So this week I ate what worms eat. Silkworms, that is. Their main food source is the leaves of the white mulberry plant. I technically ate the fruit, but still, close enough. Silkworms also eat other types of mulberry, and osage orange, too, but white mulberry appears to be their favorite.
Northern China is the ancestral home of white mulberry, and they've been cultivated there for 4000 years. Since, they've spread quite a bit around the globe. To the U.S., Mexico, Argentina, Iran, Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and the Indian subcontinent. (In fact, in some parts of the U.S. mulberry has been too successful, and is considered an invasive species.) In addition to feeding cloth-making bugs, white mulberry is also used as food for goats and cattle. Humans are basically limited to the fruit though, and only the ripened fruit at that. Unripe fruit and other parts of the plant can be toxic, and even hallucinogenic.
As with many of the foods I've discussed on this blog, some folks think that white mulberries, and mulberries in general, are "superfoods," and many people think they even go beyond this, into being natural medicine. In traditional Chinese medicine, for example, white mulberries are alleged to treat graying hair, constipation, diabetes, wheezing, edema, cough, proper urination, leukemia, and red eyes. And they're said to "tonify" the blood, whatever that means. As usual, however, most to all of these claims haven't been scientifically proven as of yet. There is some preliminary evidence that white mulberries may be useful in preventing dental caries, gout, diabetes, and leukemia, but much more research is needed.
Mulberries are consumed in various ways. They're sometimes made into desserts like pies and tarts, sometimes eaten plain, and occasionally mixed into other foods like yogurt. They are also made into teas and wines. Furthermore, the coloration of this fruit is functional too--it can be used for tanning, and as a food colorant. And the bark of mulberry trees has successfully been utilized to make paper.
I bought my white mulberries at the local Safeway supermarket here in Southern Maryland, from the Navitas Organics company out of California. Most of the website touted how their products were superfoods, and what all that means (see my May 1, 2014 post for my take on this). Their name, Navitas, is Latin for "energy." They claim their foods can help with "activity, balanced energy, beauty, cleansing, immunity, longevity, and stress reduction." Although, at the bottom of one page, I was amused to see the disclaimer, "Superfoods are plant-based foods, not a miracle drug. The statements herein have not been reviewed by the FDA. Navitas Organics' products are not intended to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent any disease." Other products sold by this company include chia seeds, goji berries and powder, camu powder, goldenberries (see my June 13, 2015 post), acai powder, and pomegranate powder. Zach Adelman founded the company in 2003. They're also big into fair trade practices, traditional and sustainable farming, and green business practices. And, as their name states, their foods are organic, and also non-GMO, vegan, and gluten-free.
My white mulberries were grown in Turkey. According to what I read online, consumers characterize these as being more tart than regular black or purple mulberries, with a gummi-like texture and vanilla-ish overtones. They came in a 227 gram (8 ounce) bag, and were dried. They looked like blackberries, only with a brownish-yellow color. The size varied, from about pea-sized to a small blackberry. I ate mine plain. The texture was chewy, like typical dried fruit. They were decently sweet. The taste was alright--more interesting than a typical raisin, for example. However, I got quite a shock when I happened to see the grocery receipt. I hadn't been paying attention when they were rung up, and the price was $13! They were a solid snack, but not worth that much, in my view. So I won't be buying these again, unless I see them on sale for significantly cheaper, or if they're in another form. (Alas, the white hairs on my head and sideburns don't appear to have changed color, either.)
I'll end on a fun fact about the white mulberry tree. They apparently have the fastest speed of pollen dispersal in the plant kingdom--560 kilometers per hour (or 350 miles per hour)! Their stamens act like tiny, but absurdly effective catapults, whipping out the pollen at more than half the speed of sound. This pollen is especially bad for allergy sufferers, too--I guess even more so if you're unlucky enough to get hit by it as it's released.
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