fruit notes

This week, we’re celebrating the really short and really sweet season of fresh Pakistan mulberries! Pakistan mulberries taste like a combo blackberry-raspberry with a touch of honey. They are so sweet – like jam in fruit form! 

In a past life, I worked on a mulberry farm where I helped tend to the 11,000 trees and conduct some wild experiments. (Such as Could you chop a three year old tree in half and turn it into a hedge? Spoiler, the trees survived and are thriving!) One of the most common responses when I mentioned mulberries was, “Wait, aren’t mulberries grown on a bush? Like the nursery rhyme?!” But no, mulberries are grown on trees, botanically-speaking, and really large ones for that matter! They can, however, be trained into bushes and shrubs, which was the idea we were testing. Otherwise, the trees can get up to 60 feet tall, which makes harvest and pruning a challenge to say the least. 

After getting to know these trees, I came to see how amazing they are. They are generally pretty pest- and disease-resistant, they grow insanely fast, and once established, they are drought-tolerant. They are in the same family as figs, which is instantly recognizable by its silvery trunk and glossy, thick, green leaves. And as the tree matures, each year it produces more fruit than the last, well after many fruit trees’ yield begins to decline! 

Despite all of these wonderful traits – and the Pakistan mulberry being so very delicious – it’s not something you often find fresh. As soon as you pop open the clamshell, you may notice the mulberries are syrupy and screaming out eat-me-now! When harvested perfectly ripe like this they’re meant to be eaten right after plucking them off the trees. As you can imagine, the shelf life is pretty short so they don’t really mesh with the length of commercial supply chains. Harvesting the delicate berries from sprawling trees is a massive challenge, too. Farmers must shake the trees lightly and catch the ripe berries with a fine mesh net before they are sorted, packed, and cooled. This is labor-intensive and expensive.

One of the most rewarding things is seeing how incredibly nostalgic mulberries are for many people. For some, growing up in the Midwest meant everbearing mulberries lining the streets. For others, there was a mulberry tree in the yard of your childhood home in India, where you could climb and eat your fill. Or if you’re like my aunt, there was a Chinese black mulberry tree you’d walk by as a kid, picking ripe fruit on your way to school. For those who are familiar with fresh mulberries (and for those just trying it for the first time), it’s pretty sweet and pretty special. Mulberry season lasts just a few short weeks before the summer heat comes on. These ripe berries are harvested and packed at their prime, with a shelf life of maybe just a couple of days. Eat them right away or store them in your fridge for up to two days. Grown organically by Frog Hollow Farm in Brentwood. 

Rounding it out

Stone fruit season happens slowly, so slowly, and then all at once. Here it comes! These Sol apricots are a new early variety from Heartwood Farms. They are a tasty (and auspicious) preview of what’s to come. Grown organically by Heartwood Farms in Linden.

Give these Saturn white donut peaches a couple days on the counter and they will be singing. Even now, they have an amazing aroma of Jasmine and a pleasant sweetness. Grown organically by Nicholas Boldt Farms in Reedley.

These Gaviota strawberries are one of the 7 different strawberry varieties that Javier is growing this year. We planned to run the Sweet Annes, but after tasting these we had to swap them in. Gaviota strawberries are super flavorful and sub-acid, which makes them present as even sweeter. Grown organically by JSM Organics in Royal Oaks.

It’s been a banner year for loquats, such a pleasant surprise. We’ve been enjoying the flavors of Murray’s Champagne & Big Jim loquats – at once rich and refreshing. Eat them as-is, for a more plummy flavor, or EZ-peel the leathery skin for the classic experience. Grown organically by Murray Family Farms in Bakersfield. 

Chandler strawberries are peaking in volume, quality, sweetness, flavor – it’s all here. These are the best! Grown organically by Swanton Berry Farms in Davenport.

Our fave blueberry from Coastal Moon. These San Joaquin blueberries are everything a blue should be. We have about a month left in their season. Grown organically by Coastal Moon Farm in Watsonville.