Freeze-Dried Black Mulberries

Black mulberry — shahtoot in Persian, the king mulberry — freeze-dried whole. It is the fruit Iranians eat by the handful with tea in summer, and almost nobody outside the region has cooked with it.

Freeze-drying suits it particularly well. Because the process uses no heat, the deep wine-purple survives intact; dry a dark berry with heat and it goes brown and flat. Nothing added.

Character

Deeper and more complex than blackberry, with a winey, faintly honeyed edge and a tannin note that keeps it from reading as simply sweet. Crisp, light, and it collapses on the tongue. Colour runs from pale magenta to near-black across a single pack — that is ripeness variation in the fruit, not inconsistency in the drying.

How to use

• With pistachio. Mulberry and pistachio is a Persian pairing older than most of European pastry, and it works exactly as you would hope — the tannin in the berry cuts the fat in the nut. Try it in a nougat, a financier or a chocolate bar.
• Blitzed to powder. Gives a deep purple-black that is genuinely difficult to achieve from fruit. Striking in white chocolate, buttercream, macaron shells and glazes.
• Chocolate work. Bars, bark, clusters and enrobed fruit. No moisture, so no risk of seizing.
• Decoration. Whole over entremets, tarts and gelato, where the irregular shape reads as something the customer has not seen before.
• Baking. Scones, cookies, brownies and loaf cakes.
• Tea and infusion. Traditional in Iran alongside tea; also good steeped into syrups and creams.
• Rehydrated. Warm water, syrup or red wine for compotes and fillings.

Working notes

Like all freeze-dried fruit, these pull moisture from the air fast — crisp to leathery in an hour or two on an open bench in this climate, and there is no reversing it. Take what you need and seal the pack.

The colour is strong enough to stain. Worth knowing before you fold them through a pale batter and leave it standing.

At a glance

• Form: Whole freeze-dried black mulberries
• Ingredients: 100% black mulberry. No sugar, colouring or preservative.
• Process: Freeze-dried — frozen, then vacuum-dried by sublimation
• Origin: [CONFIRM]
• Available in: [CONFIRM — see sizing note]

Storage

Airtight, resealed immediately, in a cool dark cupboard. No refrigeration needed, and in humid conditions the fridge can work against you if condensation forms on the pack. A food-safe desiccant sachet in the container is worth the trouble in a Malaysian kitchen.

Questions

What does black mulberry taste like?
Closest to blackberry, but deeper and less sharp, with a winey quality and a light tannin finish. If you know Persian food you will recognise it immediately. If not, it is the most interesting thing on this page.

Why are some berries pale and some almost black?
Ripeness. Mulberries do not ripen uniformly, and freeze-drying preserves whatever colour the fruit had rather than evening it out. A pack of identical berries would mean something had been done to them.

How is this different from ordinary dried mulberry?
Dried white mulberry — the chewy, pale, honey-sweet kind — is a completely different fruit and a completely different process. This is black mulberry, dried without heat, and it is crisp rather than chewy and tart rather than sweet.

Can I make powder from these?
Yes. A spice grinder gives you a deep purple powder in seconds. Grind it as you need it rather than in advance.