Who knew!?

Of course Mulberries are on my brain... OK, maybe in my case, it's more correct to say they are on my fingers and toes (as previously mentioned in the blog!). But did you know there are a TON of really good nutritional benefits that includes essential amino acids, fiber, Calcium, Phosphorus, potassium and Magnesium. And while I can not attest to all of these, Mulberries are knows to help in these ways as well:

• Enhancing the body's immunity.
• Strengthens eyesight.
• Improves digestion.
• Mulberries sooth the nerves.
• Mulberry helps in containing hypertension.
• They strengthen the liver and kidney.
• Mulberries are helpful in treating constipation.
• Can suppress carcinogens.

I realize all this Mulberry talk goes off on a tangent, but picking this ripe summer bounty is fun for the entire family and provides us with fresh nutritious meals. OK so this next recipe we adapted may not be considered "nutritious" but it sure was a GREAT recipe to try with our Mulberries...

MULBERRY PIE

Ingredients:

• 3 cups mulberries
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 Spice seasoning
• 1 pie pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mix berries with sugar and flour.
3. Prepare pie crust as recommended for a double-crust pie, or use a frozen pastry crust.
4. Place berry mixture into bottom pie crust and sprinkle with 5 Spice season mix.
5. Dot with butter and then cover with top pie crust.
6. Crimp edges, cut slits in upper crust, and brush with milk.
7. Let pie rest in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
8. Bake pie in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for an additional 30 minutes.
9. Remove pie from oven and let sit on wire rack until cool.
10. ENJOY!!!

More Mulberries...

Grandpa is here visiting us for a few days so we took him out to pick more Mulberries and check out how the raspberries were coming along. We ended up with three large buckets of Mulberries and a quart of black raspberries or wild blackberries (whichever one there were they tasted awesome!).

We used the same technique of shaking the tree but were smarter about not standing, kneeling or walking in the berries - Or so we thought! Gramps got the messiest, followed by me, then the kids. But what does one DO with so many berries? We made a bunch of jam that last go around... So I began the search!

I actually found a really good Bisquick scone recipe - and substituted Mulberries into it. They look, smell and more importantly taste REALLY awesome. It is actually a really easy recipe too:

Mulberry Bisquick Scone Recipe

3 cups Bisquick

2 tbsp. Sugar

1 cup fresh Mulberries

1/4 cup milk

2 eggs

For Glaze:

1 egg, well beaten

2 tbsp. Sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In medium bowl combine the baking mix, 2 tablespoons sugar and the berries.

Pour milk in measuring cup. Add the eggs to the milk and mix well with a fork . Stir the liquid into the baking mix until moistened. (Dough will be crumbly - I even debated adding a tad more milk and may do so with the next batch.)

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured baking sheet and pat into a 9 inch round. Brush the dough with the beaten egg, then sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar. Cut the round into 12 wedges. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until golden. (I actually had to add another 5 minutes for the right "look". That could be my oven or it could be the moister berries.)

I actually needed to re-cut the circle after baking since it baked "back together" too...

Serve immediately with butter, jam or the more traditional clloted cream.

Shake The Sugar Tree!

I had a familiar song going through my head this afternoon:

"Here we go 'round the mulberry bush,

The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush.

Here we go 'round the mulberry bush,

So early in the morning.

This is the way we wash our clothes,

Wash our clothes, wash our clothes.

This is the way we wash our clothes,

So early Monday morning."

And believe me after an impromptu Mulberry picking session, wash the clothes we did!

I stopped by my friends house to plant more bean seeds and harvest the last of the summers asparagus. I mentioned wanting to check on the Mulberry trees out back when he said "Oh yea I forgot, they started to ripen just the other day!" Hate to say it but berries wait for no one...

So I called the hubby and had him gather my "stuff" for picking, and pickin' clothes for the kids and I. I use the term pickin', but harvesting Mulberries can be as easy as shaking the tree to loosen the ripe fruit. We just added a drop cloth under the tree and gathered the fruit into buckets - Having perfectly unblemished fruit is NOT ones goal when making jam!

So here I sit, blue fingers and toes (I wore sandals!) and the kids in the tub. But the fresh warm jam that was drizzled over vanilla ice cream was well worth the mess!!!