According to legend the fruit of the white mulberry tree turned black as result of a tragic, Shakespearean end to a love story between Thisbe and Pyramus. You can taste the best and most delicious black mulberries . . in the Aegean village of Cambazlı, where you can observe almost all villagers, female and male, old and young, picking fruit among the branches of black mulberry trees .
Italian poet Naso Ovidius didn't probably know that a poem he wrote after a journey he made to Mesopotamia around 2,000 years ago, passing through Anatolia, would inspire lines in not one, but two of Shakespeare's famous plays, “Romeo and Juliet” and “A Midsummer Night's Dream”!
Inspired by one of the stories of Ksenofon, Greek philosopher and author, a précis of Ovidius' poem follows:
“O weeping mulberry! The most beautiful girl of the neighborhood, Thisbe, and its most handsome boy, Pyramus, were neighbors. They were united in their love even though separated by a mud brick wall between their houses. Their families opposed their union. However, there was a hole in the wall. Pyramus and Thisbe didn't only talk to each other but they also whispered words of love and sent kisses to each other through that hole. One night, they planned to elope and meet under a mulberry tree. Thisbe came first and was startled suddenly with the roar of a lion while she was waiting for Pyramus. She then saw a lion which was just returning from a successful hunt, his jaws and mouth still covered with blood. Frightened, she dropped her cape and she ran away. The lion tore the cape, leaving blood stains over it but then he too left.
“Arriving at their meeting spot, Pyramus saw the torn cape and the footsteps of the lion. And, thinking that a lion had eaten his lover, he took the cape in his hand, weeping inwardly and said: ‘You died because of me. I tempted you forth to a place of such peril, but was not at the meeting place to guard you.' He leant on the tree.
“‘My blood also shall stain you!' he shouted at the mulberry tree, and drawing his sword, plunged it deep into his heart. The blood spurting from the wound sank into the earth and reached the tree's roots. Then the red color traveled through the trunk to the fruit and turned all the white mulberries on the tree red.
“By this time, Thisbe, still trembling with fear, yet not wishing to disappoint her lover, stepped cautiously forth from where she was hiding. She looked anxiously for her beloved, eager to tell him of the danger she had escaped. However, when she came to the tree, she saw the changed color of the mulberries and recognized her lover lying in a pool of blood, with her reddened cape in his hand. She understood the truth.
“She screamed and embraced his lifeless form, just as Juliet embraced Romeo when she awoke, pouring tears into his wounds. She kissed the cold lips of her beloved just as Juliet did. ‘Oh, Pyramus,' she cried, ‘What have you done? Answer me, Pyramus; it is your own Thisbe. Hear me, dearest, and lift that swooning head!' At Thisbe's name, Pyramus opened his eyes, looked at her hopelessly and then closed them forever.
“‘I too can be brave for once, and my love is as strong as yours. I will follow you in death, for I have been the cause; and death, which alone could tear us apart, shall not prevent me from joining you,” said Thisbe and plunged the sword into her breast. The blood that poured from her body turned the mulberries a darker color still, a deep purple. “The sorrowful families of both lovers buried the two bodies in one tomb and the tree yielded purple berries ever-after, as it does today.
“The legend is that, the gods, since then, began to grow black mulberries in Anatolia in order for the tragic story of Thisbe and Pyramus to be a lesson for those who try to separate lovers.”
This story is still retold around the Aydın Mountains, to the north of the Aegean province of Aydın, even 2,000 years later, as the hopeless love story of “the sultan's daughter and the shepherd,” embodied in the black mulberry tree.
Black mulberries of Cambazlı Village:
The white mulberry is native to China, which is also home to silk. The mulberry came to Anatolia in the 12th century. The black mulberry -- Morus Nigra -- on the other hand, is believed to be native to the area between Iran and Mesopotamia. The mulberry tree, grown to most extent in the temperate climates of the northern hemisphere, is deciduous. The best and most delicious black mulberries are grown in İzmir's Tire district, most famously in the villages of Cambazlı and Kahramanmaraş.
Cambazlı is a small village of 85 houses with a fresh mountain climate, due to its 680-meter elevation. The supplementary income source of the village population of 400 is not the white mulberry but the black. Try to pay a visit to the village between June and August. You can then witness the villagers, regardless of their age and gender, including old and young, male and female, among the branches of 10-meter-high trees, picking black mulberries.
Black mulberries don't turn purple all at once, they gradually attain their color at differing rates. They first turn yellowish pink, then pinkish red and finally reddish purple when mature. The tree is thus called “yediveren” -- a word used to define flowers and trees that bloom or bear fruit several times a year.
The changing colors of the black mulberries in the maturity process make the situation easier for those who pick the fruits. One day all the mature fruit are picked, and then a few days later new ones are ripe. The black mulberries are thus picked at intervals over a period of two or two-and-a-half months, giving the villagers a reasonable and generous time for picking.
The overhanging black mulberries at the lower branches of trees are gently picked by fingertip, while the “hanging-stretching” method is applied to pick the mulberries on the upper branches. One picker climbs into the tree and hangs a pail over the end of the branch using a rope. The branch is then bent downwards as much as possible allowing another picker on the ground to reach it. The black mulberries are gently picked one by one with diligent movements of wrist, hand and fingers without harming them, and then they are poured to the pail.
Vildan and Hüseyin Soylu can speak at length of the characteristics of black mulberries. The couple sell their products at the Tire market via the village's cooperative. “The black mulberries matured earlier [this year] as the wind blew from the sea this summer,” the couple said.
The producers in the village formerly took the mulberries right to the customers' door in İzmir, for barely more that YTL 1 per kilogram. However, a system capable of preserving 100 tons of mulberries and freezing them at minus 40 degrees Celsius was established in the village two years ago with the efforts of Esat Eryılmaz, the muhtar, or local authority, of the village, with the help of a YTL 117,000 loan from the İzmir Governorship's Fund for Promotion of Life Quality in Villages.
The customers now come to the village to buy the black mulberries for YTL 3 per kilogram, and the price is set by the producers. The income from the sale of only 70 tons of black mulberries is YTL 200,000. This income should even reach YTL 1 million in 10 years' time, when newly planted young black mulberry trees will begin to bear fruit. The village's black mulberry production will grow from 70 tons to 350 tons.
Hasan Kaya, chairman of the village's black mulberry cooperative, said their future project was a factory in which jam and black mulberry products will be produced for foreign markets. The village also produces 100 tons of walnuts and 250 tons of chestnuts each year.
The knotted wood of the black mulberry tree's branches is much sought after for use in wooden veneers, and the wood of the trunk is used in making musical instruments.
Hasan Doğan, who uses all kinds of herbs, wild and cultured, in the restaurant he opened in Tire after he retired from the post of biology teacher, is also a black mulberry specialist. Doğan stresses that a black mulberry gargle has positive effects on mouth ulcers and throat inflammation as well as on ulcers of the stomach and intestines.
According to natural remedy books, some organic acids, -- tartaric-citric acids -- found in the black mulberry are good for health. It is also written that its roots have a laxative effect and can be used to eliminate intestinal parasites.
“Female and male trees are different in white mulberries,” says Doğan, adding: “However, black mulberries show hermaphrodite characteristics. Most of the branches are female and a few male in a black mulberry tree. The black mulberry tree is thus self-fertilizing … unlike the white mulberry trees. Some villagers, who cut off the male branches, thinking that they don't produce fruit, are entirely wrong!”
Its colorful juice is used for making the natural dye-stuff, madder. It is known amongst the villagers that mulberry stains are removed by cold water, not hot. It is also believed that the reddish purple stains can be removed from the hands by rubbing them with the tree's leaves; however, the lovers Thisbe and Pyramus are further united by each attempt!
Black mulberry recipes from Tire:
Hasan Doğan offered some delicious white and black mulberry recipes for Turkish Daily News readers:
Mulberry Molasses: Mash the fruit in a large vessel and boil the juice along with pekmez toprağı (grape molasses soil – unprocessed soil containing calcite and used for making molasses) until thick.
Mulberry Fruit “Leather”: Spread mulberry molasses (see above) on a large wooden board or a sheet and let it dry under the sun.
Black Mulberry Sour: Use immature mulberries. Pound them until puréed and let this purée dry under the sun for a period of 15 days. This can then be used to flavor salads, giving a delicious taste different from that of sour pomegranate syrup (nar ekşisi).
Black Mulberry Syrup: Place the black mulberries in a large sauce pan. Boil and then sieve the fruit. Return the juice to the pan and add some sugar, continue to boil and then skim off the foam. Leave the syrup under the sun for 20 days. The longer it spends in the sunshine, the more delicious the syrup will be.
Black Mulberry Jam: Place mulberries and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Skim off any foam. Ladle the jam into clean warm bottles. Store in a cool place.
Black Mulberry Curd Desert: Take 1 kilogram of unsalted curd cheese, 100 grams of honey, a small amount of milk and some black mulberry syrup. Mix all of the ingredients together with a blender. Serve with black mulberry jam and sprinkled with walnuts.
…And from the TDN:
Mix black mulberry juice (which also goes well with rakı), with vodka or gin and put it in the refrigerator. Pour over ice and add 5-10 drops of lemon juice for a delicious summer drink. You can also add some orange juice into the mixture: perfect at sunset.
ÖZGEN ACAR
August 27, 2006
ANKARA - TDN Guest Writer
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