Whenever I see black mulberry at the market, I remember the mythological story in the book Metamorpheses written by Ovid, a Roman poet. I read this story at my university years and was so much impressed by it. The story takes place in Babylon, where mulberry finds the suitable climate.
There are two lovers in the story, Pyramus and Thisbe. They loved each other so much since their childhood, but their parents were against this love. Their houses were side by side and they would whisper their love to each other through a fissure in the wall separating their houses. One night they decided to escape from their houses and meet under a tree. It was a tall tree full of white berries. At that night, Thisbe arrived first, but saw a wild lion there with a bloody mouth. This was enough to scare her, and she ran away towards a dark cave. However, she dropped her veil on her way.
A little time later, Pyramus arrived and saw the lion with Thisbe’s veil in its bloody mouth. He started to cry feeling a big regret not coming earlier. He thought that his beloved was eaten by the lion. He knew that he couldn’t live without Thisbe, he grabbed his sword and killed himself under the tree. His blood sprinkled on the tree and its fruits turned into a blackish-red color. (The tree in this picture is from our neighbor's yard when the fruits were not ripe enough)
After some time, Thisbe decided to go back to their meeting place not to disappoint her beloved. Unfortunately, when she returned, she saw the body of Pyramus under the mulberry tree. What a destiny they had! She cried and cried and cried. Her tears dropped on the beloved body and cleaned it from blood. She understood that Pyramus killed himself because he thought that she was eaten by the lion. Death didn’t have enough power to separate these lovers. Thisbe did exactly the same to reach her beloved through death and she placed the sword directly into her heart. Her body fell on the body of Pyramus. Witnessing all these, the tree has the color of Pyramus’s blood on its berries and Thisbe’s tears on its leaves.
What is more interesting about black mulberry tree is hidden in this story. You know when you touch the black berries with naked hand, your hands turn into a blackish color. And it is very hard to remove this color from your hand. Do you know what removes it? Its leaves! If you pick a leaf from the tree itself and rub your hand with it, you will see that your hand turns into its own color.
As I knew this incredible truth about this tragic black mulberry fruit, I asked for a few leaves from the salesman to clean my hands. He gave the ones he was using for decorating his fruit stand. And guess what? It really worked!
I don’t know how many people know this story, but many people love to eat black mulberry. It’s getting more and more popular as doctors explain that it is a great source of antioxidant and has many benefits for our body. It protects our hearts and it defers getting old. It cleans the blood, so it is recommended to anemia patients. It also removes fatigue and curative for mouth and throat infections.
We love to eat this fruit, but we can find it in a limited time of year, so to make it longer, I make black mulberry jam to eat it in Winter, too.
Wash the mulberries well and cut their stems one by one.
In a large pot, put one layer mulberries one layer sugar until both finish. Cover the pot and wait it at least 8 hours. You can do this step overnight.
When you remove its cover, you will see that mulberries release their water with the help of sugar. Add ½ cup water in this pot and put it over medium heat. Bring it to boil and keep boiling for 20 minutes. When you see it starts to get a consistency, you’re on the right way. Finally squeeze half lemon juice and boil it for 5 minutes more. Then take it from fire. Let it cool.
To have the best result, cover the top of the pot with a very thin veil and wait it under sun at your balcony or garden. This will help your jam to get the right consistency and to get more delicious.
We love to eat this jam at breakfast spreading it on a slice of bread with cheese.
PrintBlack Mulberry Jam
Black mulberry jam for breakfast or cakes.
- Prep Time: 8 hours 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 9 hours
- Yield: 1 jar 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients
- 1 kilo (2.2 pounds) black mulberry
- 1 kilo sugar
- ½ lemon
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Wash the mulberries well and cut off their stems.
- In a large pot, put one layer mulberries one layer sugar until both finish. Cover the pot and wait it at least 8 hours.
- Add ½ cup water in this pot and put it over medium heat. Bring it to boil and keep boiling for 20 minutes.
- Finally squeeze half lemon juice and boil it for 5 minutes more.
- Then take it from fire. Let it cool.
- Share into jars.
Keywords: mulberries, mulberry jam, jam making
Alf Grimbeek says
I studied Latin at school including Ovid!! I realy enjoid your beautiful background to the makig of mulberry jam !!! Very v v nice !!!! Alf
Trish in New Mexico says
Just wondered what kind of cheese you're eating it with ... looks like a hard cheese? and it looks yummy! Great recipe, thanks!
Zerrin says
Laura- Thank you for visiting my site. I was on vacation and I'm just back, so sorry for this late reply. You asked how I store the jam until winter. In Turkey, we generally make jams during summer as a preperation for winter as we consume more jam in cold days. I just put the jam in glass jars and keep these jars in a dark(away from sunlight) and dry place. Also, the covers of jars shouldn't be loose so that it doesn't take air in it. You can keep the jams in this way for months. Check your jam occasionally for about a week, if you see something bad on it, just throw that part away and put the jam in refrigerator.
Hope you enjoy the recipe.
laura says
I have 2 mulberry trees in by back yard, i have lived hrer for 8 yrs and this yr. is the first time that i have picked them. I have started freezing them for later use. I can't wait to try the jam, but how do you store the jam until winter?
thanks Laura
McLaughlin says
My backyard is just full of berries and can't wait for them to be ready to eat!
rowena says
Zerrin you make me want to plant my own mulberry tree in my garden! I greatly appreciate the legend of Pyramus and Thisbe, and of course the helpful hint about the leaves. Wonderful post!
Tangled Noodle says
What a tragic and yet enchanting myth! I wasn't familiar with the entire story, having only read a reference to it Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". That the leaves, supposedly anointed by Thisbe's tears, can clean away the berries' stain (from Pyramus' blood) makes you wonder if it's more than just a myth!
This mulberry jam looks delicious- I don't think I've ever tried jam with cheese. Wonderful!
vanessa says
Oh no! All the mulberries are gone here and I am dying to try the leaf trick!
thepinkpeppercorn says
Delicious!
Kevin says
That looks like a really nice way to enjoy some mulberries!
OysterCulture says
I love that the bar is called "give recipe" very appropriate that you stop by to forget the stress of work! I look forward to trying some Mulberry Jam.!
Sophie says
Lovely jam, I love it! Yum on a slice of fresh spelt bread!
Diana says
We have bunches of mulberry trees growing around the edges of the ravine and they are just becoming ripe now. My husband uses ours for juicing, but a mulberry jam would be delicous too.
Leesie says
I had a mulberry tree in New Jersey where I grew up! This brings back wonderful memories for me. Every season we would go out and pick them off the tree and pop them in our mouths, or pick a bowl full and bring them inside for a later treat. We never made jam though - I bet it is delicious. Thanks Zerrin 🙂
lisaiscooking says
Your jam looks fantastic especially with the bread and cheese! So interesting about the leaves removing stains too.
jenn says
Wonderful tale for the mulberry. I love mythology. Sort of reminded me of Romeo and Juliet in a way. Hmmm...I wonder if that was Shakespeare's inspiration for the story. Most likely.
Not sure if I've had the mulberry before. But it looks really delicious. I love all kinds of berries.
Reeni says
This brought back memories for me. We had black mulberry trees on our property when I was a kid - my sister and cousin and I would play under them for hours and eat all the berries our little tummies could handle. They looked like umbrella trees - we would hide in them. Our hands and faces would be stained - I never knew the leaves would take that away - how cool! Making a jam from them sounds wonderful!
Natasha - 5 Star Foodie says
I've been seeing all these different berries on different blogs and at first I think - I've never had these before and then I look at the picture carefully and go to google translate to realize that these berries I actually did have in my childhood and so had no idea what they are called in English 🙂 Same with mulberries.
Every summer we spent in the village and the farm house we stayed at had a huge mulberry tree. I remember my mom used to put my brother on the tree in just his swimming suit and he would be completely blue and black by the time he's finished with his snack, then it was time to go swimming in the river 🙂
elra says
Wow,
your Mulberry jam look so good. I've never seen Mulberry trees before, how sad is that? I've to search to see if this tree can grow in California. Looks so pretty.