2023-05-31 09:05:10
The mulberry tree belongs to the Moracee family, a long-lived and generous plant of fruits and shiny leaves with a pointed apex, just like a heart. It is of those leaves that the Bombix mori larva, more commonly known as the silkworm, feeds with great greed before wrapping itself in its own precious cocoon.
Two species are known of this tree, differentiated into ‘white’ and ‘black’, depending on the color of its fruits. The silkworm prefers the tender leaves of the white mulberry (Morus Alba), a plant native to eastern Asia and introduced in Europe in the 12th century, which produces edible fruits, but which are difficult to find on the market due to their difficult conservation.
The black mulberry (Morus Nigra), native to Asia Minor, instead produces mulberries, small berries with a maximum length of 2.5 cm, fleshy, succulent and very dark, to be eaten raw as such, or to be used to prepare syrups, jams or jellies, and which have nothing to do with the classic blackberries, or the ‘berries’ that grow in wild shrubs.
The ripening times of the two types of mulberry are also different: the ripening of the white fruits, already available in May, is earlier. In the month of June, on the other hand, the black mulberry begins to bear fruit producing blackberries with a dark and sugary juice, capable of staining tenaciously and of which Pliny already celebrated the health qualities, which differ according to the degree of ripeness of the fruit: anti-hemorrhagic if unripe, painkiller when ripe.
Rich in precious components, mulberries have antioxidant and cardioprotective effects, but they can also interfere with blood sugar levels and the pharmacological action of medicines of various kinds.
The next episode of Il Gusto della Salute is dedicated to the historical and healthy recovery of these fruits, once an integral part of man’s traditional diet, the scientific format on good food practices conceived and coordinated by the immunologist Mauro Minelli, under the scientific aegis of the Foundation for Personalized Medicine and in collaboration with ADN Kronos Salute. Appointment at 15 on Friday 2 June.
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