Mulberry Jam
Keep an eye out for mulberry trees in your yard so you can make this sweet and simple mulberry jam!
Caring for a new yard
As green foliage began to peak its way out this past spring, we were finally able to take a look at our land, for, what felt like, the first time.
We moved into our house last fall, just in time to buy rakes and try to keep up with the blankets of leaves.
Then winter came. We knew many of the trees needed to be trimmed, so late winter we started that process, cautiously. More than anything we tried to take note of what we had where.
As spring crept in, our yard burst forth with the results of previous years of little attention: Weeds. Galore.
If something appeared in the yard more than 5 times, we nearly automatically assumed it was a weed or some invasive species.
This included 6 trees that were growing way too close to other, more mature, trees. Those trees had to go.
We asked Tim's dad what type of tree he thought they were, and the answer made us pause. "Well. They seem like they might be mulberry."
Huh?
We decided to just wait and see.
How to harvest mulberries
And then, we came home from vacation to find the ground spotted with purple and trees with drooping, fruit-laden branches.
Three hours later, we had harvested 13 pounds of red and white mulberries from four trees. A second harvest a week later yielded another 8 pounds.
Here's my plea - if anyone has any good uses or recipes for mulberries, send them our way!
Until then, we'll be making jam!
What are mulberries?
If you're unfamiliar with mulberries (like I was up to a few weeks ago), it's for good reason. You probably won't find these berries in stores. You may see them at your farmer's market. But, more commonly, you'll simply see the trees growing along the road. (Or in your yard!)
Both the American native Red Mulberry and the Chinese White Mulberry are edible. Not to be confused, Red Mulberries are actually a deep purple/black color, while White Mulberries can range from their namesake white to a deep red.
Two important things to note about mulberries:
First. If you go out to pick them, wear clothing you don't care about; everything will be purple when you're done.
Second. Don't worry about the stems. They are a pain to take off of the berries, but they are incredibly edible. If you're ok with the berry's seeds, you'll be fine eating the stem.
How to make mulberry jam
Mulberries are widespread in southern Europe, the Middle East, and India. And making jams out of mulberries is one of the most common uses for them around the world.
Both varieties that we have (red and white) are sweet, with only subtle flavor differences, the white version being slightly sweeter in our experiences. Their flavor is almost that of a mild fusion of blackberry and sweet blueberry, making them perfect for a summer berry jam.
This is a very simple jam that lets the flavors of the mulberries shine through. Just the berries, sugar, a little lemon juice for acid, and pectin. But the result is a delicious berry jam that is perfect if you have a lot of mulberries that you're looking to use!
Lastly, the cute labels I used in these pictures were originally a free printable from Jones Design Company, to which I did a bit of Photoshop customizing.
Like them? Go ahead and download our mulberry jam labels!
More jam recipes
Toast, biscuits, and scones call for jams, jellies, and curds. Here are some recipes to get you started!
Mulberry Jam
Ingredients
- 2 c Mulberries (red or white)
- 1 c sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoon powdered pectin
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Prepare the jars you will be storing your jam in by washing them thoroughly with warm water and soap. Set to dry. (If you will be canning the jam in a water bath canner, prepare for the canner now. Keep the jars warm by placing them, upside down, in a 200F oven.)
- In a 2 quart saucepan, mix all ingredients together.
- Turn the heat to medium and stir occasionally until the sugar melts and the berries begin to soften.
- Using a potato masher, mash berries to desired consistency.
- Increase heat to high and bring the mixture to a hard boil that cannot be stirred down. Stir constantly so the jam does not stick to the pan and scorch.
- Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. After the minute has passed, remove pan from heat.
- Immediately fill your glass jars with the hot jam, leaving ¼ inch of head room.
- Process as you would any other berry jam, or let jam cool completely on the counter before refrigerating.
Notes
Sarah founded Curious in 2010 as a way to save her recipe creations and share culinary experiences. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from over 10 years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.
You were looking for additional ideas. I've used my jams as a layer in a cake.
When I made mulberry jam, I was so won over by the color, I used it to dye fabric. While it didn't get that lushus color, the product was pleasing enough that I used the cotton in a quilt, and have dyed clothes.
These are such great ideas! Thank you for sharing!
There is also a long very purple pakistani mulberry that is super sweet. Some are as much as three inches long. I wait until they fall off the tree as that's when the sugar content is highest. About 20 lbs makes about 5 gallons of a killer dry red wine. You just have to get a few supplies from a wine making store and a small book that tells you how to do it. I used to use blackberries years ago when I had a good supply
How interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Wow! This recipe was amazing. It tastes delicious and set perfectly. Thank you for posting.
So glad you enjoyed the jam recipe!
Can you make this into a freezer jam? I think the freezer jams have such a better flavor
Hi Shauna. I'm not too familiar with making freezer jams, but I don't see why not. I would use a similar process to a blackberry or blueberry freezer jam, and I bet it would turn out great!
To get the stems off: freeze in a single layer on a jelly roll pan. When frozen, roll around on a towel and the stems snap right off. It makes eating anything mulberry much nicer without the stems.
What a great tip! Thanks so much for sharing!
I'm making this right now! Hoping it will set! But, I'd love to print these labels--did you use an Avery Sticker sheet? Happen to know what size? Thank you! I appreciate your sharing that!
Hi Lacey! Hope the jam turns out well for you! I think this set of stickers was supposed to be for a particular Avery sticker. But honestly, I always have the hardest time getting Avery stickers and their templates to line up. I've just started using full sheet labels that aren't pre-cut. (I think they're a mailing label for big packages.) Then I cut them out myself. They might not be perfectly round, but at least I know the whole printed section will be on the label! Enjoy!
Hi, my daughter and I just picked wild mulberries on a local trail and making this jam. Thank you for posting it. Once finished and we have poured the hot jam into our jar, so I put the lid on and then cool to room temperature or let it cool without the lid? We have never made jam before so I really don’t have a great idea what we are doing outside of what has been written ?. Thanks!
Hi Jason. If you were wanting to can your jam so it is shelf stable, you would want to cool it with the lid on. Either upside down in the French Method (you can find more here: https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/apricot-jam/) or in a water bath (find more here: https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/water-bath-canning-basics/). If you are just cooling it to store in the fridge and use right away, then you can cool it with the lid off. (If you put the lid on and you are using canning jars, there is a good chance it will form at least a partial seal as it cools.) Hope you enjoy the jam!
You ought to try dehydrating the white mulberries. I find them to be a little too sweet for jam, but they're delicious dried. You can use them like raisins.
That sounds like a fantastic idea! We'll definitely be giving it a try this year!
Thank you for this publishing this. I have a Pakistan mulberry it is only two years old and it is producing so much fruit that we are at a lost of what to do with it all. Until purchasing this tree we had never even seen one (live in Phoenix Arizona) the fruit is amazing. However ours berries are at least two inches long and and very sweet and juicy. .
How fun! We hope you enjoy the jam!
If you want to get rid of the seeds, before you take your jam to a full rolling boil, put a lid on the pot and bring it to "lightly percolate" .(about 2 minutes on medium heat) and shake side to side like camp kettle corn The seeds will clump together on top. Turn off heat, and spoon off seeds. Repeat 4_5 times, and you will have very few seeds in your jam. Be sure to stir well between repetitions and the lid makes a good shield if jam gets.a.little.too lively!
What a great tip! We'll have to try this next time we make a batch!
Do the preserves have to be processed with a water bath? When we did peach preserves a few years ago & didn't have to do this & I don't have a canner so just wondering?
Hi Rebecca, Technically any jam/preserves should be preserved via water bath (per the USDA health guides for canning). That being said, we hardly ever do a water bath for our jams (this one included) there is something called the French Canning Method that simply uses the heat from the hot jam to seal the jars, and we have never had any issues with it. You can find more info about that method in the notes for this recipe https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/apricot-jam/ . Enjoy!
f you don't have a canner, you can use a stockpot with a folded dish towel in the bottom to keep the jars from coming in contact with the bottom of the pan- can also use a metal steamer insert to accomplish the same thing.
We just moved to a new property and found out we have several white mulberry trees. I didn’t even know they existed until now. I’m going to make your jam and was wondering if I could get a copy of your labels. I downloaded the raspberry and strawberry ones already...so cute! Thanks for sharing your story and your recipe.
Of course Ginger! I put a link to download the labels at the end of the post. Enjoy!
Love mulberries & yes we eat the stems love mulberry pie will be making the freezer jam
We haven't tried mulberry pie yet Linda. We'll have to make sure we do that with this year's harvest!
My recipe for mulberry pie is 4 cups mulberries 3/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup flour 3 Tablespoons lemon juice mix altogether bake 400 for 15 minutes then bake at350 for 30 minutes
Thanks Linda! That's a super simple recipe! Can't wait to try it!
I am so curious to try mulberries, I have heard about them but never tried them. We had a sort of similar discovery when we moved into our house 2 years ago. The garden was severely overgrown with weeds and overgrown bushes. As I was pulling up most of the weeds and bushes to plant things we wanted in the garden I thought I recognized one of the bushes so I called my MIL to take a look at it. She suspected it was a red currant bush but wasn't sure so we left it until spring. Turned out she was right. So even though it is in an odd position in the garden we have left as red currant jelly is too good to pass up. 🙂
What a fun discovery! I've never had currants, but the jelly sounds fantastic! We've done so much weed pulling this year. I've been doing a lot of research on plant types, but I still find myself crossing my fingers that I'm not pulling up anything good!
Mulberry trees in your backyard... how cool! This jam looks amazing and I just love the color
I've never eaten a mulberry before but if they're a cross between blackberries and blueberries, then yum! It's kinda cool that you have the bushes - now you have as many free (yay!) mulberries as you want. You could probably use this in any recipe where a berry could be used, dontcha think? This jam looks super delicious and the labels are adorable. If you find yourself with too much jam on your hands, I'll gladly take them from you 😉
Thanks Nancy! I bet this would work well with any berry.