Despite being grown in grow bags rather than directly into the ground, my two Mulberry trees are growing very nicely and are producing quite a lot of berries for their size (I trim them down twice a year to keep them low). And the best is that this is an everybearing variety, so we get multiple fruiting seasons in one year.
Earlier in Spring, they started to fruit and we already enjoyed a few handfuls. However, it started raining for days on a couple of weeks ago and it didn't do good to the garden. The excess moisture and lack of sun did kill few plants and slow down others. The Mulberries are not as sweet as earlier in the season and worse is they are starting to rot and get covered in mould as they are still hanging on their branches, to the joy of the rollies pollies who are feasting on the dying berries.
A few days ago, I harvested what I could and kept them aside. Yesterday night, before going to bed, I went out and harvested some more. I then went in the kitchen to remove the tails and pick out berries that are in bad shape. Then I mixed with some sugar, smashed them with a fork and cooked them a little bit before letting them sit overnight. My wife would then continue the jam making in the morning.
The reason behind letting the jam sit overnight is just because my wife, who knows the recipe, went to bed before me and I was just heating the Mulberry "paste" because I was worried that the mould would spread more as it is very humid these days.
After tasting the cold mixture and adjusting the sweetness level to taste, she added a bit of lemon juice to help preserve the jam for longer and continued simmering the jam until enough of the water level (from the berry juice) evaporates and the jam thickened. This is her way of making jam without jam setter (gelatine).
And the results is a kitchen that smells like heaven and half a jar filled with a beautiful jam:
At 3pm today, for tea time, we got to taste her Mulberry jam and it was wonderful. This is her first ever Mulberry jam and it's our favourite compared to the strawberry ones she made previously. The tree is still full of berries so I will be harvesting more and freeze them until we have enough to fill a jar with more jam 😌
Previously on my Ulog:
- ULOG 105 - Went to Mr Stone Pot to @travelgirl's recommendation
- ULOG 103 - Evening Gardening
- vULOG 101 - I planted some garlic and getting some Okra seed ready
- ULOG 99 - Kid at work
- ULOG 096 - Camping in Myall Lake NSW and little contest
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