Both the native Red or Black Mulberry and the Asian White Mulberry bear abundant, sweet fruit. Most people find the fruit of the native varieties For really large-scale harvesting, the best method is to lay out several plastic sheets beneath the tree, then stand on the ground, (or, if the tree is big enough, climb up) and shake the berries off, branch by branch. If you shake carefully, only the ripe ones will fall. In a few days you can come back and harvest even more.

To clean the harvested berries, put them in a bucket and pour them down a "cleaning chute". To make the chute, you need an old blanket, a washtub, and 3 or 4 helpers. First, stretch out the blanket so that it slopes toward the ground. Place the washtub on the ground by the low end of the blanket. Now, hold the bucket of berries at the high end of the blanket and pour them onto the blanket so they roll down and land in the washtub. If you adjust the angle and height of the blanket just right, the leaves and twigs will stick to the blanket, the ripe berries will drop into the wash tub, and any any unripe berries, which roll faster, will overshoot the tub and land on the ground.

Recipes:

Other Uses: