Black mulberry

Black mulberry was brought from Middle East to Europe much earlier, probably already in classical antiquity era. Today most of the trees can be found in southern Europe. The black mulberry was a symbol of wisdom in old Greece and dedicated to god Pan, the god of forests, herdsman, hunt and pastoral music. Mulberry fruits were valuable goods, imported from Middle East to ancient Greece and Rome and were cherished as culinary delicacy. Some regional varieties of fruits can reach up to 6 cm of length and 3 cm wide.

Black mulberry (Morus nigra L.) is quite rare in Slovenia although gathered data of abundance and locations of trees is far from complete. Its dark coloured fruits can be easily confused with dark genotypes of white mulberry’s fruits. However the crown is wider and thicker, its trunk is twisted and knotted. Young shoots are strong, redish-brown and hairy. Compared to the white mulberry the black has uniformly hairy lower leaf surface, that is why the leaves looks silver-shiny. Upper leaf surface is dark green and rough. Leaves are wide and egg-shaped, leaf base is heart-shaped. Heterophylly is characteristic also for the black mulberry. The flowers of the black mulberry are single-sex catkins, male and female flowers grow usually on seperate trees however they can also occur on the same tree. The edible fruits are meaty, greenish when unriped and dark purple to red and very aromatic when fully riped.

There is about 400 black mulberry trees in the village of Boboshtice in Albania. Locals believe that the trees are about 1000 years old, but they are probably not older than 500 years. The plantation is managed by five families, managment is carried from older generations to the new ones. The spirit is produced from the fruits and it is afterwards filtered through the leaves – in that process it becomes fine greenish colour.