Messy mul­berry trees grow all over our fair city, drop­ping their fruit all over the place and stain­ing side­walks, court­yards and inno­cent umbrel­las. But the mul­berry tree has a remark­able legacy that goes back thou­sands of years and has influ­enced trade and cul­ture, leg­ends and mythol­ogy from China, to Turkey, from the Roman Empire to an English Nursery Rhyme.

“Here we go round the mul­berry bush,

The mul­berry bush,

The mul­berry bush.

Here we go round the mul­berry bush

On a cold and frosty morning.”

The ancient Romans were crazy for mul­ber­ries, show­cas­ing the fruit in elab­o­rate feasts. In Ovid’s Tragedy Pyramus and Thisbe, the orig­i­nal Romeo and Juliet, the two ill –fated Babylonian lovers bleed to death under the shade of a mul­berry tree, turn­ing the white berries to crim­son. The gods, moved by the tragedy, for­ever change the colour of the mul­berry fruit to hon­our the for­bid­den love.

Pyramus and Thisbe

Mulberry trees orig­i­nally came to Turkey thou­sands of years ago on the Silk Road from China; their leaves are a source of food for silk­worms. This is one of the rea­sons that mul­berry trees were imported to North America as well, but the silk indus­try in the U.S. never really caught on. Still, we have lots of these trees. And mul­berry jams, wines, muffins and pies, so all is not lost. And hap­pily for us, we have dried mul­ber­ries as well.

Dried Turkish Mulberries are not your every­day ingre­di­ent, but they are a sur­pris­ingly delight­ful dried fruit that are strangely addic­tive. The dried white Turkish Mulberries pack­aged by Navitas are organ­i­cally grown, shaken from the trees and sun dried.

Known as “toot” in cen­tral Asia, dried mul­ber­ries are chewy lit­tle gems that have a myr­iad of uses. Mixed into gra­nola, trail mix, or tum­bled atop your favorite hot cereal, they can take the place of golden raisins, dried cran­ber­ries or chopped figs in bran muffins and pan­cakes and are not out of place on a cheese plate with an assort­ment of nuts.

Fresh mul­ber­ries have been used for cen­turies to make wine, and are lit­er­ally steeped in folk med­i­cine, thus gain­ing the moniker “Turkish Superfruit”, due to their high vit­a­min C con­tent. Packed with iron, dried mul­ber­ries are also a good source of resver­a­trol, the anti-oxidant com­pound in red wine that is thought to pro­tect against heart disease.  In addi­tion, mul­ber­ries are one of the few fruits con­sid­ered to be a respectable source of protein-3 grams per ounce– and are rich in cal­cium and fiber as well.

The next time you come across that messy bit of side­walk, the mul­berry tree drop­ping its loot all over the place and gum­ming up your Louboutins, may you see the remark­able fruit in a whole new light.