Mulberries

That photo of freshly picked mulberries is making me hungry.
But I will never share the secret hiding places of some of my favorite trees because as soon as I tell someone, I don't have berries to pick any more.
When I was growing up we had one venerable and prolific tree at the north end of our farm and we would gather bowls and buckets and a creaky ladder and climb onto the old Ford tractor for a ride to pick mulberries. What a treat!
That land and the tree were eventually sold, and while we would still occasionally stop for a handful of berries while on a walk, the berries from that tree were feeding chickens and children that belonged to someone else.

Since we have moved into the old log farmhouse it seems that mulberry trees have been springing up all over our property and we couldn't be happier. The birds sow them and we reap! Yummy.

In 2011 I wrote a post on a now defunct Century Farmhouse blog about the berries and included one of my favorite berry tart recipes. You certainly don't need mulberries to make the tart, but this dessert is one way to enjoy this elusive but very tasty fruit.

Here's what I wrote in June of 2011:

All Around the Mulberry Bush

A sure sign of late June is the purple stain on my lips. A certain sign that I've walked past all the mulberry trees along my four-mile walking route is the fact that all the ripe berries reachable by a 5'4" person are gone.

I LOVE mulberries and they are in season now!

At the end of our driveway is a mulberry tree and it is loaded. Well, it was , but I couldn't pass it without stopping for a handful or three.

My husband and I formally picked mulberries this evening --- by "formally," I mean we took a bowl with us. He brought the ladder. I carried the bowl --- more berries to snack on that way.

When I was growing up, the nearest mulberry tree was one-half mile away, at the northernmost spot on our farm. We'd hike there or sometimes take the tractor that had the front-end bucket to stand in. (That tree is now owned by our neighbors, and don't tell them that the tree is on my regular walking route morning and night during mulberry season)! For a jar of mulberry jam, another neighbor even now allows us to pick from trees on his land. It is very good to have neighbors.

The first taste of mulberries reminds me of my grandmother's kuchens. (If you're German, kuchen is pronounced KOO-hen with a throaty little cough-like sound from the back of the throat on the "h" of the second syllable. I tell you this because my father MADE us pronounce it correctly when we were growing up. He is from Germany. He knows.) And the perfect recipe for any fruit kuchen comes from true Americana: the local church cookbook.

Our Favorite Recipes was published by St. John's Guild of West Bend, Wisconsin in 1949 by
the Ladies of St. John's Ev. Lutheran Church. The book is known in our family as "The St. John's Lutheran Cookbook" and truly has been our favorite cookbook for generations. My grandmother had the 1949 edition, my mother has the 1959 edition, and my battered copy was published in 1976; our older daughters each have a copy of a more modern edition.

Esther Klein's Fruit Kuchens recipes are on page 35 of my 1976 book. (By the way, if you ever find a copy of this book, all of Esther Klein's recipes are winners!)

Esther Klein's Fruit Kuchens

Dough: 2T. butter

1 egg plus milk to fill 1/2 cup

1/4 c. sugar

1 1/4 c. flour

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt (I use only a shake of salt)

Mix dry ingredients, cut in butter as with pastry. Beat egg slightly and add milk, combine with dry ingredients until a dough forms. Roll or pat 1/4" thick in greased coffee cake pan (about 8-inch square - the recipe will line the bottoms of two 8-inch square pans).

For apple, peach, raspberry, or other sweet fruit (mulberries!):

Place sliced fruit in rows on dough, or arrange smaller berries. Cover with a streusel (pronounced STROI-zel) topping (recipe follows) or cover with the following custard :

Beat 1 egg, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 T. cream. Pour over fruit. Sprinkle with cinnamon (optional). Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. Reduce heat to 325 degrees F. and bake another 15 -20 minutes.

For cherries or plums (tart fruit) Use the same custard recipe as above, but use 1 1/2 c. sugar on the fruit.

Streusel for Coffee Cake by Mrs. Elmer E. Tews, pg. 43, 1976 edition:

1 c. sifted flour

1 c. sugar

1/2 t. salt (I use one dash)

1/4 lb. chilled butter (1 stick), cut in pieces

Blend in a bowl using your fingers. Use on a fruit kuchen or on coffee cake. There will be extra streusel left - it can be kept in the refrigerator for weeks.