I found a wild yellow raspberry plant. It was strange, since the berries were small like the black raspberries, and the yellow berry even tasted pretty much the same. The flavor was a little weaker and less tart. I'm thinking that maybe a wild plant got cross-pollinated with a domestic yellow raspberry, since it was growing right by the beehive.

Does anybody know if it is possible to make a nice quality leather dye from berry juices? I know the mulberries and black raspberries are excellent at staining my hands. I tried straight berry juice on a strip of leather, and it turned kind of a light purplish red. Not a good color for knife sheaths. What I'm looking for is more of a burgundy color.

Maybe I could mix the juice with some brown dye to darken it. I don't know how the color will hold up over time, though.
 
KM, my Grandma had a big mulberry tree, and what fruit she didn't leave for the birds went for jam and wine.
 
Here's what to do with the raspberries, although it would work with the mulberries also.

Raspberry Barkshack Gingermead

8 lbs Meadowfoam honey
2 oz freshly grated ginger
8 lbs crushed raspberries
3 oz lemongrass, lemon and orange peel (I use dried)
1/4 lb corn sugar
1.5 tsp gypsum
1 tsp citric acid
1/4 tsp Irish moss
3 tsp yeast nutrient
1 pkg Premier Cuvee yeast
3/4 c corn sugar for bottling


Boil 5 gallons of water. Add the honey, ginger and raspberries, and corn sugar. Return to boil add irish moss and turn off.

Cool to 80 degrees and add yeast and yeast nutrient. Put in primary fermenter and let go about a week to 10 days. After fermentations slows strain out fruit and put into 5 gallon glass fermenter with a fermentation lock.
Let go for several months more, add 3/4 cup corn sugar and then bottle.

Let age 1 to 2 years. It's like a hot dry raspberry champagne that will knock your socks off.
 
Until the Mulberry wine got to her anyway...

.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top