Mint Tea & Tagine

I imagine most people have come across a mulberry tree in their lives. For some reason they always remind me of being a child…those gorgeous ripening fruits…all purple and squishy…staining your feet and clothes…..or even just the simple rhyme of…

 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.

 Well it wasn’t a cold and frosty morning, quite the contrary; it was a lovely spring afternoon when we went picking mulberries…….

 We only have one of the trees of the variety I am used to on the property, the ones that go from green, to red to purple as it ripens and the rest are all a variety that start of green and turn white as they ripen with a faint purple tinge…..but taste very similar, just not as flavoursome.

Colour aside they attract my children in the same way that they used to attract me as a child….

 So we picked a basket full and after the little ones stuffed their faces….we used some to make a jam, using the same recipe as for my Strawberry jam…The mulberries took much longer to get to setting point than the strawberries. I drained some of the liquid after crushing them to.

 4 cups crushed mulberries, some of the liquid drained

4 cups white sugar

¼ cup lemon juice

Mix together the mulberries, sugar and lemon juice in a heavy bottomed pot. Stir over a low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat and bring to the boil. Keep stirring occasionally. Boil for about 20 minutes until the mixture reaches 105°Celcius or by dropping some onto a chilled saucer and letting it cool. Once cool, push your finger through the jam: if the surface wrinkles, the jam is ready. Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

Tags: Food

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