It’s mulberry season in Tuscany! One of my favorite fruits, I remember picking them as a child when visiting my mother’s family in the Midwest and was thrilled to see so many here in Tuscany. There’s something so satisfying about actually picking fruit off the tree and eating it right away, or taking the fruits of your labors home to make jams to enjoy another day. Mulberries aren’t much revered or appreciated, and they’re kind of a mess to have in your yard because the berries drop and stain, but like all wild berries they’re filled with good vitamins and minerals and are a welcome harbinger of summertime abundance.
The Tuscan countryside is covered with mulberry trees, a leftover from one of the most important industries of the Middle Ages: silk weaving. Italian silk was legendary. From the Middle Ages until the late 19th century, Florence, Lucca and Siena were amoung the major [Read more…]