Berry Frenzy

What is it about mulberries that drives their devotees to frenzy? Birds battle noisily over the sweet berries, children gorge on them till purple juice covers their faces, Middle Easterners fly thousands of miles to savor them and chefs line up for hours to secure a few precious punnets of these intensely flavored fruits.

Matchless flavor is mulberries’ primary allure. The best kind, the black Persian varieties just now coming into season, may seem like offbeat, tree-borne blackberries, but they have an almost magical balance of sweetness and acidity and a complex, lingering aftertaste.

Rarity contributes to their cult appeal. Fresh mulberries are so fragile and perishable that they’ve never been grown commercially in America. Most people recall old nursery ditties like “Here we go ‘round the mulberry bush,” but usually only the lucky few with access to a tree have enjoyed the fruit, at least until a recent surge of interest led to a few plantings in Southern California.

Spurring this interest has been the influx of immigrants from Iran, ground zero for mulberry madness, after that country’s 1979 revolution.

Tradition and memory led Mohammed Ali Fouladi, an Iranian-born investor, to re-create the family garden that he loved as a child in Tehran. At his home in Bonsall, north of Vista, he has cultivated a paradise out of “Arabian Nights”: gurgling fountains, winding gravel paths, pomegranates, figs, sweet lemons and more than 150 mulberry trees, in 17 varieties.

On a pleasant June afternoon, Fouladi, an elegant man imbued with old-world courtliness, strolls the hilly orchard, sampling his early crop, white mulberries. Popping a sugary, light-purple Riviera berry into his mouth, he explains that the term “white mulberry” refers to a species, Morus alba, whose many varieties, rather confusingly, can bear creamy white, lavender or black fruits.

White mulberries ripen from April to June and taste unidimensionally sweet, whereas the “black,” or Persian varieties, M. nigra, mature from mid-July to September, are always dark purple and abound in sweet-tart, staining juice.

Fouladi grins as he shows off his trees of the Pakistan variety, festooned with thin, cylindrical purple berries up to 4 inches long, with relatively firm texture and delicate floral flavor.

“Persians are amazed when they see these,” he says. “Around this time, I have a lot of friends. They come in buses, 40 or 50 people, to pick my fruits. Some fly all the way from Houston or New York, just for the mulberries.”

Fouladi descends a ravine and shares another elongated oddity, a white-fruited Hunza mulberry with an intriguing melony taste. With a gentle sigh, he brushes through the heart-shaped leaves of a spreading tree and points to creamy-white, oval berries glowing in the deep shade: Sarvenaz mulberries, an Iranian variety he named for his daughter, who recently died of leukemia at age 23.

Heading back to the house, Fouladi feeds assorted mulberries, gathered from the ground, to caged Persian homing pigeons, roosters, finches, parrots and doves. A little later, on a porch overlooking the garden, his wife, Viola, serves tea sweetened with dried white mulberries and toast with black mulberry jam.

A visitor asks about a low, flat structure next to the pool. “That’s a sleeping platform for parties in the garden,” says Fouladi. “Just as in Persia, when the weather is hot, we sleep outside. With our friends, we play backgammon and cards, sing songs, drink tea and eat mulberries, deep into the night.”

From medieval times, Persian poets wrote lovingly of tut, the white mulberry, and shahtut (“king-mulberry”), the black kind. The famous poet Saadi compared the latter to black rubies.

In Iran, white mulberries are typically dried so they can be enjoyed throughout the year. Their flavor is enhanced by concentration; they turn yellow, taste like flowery raisins and are eaten as a snack, often mixed with pistachios and walnuts. From Syria to Afghanistan, dried mulberries are ground into flour and made into bread.

According to Najmieh Batmanglij, the author of several Persian cookbooks, in the traditional classification of “heating” and “cooling” foods, white mulberries are considered hot; in some parts of Iran it is customary to follow the eating of tut by drinking cooling yogurt. The much juicier shahtut, on the other hand, is considered cold.

Iranians mostly consume black mulberries fresh and believe that they cleanse the system and fortify the blood. They also drink shahtut juice and, in the off-season, shahtut syrup diluted with water.

In California, it’s the black mulberries that drive chefs wild.

Most keep their preparations simple, to showcase the fruit’s distinctive flavor and delicacy. “We don’t add anything but a little creme frai^che,” says Suzanne Goin of Lucques on Melrose Avenue. “Mulberries are perfect just as they are.”

Nancy Silverton of Campanile takes a similar approach, but at Spago Beverly Hills, Sherry Yard also poaches Adriatic figs in mulberry juice and serves them in Syrah sauce with ginger cream.

A few chefs use the intense flavor of mulberries in savory dishes. At Echo in Fresno, Tim Woods serves duck with mulberry sauce as well as mulberry curd and mulberry ice cream. Isis Neal of Les Deux Cafes in Hollywood makes quail or squab salad with mulberry sauce and gold raspberry vinaigrette.

Chefs vie with other mulberry enthusiasts to buy direct from the few farms that grow the fruits, or they join the lines at farmers markets, paying $10 to $15 a pound.

“All I have to say is ‘Persian mulberry’ and chefs go, ‘Where? When? Here’s money,’ ” notes Alex Weiser. He has six black mulberry trees in Lucerne Valley that have just started bearing fruit, and he recently planted five more.

Last fall, James Birch of Flora Bella Farm noticed the commotion and planted 20 Persian and 18 Russian white mulberries at his property in Three Rivers, in the Sierra foothills. Meanwhile, he likes to show off his Culver City mulberry “ranch,” as he calls it--though it’s really just a backyard with one 10-foot-tall tree, loaded with luscious, exquisitely sweet black berries.

When he lived there two years ago with his family, he remembers, his kids would take off all their clothes except for shorts, and, whooping with delight, gobble the berries until their faces were smeared with purple.

Many farmers have one or two mulberry trees, and about a dozen have planted 10 or more. But one daring grower in Vista, Perry Coles, has a semi-commercial orchard of 200 Pakistan mulberries, the long, purple-fruited “white” variety. This spring the young trees yielded 100 flats, which he sold at a street fair in Carlsbad. Next year, he says, his crop will be much larger, and he’s looking for one chain, possibly Trader Joe’s, to buy it all.

Wholesale fresh mulberry commerce, however, presents formidable challenges. “When I shipped some to L.A., they were puree by the next day,” says Coles.

Persian mulberries are almost too delicate even for farmers markets. They ripen irregularly over a long period, they’re difficult to pick and they splatter indelible juice when touched.

Kim Blain of Circle C Ranch, as legendary for her quirks as for the quality of her fruit, is the queen of California mulberry suppliers. She’s of Korean birth, but her former husband was Persian, so she has about 20 black mulberry trees at her Lake Hughes orchard, many of them gnarled old specimens producing hundreds of pounds of fruit.

In season, at the Santa Monica and Hollywood farmers markets, chefs, Middle Easterners and mulberry aficionados line up at the Circle C stand well before opening time.

Blain’s current husband, Clarence, will sell most of the couple’s offerings, but he leaves the mulberries to his wife, who pours them from plastic picking containers, moving to a sometimes inscrutable inner rhythm.

On the first day for Persian mulberries this year, Susan Hanley was first in line at the Santa Monica market. “I wait all year round for mulberries,” she said. “I’m taking some to New York this afternoon. That’s if they make it home; I may reward myself for standing in line.”

Someone tried to butt in, but the regulars hooted at him and he went to the end of the queue, 20 people long.

Ninth in line, chef Neal explained why she spends up to an hour buying mulberries when she has many other items to purchase.

“It’s sort of a Zen experience waiting for mulberries; it’s become almost a tradition,” she said. “You have to be very patient and let it all go. To me they’re a delicacy like caviar or white truffles or other things set apart. They’re like a fairy tale come to life.”

Crispy Mulberry Cobbler

Active Work Time: 15 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 50 minutes

Linda Roland, who grows Persian mulberries in Ojai with her husband, David, has fond childhood memories of eating this dish. It was cooked by her mother, Marian, from a recipe originated by her grandmother, Mary Feiner. When the Rolands have enough mulberries from their young trees, Linda sometimes makes mulberry jam for her line of Ojai Harvest Preserves. Serve this with vanilla ice cream or chilled whipped cream.

FILLING

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon sugar

3 cups Persian mulberries, rinsed gently in cold water

* Combine flour and sugar in medium bowl. Toss gently with berries.

ASSEMBLY

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup butter or shortening, plus more for greasing

1 egg, lightly beaten

* Combine flour, sugar and baking powder in mixing bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg; mix slightly, stirring just to moisten.

* Grease 8-inch square baking dish. Fill with berry mixture. Crumble topping over berries. Bake at 350 degrees until slightly golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes.

6 to 8 servings. Each of 8 servings: 118 calories; 143 mg sodium; 47 mg cholesterol; 8 grams fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 0.51 gram fiber.

Persian Mulberry Jam

Active Work Time: 5 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 25 minutes

Mohammed Ali and Viola Fouladi grow 100 mulberry trees at their home in Bonsall, so each summer they have a surplus of Persian mulberries, the most flavorful kind. Viola uses this simple recipe to preserve the fruits to enjoy throughout the year.

5 cups Persian mulberries

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 (1 3/4-ounce) package pectin

* Bring berries and sugar to boil in saucepan. Add lemon juice and pectin. Simmer 20 minutes over low heat. Do not overcook fruits.

* Fill jars with jam, leaving about 1/2-inch head space. Fasten with new lids and place in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and cool. Check lids by pressing down in center. Lid should not spring back; if lid springs back, return to water bath 5 more minutes. Tighten lids and wipe clean. Store in cool, dark place.

3 cups. Each tablespoon: 22 calories; 2 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 0 grams fat; 6 grams carbohydrates; 0 protein; 0.14 gram fiber.

Persian Mulberry and Gold Raspberry Quail Salad

Active Work Time: 30 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 45 minutes

Isis Neal, the executive sous-chef at Les Deux Cafes in Hollywood, is one of many mulberry lovers who waits in line at Kim and Clarence Blain’s stand at the Santa Monica farmers market each Wednesday in season.

MULBERRY SAUCE

4 cups reduced-salt chicken broth

1 (750-ml) bottle red wine, such as Merlot

2 tablespoons cassis

1 cup Persian mulberries

Salt, pepper

* Heat chicken broth in small saucepan over medium heat until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 20 minutes.

* Heat wine in small saucepan over medium heat until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 30 minutes.

* Combine broth and wine. Add cassis. Add mulberries. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

GOLDEN RASPBERRY VINAIGRETTE

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 shallot, finely diced

3 pints golden raspberries

Salt, pepper

* Combine vinegar and lemon juice in small bowl. Whisk in olive oil. Add shallot. Set 1/3 raspberries aside for garnish. Puree 2/3 raspberries and strain. Add puree to vinaigrette. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

ASSEMBLY

2 heads frisee

2 sweet onions

4 deboned quail

Salt, pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

* Remove green leaves and stems of frisee. Pull apart, rinse and dry. Slice onions thinly and place in ice water to crisp, 15 minutes. Remove and dry onions. Combine with frisee.

* Season quail with salt and pepper. Heat heavy skillet over medium-high heat and add oil. Place quail in pan breast-side down. Cook each side until golden, about 3 minutes each side. If still soft to touch, finish in oven at 375 degrees, approximately 5 minutes, or until firm.

* To serve, place 1/4 lettuce and onion at top of each of 4 plates. Garnish with reserved raspberries and drizzle with vinaigrette. Place quail on top as if the salad were a pillow. Drizzle with Mulberry Sauce and serve.

4 servings. Each serving: 851 calories; 416 mg sodium; 116 mg cholesterol; 54 grams fat; 39 grams carbohydrates; 41 grams protein; 8.01 gram fiber.