Dried mulberries: how to dry berries, leaves and bark - drying mulberries at home

When and how to collect mulberries

Since ancient times, the mulberry tree has been grown to produce natural fabric - silk. They fed it to the silkworm caterpillar, which produced silk thread. The berries, bark and leaves were often used in folk medicine to treat various diseases and ailments.

In the modern world, mulberry has not lost its popularity. Many people enjoy picking delicious berries that are light or dark in color.

The fruit harvest period lasts only a few weeks from July to August. Since the berries ripen unevenly, they are harvested in several stages.

The best time to collect is early in the morning, after the dew has disappeared.The weather should be dry and sunny. To facilitate the collection process, a large piece of fabric or a thin blanket is spread under the tree. Then they begin to tap the branches of the tree with a stick. This procedure causes the ripe fruits to break away from the branches and fall down. The collected berries are poured into a separate container.

Mulberry leaves are collected together with twigs when the shoots are still very tender. The best collection time is the very beginning of summer. In this case, only healthy, even leaves are selected, not twisted or damaged by cobwebs.

Mulberry bark can be collected regardless of the time of year. To do this, use a sharp knife to cut small sections from different tree trunks.

Preparing food for drying

After harvesting, mulberry fruits are sorted, removing debris and damaged specimens. It is not recommended to wash the berries before drying, so as not to damage the already delicate pulp. If desired, rinse the mulberries with cool water and allow to dry on paper towels at room temperature for a couple of hours.

Before drying, the leaves are also washed in cool water and dried on towels.

Mulberry bark does not require any preliminary preparation before drying.

How to dry mulberries: methods

On air

Mulberry berries are laid out in one layer on grids or sieves and exposed to the sun. It is important to create maximum air ventilation between the fruits. For this reason, drying mulberries on pallets is not recommended. If there are no suitable gratings, then you can use thick, clean fabric as bedding. In this case, the berries will have to be turned over quite often to ensure even drying. In the evening, containers with fruits are brought into the room so that they do not become damp from dew, and in the morning they are put back in place.

Solar drying of mulberries will take approximately 2 - 3 weeks, subject to favorable weather conditions.

The leaves are dried in the shade, in a dry and well-ventilated area. To prevent it from rotting, it is turned over 3 times a day.

Drying mulberry bark does not require certain conditions. It is dried at room temperature for 10 days.

In the oven

If it is not possible to dry the berries in the sun, you can use a conventional oven. But before this procedure, the berries need to be dried a little at room temperature for 2 days. Then the mulberries are laid out on trays covered with baking paper and sent to the oven. The exposure temperature should not be higher than 40 degrees. To ensure good ventilation inside the oven, keep the door slightly open.

Every 2 hours, the berries are removed and mixed. The total drying time is 18 – 20 hours.

The foliage can also be dried in the oven according to the above scheme, but you will need to monitor the readiness process every half hour.

In an electric dryer

Modern electrical appliances for drying berries, vegetables and fruits are equipped with thermostats. In order to dry mulberry fruits, you need to set the heating temperature in the unit to no higher than 35 - 40 degrees. After 6 - 10 hours of drying, it can be increased to 50 degrees. In this mode, the berries need to be dried until ready. Drying time 20 – 25 hours.

Mulberry leaves are dried in an electric dryer at a temperature of 40 degrees for 3 - 4 hours.

Watch the video recipe from the channel “kliviya777” - How to dry mulberries

How to store dry fruits, leaves and bark

Berries are stored in glass containers under a lid, leaves - in cardboard boxes or canvas bags.Mulberry bark is ground into powder and stored in small airtight jars.

The shelf life of dried mulberry products is 1 year.