URBAN FARM: Juneberries: Strawberries, raspberries, and mulberries

Summer is almost upon us, and though we’re in the midst of a scorching drought, there are some berries to be had. The Factory Farm has yielded a few handfuls of strawberries…

and Caroline raspberries… which have been small but full of concentrated flavor.

But the real bounty is over at the house… the mulberry hedge just won’t stop (I think that’s a good thing, and so do the chickens when they get to go out in the yard)! I pulled out a tarp and shook down a bowlful to make jelly, with lots of lime juice and a bit of zest as mulberries on their own can be a bit insipid. The S.’s dad asked what I planned to do with that bowl of mulberries, as he’d never heard of anyone making anything out of them (other than stains on their driveways, perhaps)… this coming from a guy who lived on squirrel while in engineering school in Missouri. He has a pretty dry sense of humor, so this was probably one of the times he was making a joke when I thought he was serious, which is most of the time. They make a fine jelly!

Next time I’ll use pectin… it has a quite cooked fruit flavor from simmering long enough to thicken on its own, but still pretty tasty. There are some seeds in there, as the jelly bag for the strainer was back at the studio and I didn’t want to go back again to get it… but no matter. Good stuff, especially on the homemade rolls leftover from the bbq the night before! Those are mulberry leaves in the background. Our backyard looks downright bucolic in photo stills… the camera may not lie but it can sure leave a lot out if you want it to.