Mulberry leaves as a vegetable

One difficulty with novel gardening solutions such as forest gardens is finding ways to use unusual crops.
Mulberry leaves, for instance. Way nutritious, small footprint, drought tolerant. One of my most successful crops.
Almost no recipes.
I find them a bit odd. No bitterness or tartness, very bland. Slightly sandpapery texture, but not too chewy like grape leaves.
I almost always pressure steam them first, as they're tough.
Yes, I know they'd be more tender early in the season, but my tree is young and I'm just shaping it, so I want to let it grow first. Pollarding for leaves at the end of the growing season instead of dormant pruning.
After steaming I cool them and dress them in lemon juice and olive oil. I suppose an ohitashi would be good, too.
Or I braise them and season them to be salty and savory.
Tonight it was saute onions, add tofu, add steamed mulberry greens, simmer in a sauce of fermented tofu and fish sauce, garnish with roasted sesame oil. Weird but good over rice.
Do you use them? How?

My use is not exactly astonishing, kinda boring really. We dehydrate and use as tea. Iced tea.

New leaves have been used in stir frys. They were ok.

Thanks for this!  I never knew they were edible for humans.  They grow like weeds in some parts of the country e.g., abandoned lots in Philadelphia (I don't live there anymore.)  I will plant some.

 

Ellen Lewis wrote:One difficulty with novel gardening solutions such as forest gardens is finding ways to use unusual crops.
Mulberry leaves, for instance. Way nutritious, small footprint, drought tolerant. One of my most successful crops.
Almost no recipes.
I find them a bit odd. No bitterness or tartness, very bland. Slightly sandpapery texture, but not too chewy like grape leaves.
I almost always pressure steam them first, as they're tough.
Yes, I know they'd be more tender early in the season, but my tree is young and I'm just shaping it, so I want to let it grow first. Pollarding for leaves at the end of the growing season instead of dormant pruning.
After steaming I cool them and dress them in lemon juice and olive oil. I suppose an ohitashi would be good, too.
Or I braise them and season them to be salty and savory.
Tonight it was saute onions, add tofu, add steamed mulberry greens, simmer in a sauce of fermented tofu and fish sauce, garnish with roasted sesame oil. Weird but good over rice.
Do you use them? How?

Dave Kett wrote:Thanks for this!  I never knew they were edible for humans.  They grow like weeds in some parts of the country e.g., abandoned lots in Philadelphia (I don't live there anymore.)  I will plant some.

Plus they have a great deal of protein among other nutrients.

The leaves are also used as highly nutritious feed for domesticated animals. The average crude protein content of fresh mulberry leaves ranges from 6.0 to 6.9%, which is substantially higher than that of vegetables (2%) (Gopalan et al., 1971).

This study was undertaken to determine the proximate composition, vitamins, minerals and the antinutritional factor tannic acid in leaves of six genotypes of mulberry. The results showed that in fresh mulberry leaves the proximate composition values ranged from 71.13 to 76.68% for moisture, from 4.72 to 9.96% for crude protein, from 4.26 to 5.32% for total ash, from 8.15 to 11.32% for Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF), from 0.64 to 1.51% for crude fat, from 8.01 to 13.42% for carbohydrate and from 69 to 86 kcal/100 g for energy. In dried mulberry leaf powder, moisture ranged from 5.11 to 7.24%, crude protein from 15.31 to 30.91%, total ash from 14.59 to 17.24%, NDF from 27.60 to 36.66%, crude fat from 2.09 to 4.93%, carbohydrate from 9.70 to 29.64% and energy from 113 to 224 kcal/100 g. Among vitamins ascorbic acid and beta-carotene were found to range from 160 to 280 mg/100 g and from 10,000.00 to 14,688.00 microg/100 g, respectively, in fresh mulberry leaves and from 100 to 200 mg/100 g and from 8438.00 to 13,125.00 microg/100 g, respectively, in dried mulberry leaf powder. The minerals iron, zinc and calcium were observed in the ranges of 4.70-10.36 mg/100 g, 0.22-1.12 mg/100 g and 380-786 mg/100 g, respectively, for fresh mulberry leaves, and 19.00-35.72 mg/100 g, 0.72-3.65 mg/100 g and 786.66-2226.66 mg/100 g, respectively, for dried mulberry leaf powder. The tannic acid ranged from 0.04 to 0.08% in fresh leaves and from 0.13 to 0.36% in dried leaf powder.

Diffierent individual trees or different species can vary in flavor. I just tasted one that's sweeter than the one in my yard. If you don't care for them, try another before you give up.

I've got some white mulberry trees growing, though they're young yet. Several small studies show statistically significant benefits from eating/drinking mulberry leaves, as it lowers your blood glucose levels and makes you less insulin resistant. One meta-study has been done that I know of, found here: https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8593624/

although some say that the studies done so far have been too small to really tell. I don't think bigger ones will be done, as it's something many people can grow easily - little incentive to do bigger studies.

As far as preparation, I've only gone with tea so far.
Kudos to you for trying new things!

Perhaps worth mentioning the Lori McClintock incident, and reminding people to use moderation...
https://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/does-white-mulberry-leaf-help-diabetes-705246/

Thanks for this info as well.  Just logged onto One Green World nursery site.  They have a number of varieties.  Next time I drive to Portland I will stop by and sample the leaves.  Seriously.  Mulberries would be a good addition to my place.  https://onegreenworld.com/?s=mulberry

Plus they have a great deal of protein among other nutrients.

The leaves are also used as highly nutritious feed for domesticated animals. The average crude protein content of fresh mulberry leaves ranges from 6.0 to 6.9%, which is substantially higher than that of vegetables (2%) (Gopalan et al., 1971).

This study was undertaken to determine the proximate composition, vitamins, minerals and the antinutritional factor tannic acid in leaves of six genotypes of mulberry. The results showed that in fresh mulberry leaves the proximate composition values ranged from 71.13 to 76.68% for moisture, from 4.72 to 9.96% for crude protein, from 4.26 to 5.32% for total ash, from 8.15 to 11.32% for Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF), from 0.64 to 1.51% for crude fat, from 8.01 to 13.42% for carbohydrate and from 69 to 86 kcal/100 g for energy. In dried mulberry leaf powder, moisture ranged from 5.11 to 7.24%, crude protein from 15.31 to 30.91%, total ash from 14.59 to 17.24%, NDF from 27.60 to 36.66%, crude fat from 2.09 to 4.93%, carbohydrate from 9.70 to 29.64% and energy from 113 to 224 kcal/100 g. Among vitamins ascorbic acid and beta-carotene were found to range from 160 to 280 mg/100 g and from 10,000.00 to 14,688.00 microg/100 g, respectively, in fresh mulberry leaves and from 100 to 200 mg/100 g and from 8438.00 to 13,125.00 microg/100 g, respectively, in dried mulberry leaf powder. The minerals iron, zinc and calcium were observed in the ranges of 4.70-10.36 mg/100 g, 0.22-1.12 mg/100 g and 380-786 mg/100 g, respectively, for fresh mulberry leaves, and 19.00-35.72 mg/100 g, 0.72-3.65 mg/100 g and 786.66-2226.66 mg/100 g, respectively, for dried mulberry leaf powder. The tannic acid ranged from 0.04 to 0.08% in fresh leaves and from 0.13 to 0.36% in dried leaf powder.

This past spring I planted a black mulberry bush. I didn’t have much hope for it but to my surprise it is growing nicely with supplemental water and lots of compost.
Ellen’s post nudged me to go out and taste the leaves. Just like she said, “No bitterness or tartness, very bland.”
When I don’t know what to do with a leafy green that is edible and unfamiliar, the mortar and pestle is my first line of experimentation. After all, the unfamiliar leaves can easily be covered up by other ingredients.
I gather 5 leaves from the 3’ bush and bring them into the kitchen.
First I remove the tough stems from the leaves then tear them up and add them to the mortar. Using coarse salt, I smash the two ingredients into a beautiful bright green paste. The taste of salty chlorophyl is fine: neither bitter nor sweet but fresh and zingy with the salt.
To the mashed leaves and salt, I pound a couple of black pepper corns and taste again. Now the peppery bite overwhelms the subtle mix.
Time for some nuts and herbs to mellow the pesto out. To the 5 mulberry leaves, I add 5 basil leaves and 2 toasted walnut halves (they’re in season and handy). A dash of EVOO and this is mixture sings. I clean out the mortar with my bread.
The added nutrition of the mulberry seems like a great way to make infinite pesto possibilities even healthier. I’m eager to try adding fresh herbs, garlic, pecorino, and/or anchovies.
Thanks for your inspiration Ellen!

I'm reporting back now that it's spring.
In the past I have used autumn mulberry leaves, as my tree is young and I wanted to let it grow before harvesting. As you might expect, and saw above, autumn leaves are a bit tough and rough and slightly problematic.
This season I got some leaves from a mature tree that wasn't going to miss them. Nice new fresh spring leaves. Maybe full size, but just got there, some smaller.
They were small enough not to need chopping or any processing. I cut off some branches that were growing where they were not wanted. I took them home. I broke the leaves off the branches with a little bit of stem attached, just where it was easy to get my thumbnail through them easily to get them to snap.
I steamed them. After 10 minutes they were still a little tough. After 15 or 20 they were quite tender. The stems were tender too.
The taste was pleasant. A little sweet. A tiny smidge bitter, or maybe I was imagining. Mostly bland. I think I should try giving them to my picky grandson.
I put some butter on them, which seemed unnecessarily decadent and was, of course, pleasant, and scarfed them.
In the future I may experiment with seasonings, or put them in soup where they will disappear among the other ingredients.
If you don't like the tartness of grape leaves, these would work for dolmades, and would be more tender. Don't steam them too much before stuffing them.
Highly recommended.

I got some fruit tree cuttings going. I plan to eat the leaves. With greens I love frying them up in some butter or beef tallow and some eggs. Green omelette. Add fried potatoes too.

I always see deer eating maples, and other forest trees. I imagine the young leaves must be good fried or in soups.

But i guess it all depends on ones personal taste too .

I think "fruit tree leaves" is an awfully broad category.

With stone fruit and pome fruit tree leaves, aren't you concerned about the cyanide? Maybe I'm too cautious. I guess there may be less in apple than peach and cherry - I'll have to try them. Do you enjoy that bitter taste? I think of them as primarily medicinal, or seasoning. Mochi wrapped in cherry leaves is so pleasant and pretty subtle compared to eating a serving of leaves.

I'd be disinclined to try pawpaw leaves, as the tree contains a neurotoxin, and even with the fruit I find I don't like to eat to many of them.
I know fig leaves are edible, but I don't much care for them.

Yea that's true. I try to go for smooth ones. And I'll only grab a few from each and mix em together like a salad. My mother used to make that for us. You add vinegar or lemon juice that will probably neutralize any poisons. And I guess we never grabbed a lot of one tree. I see deer eat em all the time. Lol I dunno if thats good logic.

I've eaten both grape leaves and mulberry leaves, and I didn't like either.
Rebecca Norman has frequently posted about the dehydrated greens that are popular where she lives.
I tried drying both kinds of leaves and found the results much more pleasant than cooking the fresh ones.

I love this because I also just tried making pesto for pasta sauce with mulberry leaves and a few garden herbs like coriander and parsley. a small hand full of spring mulberry leaves and the herbs, blend it with garlic, any seeds or nuts(i used sesame) and olive oil, grated cheese and salt and pepper and it was really delicious with some penne pasta.

I have 13 mulberry trees I think 7 varieties  all the leaves are different but I I use it is soups, salads and I also dehydrate them into a power and use with flour or in smoothies..

Silkworms thrive on mulberry leaves! 😳

Silkworms love my morus alba. I tasted the leaves thinking I wonder why the worms like the leaves so much!  Kind of bland. I do dry them for winter teas. The whole tree is edible. I read many years ago, could have been here, there was a woman making soups and concoctions from the outer bark, inner bark. Pith and even those bright orange roots!  When I’m planting bulbs near my mulberry and I accidentally dig up roots I always prune them to dry them for my teas. I do give them a little simmer first.

We have 5 Mulberry trees and I just eat the leaves raw right off the tree.

I suppose you could steep them for tea.  My favorite is ripe mulberries, dark purple, add a little sugar and some water.

Mark Scofield

I bought the tree for the fruit, which I love.

However, I also eat the leaves.  I mostly chop them up and add them to beans, pasta, rice, etc.  They are often mixed with a wide variety of other green leafies.   Diverse diet, diverse gut microbiome, healthy person.

John S
PDX OR

I too have used mulberry leaves for tea.

Not a ton of flavor … although I discovered that
If you soak them in the fridge for an extended period (like a week) then the tea starts to taste hemp like… if you like that sort of thing

I have eaten them.  It tastes like you would expect eating a tree leaf to taste like.  With all the good things to eat in the world, I sure wouldn't be bothered eating mulberry leaves again.

Ellen Lewis wrote:I know fig leaves are edible, but I don't much care for them.

I have eaten leaves off of my fig tree once, as an experiment.  I made semi-sweet desert morsels of fig leaves wrapped around a stuffing of wheat flour, almond flour, and raisins, boiled in honey water.  I found the fig leaves perfectly tasty with a vaguely coconut-like flavor.

The problem was the leaf ribs, which were way too chewy to eat and did not soften up when boiled.  One has little choice but to try to eat around them (difficult) or to pick them out of your mouthful of food (unpleasant).

Perhaps if I tried the same with very young leaves in the Spring?

I opened up a maple seed today, and ate the green nut inside. Actually pretty good lol may be better cooked. I just think my intuition says all this abundance of trees like maple, oak, pines, I'm sure they used to eat and utilize them more than we may realize. Maybe a lost art of chemically preparing them. Ie. Soaking acorns in a river, to remove tannins, etc. pine needles can be used to make soda, natural yeast, tea, the young branches are edible too. We don't need to eat them you know because we have so much variety now, but I'm sure they had methods of proper preparation or mixing to remove the off taste and have them like a staple food source.