Heads up, city scavengers! No really. Turn your head skyward. Mulberries are ripening as you read this. Walking down a city alley this past weekend, I noticed that a mulberry tree in an empty lot was loaded with fruit. Mulberry fruit looks and tastes similar to blackberries, but they’re above your head and out of sight on the branches of trees with leaves of many different shapes – some lobed and some unlobed. White mulberry (Morus alba) grows in poor conditions like those found in vacant city lots, and is actually a non-native invasive plant. If I had one in my backyard, goody two shoes here would do the right thing and cut it down, then replace it with a native red mulberry (Morus rubra).
If you find a tree, load up your Tupperware with the berries, and eat them raw on your front stoop, or use in recipes just like you would blackberries. Ah, summer. Just don’t sit on a fence post like a bird and spread these invasive seeds.
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