Pakistan Mulberries

Lora “Homegrown Neighbor” Hall was nice enough to drop off some freshly picked Pakistan mulberries (Morus macroura) gleaned from a house sitting gig. It’s one of the tastiest fruits I’ve ever had, very sweet, kinda like nature’s version of a Jolly Rancher. If you’ve never had a Pakistan mulberry it’s not surprising as it’s a fruit that simply doesn’t ship well.

Here’s what the California Rare Fruit Growers say about it,

“Originated in Islamabad, Pakistan. Extremely large ruby-red fruit 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 inches long and 3/8 inch in diameter. Flesh firmer than most other named cultivars. Sweet with a fine balance of flavors. Quality excellent. Tree spreading with large heart-shaped leaves. Recommended for the deep South and mild winter areas such as southern California, but usually performs satisfactorily in cooler areas.”

According to the Plants for a Future database the Pakistan mulberry is hardy down to -5 and -10°c and has both male and female flowers on the same tree. If I had the space, which I don’t, I’d definitely plant one.

That would have been the conclusion of this blog post had I not done an image search that turned up this:

Apparently chicks dig Pakistan mulberries or at least that’s the impression that a nursery down in Georgia (that I’m not gonna name cause the reviews are not so good) would like us to think. And the same nursery that generated the image above also has a page of religious videos, one of which (“The Cursed Fig Tree”) addresses the “God hates figs” controversy we dealt with some time ago. I can’t figure out if the videos are sincere, art, shot by kids, visionary public access or all of the above. We’ll leave it to post-structuralists readers of this blog wasting time at work to figure that out. 
Art theory tangent aside, damn, those Pakistan mulberries are good!

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7 Comments

  1. Here on the east coast, we have mulberry trees – but not the Pakistani variety. They were planted about 150 years ago by people hoping to go into silk worm farming. It was supposed to be the next road to riches. Obviously, it didn’t pan out. We don’t have a silk industry, but once in awhile you can find delicious mulberries.

  2. LOL, I know EXACTLY which nursery you’re talking about! We spent an afternoon at my office (a Landscape Architecture Firm) making fun of their pictures sometime last year. LOL.

    We just planted a Illinois Everbearing Mulberry and I’m looking forward to trying the fruit. That’s if we can keept he squirrels out of it.

  3. Yep, been to that website, spent an afternoon snickering at it with my hubby. I have a plain ol’ morus nigra seedling, hoping it will produce well here in So Cal.

  4. Oh my god that was the funniest shit I’ve seen in a while! The fig video, that is. It HAS to be a joke, they had a quote from Hitler in the middle of it. Continue to pass on these gems.

  5. I got a scion of Pakistan mulberry at the rare fruit growers exchange in Berkeley last winter. It’s the only scion I got (also got currants and a handful of figs) that seems to have survived, too, despite being purportedly the hardest one to propagate from a cutting. So… if you can get a cutting from that delightful tree when it goes dormant in the winter, do so!

  6. I am originally from North India and have sought fruits and vegetbles here that I have missed. Working for the DoD made any serious gardening difficult as we moved (PCS)virtually every few years with some locations across the Atlantic. Then I retired in middle Georgia and was thrilled to find wild Mulberries growing alongside creeks and rivers with robust fruits during the summer. I took a clipping during one of my trips to the Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta from a tree that had good-sized berries and planted it in my backyard. Then, I did a tour in Afghanistan and returned with some Asian Mulberry seeds. Now I enjoy the best tasting Mulberries in these parts as a result of grafting local varieties with the Illinois everbearing and my Afghan (Pakistani) import!I will gladly share my treasure at no cost to anyone interested in the south-eastern U.S.

    • I was looking up mulberries to try and do some introduction in NW Kansas range land (protected area) and while the red is known, I was interested in investigating other drought area introduction.

      Do you know what KIND of the berry you have?
      Photo: Mulberry, Moris Nigra Moris Nigra = SHAHTOOT (Persian) or the Pakistan variety.

      From Parsproduce site on mulberries. Never ordered from them. Not native there-trying to do some trees on an old homestead in hellish dry hot area that work for livestock cover and bird food.

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