What to do with a tree full of mulberries?

[Prairiepiss]

I was outside mowing today and noticed our mulberry tree was full of ripe mulberries. So I guess I will be picking mulberries this weekend. I wasn't expecting them already. But what should I do with them? Make a brandy? Use them for a maseration project? Or just make a wine? Once I pick them do you think it would hurt to rince them off and freeze them. So I could build up a good amount of them.

As a kid I had a tree house kind of thing in a mulberry tree. I would set in it and eat them till I was sick. I have always loved them straight off the tree. Just have never made anything with them before.

[blind drunk]

Whatever you decide ... it will be good

[blanikdog]

Lucky bugger!!!

[Prairiepiss]

Lucky bugger!!!

No the lucky part is every house we have lived in since we moved back home. To many if you ask me. Has had a mulberry tree in the yard. And we now reside in a mobile home park. And there she be in our yard. And a nice one to.

[RUMination]

I know I'm still new here but I thought I would offer my opinion. Freezing them until you have a big supply is a good idea. By freezing, the water will crystalize and pierce the cell walls of the fruit. Then when it thaws again the juice will start coming out very easily. Half your crushing will already be done. Then make a wine with it and perhaps a brandy from that. Should be really nice. Do you know if it is a red, black or white mulberry tree?

[Bushman]

Lucky bugger!!!

No the lucky part is every house we have lived in since we moved back home. To many if you ask me. Has had a mulberry tree in the yard. And we now reside in a mobile home park. And there she be in our yard. And a nice one to.

Prairiepiss if you live in a mobile home park how do you run your still without neighbors noticing?

[Prairiepiss]

I know I'm still new here but I thought I would offer my opinion. Freezing them until you have a big supply is a good idea. By freezing, the water will crystalize and pierce the cell walls of the fruit. Then when it thaws again the juice will start coming out very easily. Half your crushing will already be done. Then make a wine with it and perhaps a brandy from that. Should be really nice. Do you know if it is a red, black or white mulberry tree?

I was thinking the same thing about freezing them.

I didn't know there was a red black and white? They start out white turn red then black when ripe? They are sour when red but nice and sweet when black.

[RUMination]

I know I'm still new here but I thought I would offer my opinion. Freezing them until you have a big supply is a good idea. By freezing, the water will crystalize and pierce the cell walls of the fruit. Then when it thaws again the juice will start coming out very easily. Half your crushing will already be done. Then make a wine with it and perhaps a brandy from that. Should be really nice. Do you know if it is a red, black or white mulberry tree?

I was thinking the same thing about freezing them.

I didn't know there was a red black and white? They start out white turn red then black when ripe? They are sour when red but nice and sweet when black.

Red and black are pretty similar. They are both sweet and tart. They should make good wine. White is just sweet with no tartness to balance it and I think it would make an insipid wine. If they were white I would say make a brandy but since they are either red or black you've got the choice of making either the wine or the brandy.

[Prairiepiss]

Prairiepiss if you live in a mobile home park how do you run your still without neighbors noticing?

Technically I have not done a run yet. I have done a half arse cleaning run. Have my sacrificial wash fermenting now. But I'm not real sociable with the neighbours. And beer kegs are not that uncommon here. I am setup with an electric keg so I can run it inside. Don't like it but no other choice. I do have a friend that lives out in the sticks. His granddad runs a still out there. He said if I wanted to I could to. But I don't know about transporting all the stuff out there and back. Don't sound like a good idea to me.

[blanikdog]

No Guts, No Glory, PP.

but Stay Safe

[Prairiepiss]

No Guts, No Glory, PP.

but Stay Safe

Safety is always first in my book.

[Prairiepiss]

Just got 2 1/2 lbs put in the freezer. Nice and sweet. What sucks is the ground is covered in them. I should have been doing this a long time ago. And I didn't realize there was another tree 10 foot fromthat one. All the branches are high and the berries are small. I will get back out there tommaro and pick some more.

[Dnderhead]

best way to pick them is to git some old sheets,,spread on ground ,then shake limbs.
dont use any thing good as it will stain.

[Prairiepiss]

best way to pick them is to git some old sheets,,spread on ground ,then shake limbs.
dont use any thing good as it will stain.

I was thinking about a tarp. I think I have an extra one somewhere? I just need to find it. I will try this afternoon and maybe I can get the ones I couldn't reach.

[Prairiepiss]

Got another pound tonight. I think I list a bunch to the storm last night. I went for a ride on the motorcycles instead of picking more.

[Dnderhead]

"I went for a ride on the motorcycles instead of picking more. "
you ant going ta git a 50 gallon barrel full that way.

[Prairiepiss]

I don't think I will get 50 gallon out of these two trees. I need to find some more trees. I mite could stretch it and get 10 to 15 pounds out of these two. We will see how it goes. Then I can decide what to do with them?

[Dnderhead]

"10 to 15 pounds out of these two"
from memory that is about enough for one gallon.

[frozenthunderbolt]

What about using a sucker/blower garden vac-type thing with a clean collection bag on it. could save some time!

[Dnderhead]

wont they git mushed when they go threw it? tho you could make some sort of pre collector.

[Prairiepiss]

I think that would make a big mess.

I was thinking 10 to 15 would be good for a gallon.

[Prairiepiss]

1 and half pounds. That's 5. At this rate ugh. But good note. I think 15 pounds will be more then achievable. More like 20 if I keep at it.

[Prairiepiss]

One more pound. We leave tomorrow for a weekend camping trip. I'm trying to get my oldest son to pick them while I'm gone.

I've been looking at wine recipes for mulberries. Most of which call for addition of grape juice or something like. They say the mulberries them selves make a wine with no body. But these same people are adding a ton of water and sugar to the mulberries. It seams they are diluting it to much for the mulberries to shine. And I've also noticed it takes a long time to clear. 1 to 2 years. Wow! Then they say age it for 2 more. I think I will try it anyway. I will try for a sweet all mulberry wine. If I can collect enough? And I want enough left over to flavor some vodka and or whiskey.

[Dnderhead]

about 1/4 of the mulberries will be stems,seed/skins etc.
mulberries have about 2-3% sugar.( out of that 15lbs it adds 7oz sugar)
(do not ferment with the stems)
the stems will make it taste bad,so either pick them all off or press/juice and ferment the juice.
iv heard if you freeze, then the stems will knock off easily but i have not tried it.
it takes a lot of fruit to make enough to distill.for every 10 gal youd need somthing like 14gal
of berries and that is about 150lb of berries.

[Prairiepiss]

I read somewhere that if you run them through a food mill the stems will stay behind. So I'm going to try that. I did try breaking them off when frozen. They do break off. But a small portion of it stays on the berry. Didn't think that would be good enough. I don't know if I have the patients to snip them all off with clippers.

[Prairiepiss]

1 more 7 total. Two gallon ziplocks full. I couldn't get my son to pick them while I was gone.

[goose eye]

id be collectin rent this month
think id be squezein

so im tole

[hackware]

the stems come off ez after blanching... (NOT boiled...)

stems will impart a very sour taste...

william...

EDIT: oh yeah, DON'T pull the stems before blanching, so the entire stem can be removed...

[Prairiepiss]

I can't complain to much. He works 40 a week. And he does pay his share.

I wish I had some way of squeezing them. I will have to look around and see if I can come up with a way to squeeze them if the food mill trick don't work.

[Prairiepiss]

Got another pound today. Then I got a wild hair. Decided to go ahead and try the food mill. I took 4 pounds and added about a cup of water in a pot. Heated it up and let it simmer for around 5 minutes. Then put them in the old hand crank food mill. Cranked on it adding a little at a time. Kept cracking till I wasn't really getting any thing else out of it. And it worked pretty good. The mush that wad left in the food mill had a ton of the stems in it. I didn't see any in the juice. Some may have gotten mushed up in the food mill. But over all I liked the outcome. I originally didn't want to add any water. But I needed to add some so I could unthaw and simmer them. I will add some of this juice to the next batch. That way I won't add any more water. From the 4 pounds I got around 2 quarts of juice. It's not real sweet. And its to thick for the hydrometer to give me a good reading. I put it in a jug and stuck it in the freezer. When I get it all juiced then I will strain off some and try to get an accurate reading.