Episode 194: Wildly Delicious and Historically Rich - The Tale of Mulberry Pizza

Wild Fish and Game Podcast

Typically found staining sidewalks, the mulberry is an incredibly under-utilized fruit. While most people think of the berry as a nuisance, creating purple van Gogh-style messes on the bottom of shoes, their sweet and tangy flavor adds to many culinary experiences. The berries can be used in desserts, such as pies or crumbles, for building complex wines or liquors, as hearty and rustic glazes for a variety of meats, or even in crazy-sounding dishes like pizzas or grilled cheese sandwiches.

Despite their physical resemblance to raspberries and blackberries, mulberries are closer relatives to figs. Their flavor is also much richer and even a touch savory compared to a blackberry or raspberry. While adding sugar to the berries results in sweet desserts, the core flavor of the berry works beautifully for heartier meals.

Mulberries are not commercially sold due to their harvesting difficulty. The delicate fruit must be hand-picked, making harvesters easily identifiable by the deep-purple ink stains covering their fingertips, and also has a relatively short shelf-life. Foraging the berry makes for a great family outing, albeit a bit messy, and the harvests can be used for many recipes. -Lindsey Bartosh

Read the written version of this recipe as prepared by Lindsey Bartosh

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About Pizza

Once humans started harvesting and processing grains, moving from grain porridges to grainy flatbreads cooked on hot rocks was a quick step. Once processing technology advanced, lighter flours would have been made available to create flat doughs. Eventually, the Egyptians discovered yeast, creating a softer, easier-to-digest dough that slowly morphed into modern bread.

These flat doughs were popular throughout much of the world, with Egyptians, Greeks, and Persians (among others) regularly eating them.

Persian soldiers were known to bake flatbreads topped with cheese and dates on top of their shields in between battles, while the Greeks topped theirs with herbs, onions, garlic, or fruit purees, as well as cheese, and offered them up to the gods.

As mentioned, the Romans also ate flatbreads, often topping them with cheese, fruits, honey, and oil. A painting depicting these tasty snacks was even found in Pompeii.

Breadmaking progressed along with other technologies, and flatbreads just improved. Manakish was becoming very popular in the Middle East, while focaccia, developed by the Etruscans, was commonly eaten in Tuscany.

Pita was also being made in Greece by this point, a bread with a suspiciously similar name to pizza, especially when Naples started as a Greek settlement.

Although some historians point towards earlier examples of pizza, it is generally agreed that Naples was the true birthplace. By the 1600s, street vendors were selling flatbreads called pizzas to poor working-class people who needed something cheap to eat on the go. These pizzas were usually topped with garlic, salt, lard, and cheese.

About Mulberries

Despite their physical resemblance to raspberries and blackberries, mulberries are closer relatives to figs. Their flavor is also much richer and even a touch savory compared to a blackberry or raspberry. While adding sugar to the berries results in sweet desserts, the core flavor of the berry works beautifully for heartier meals.

Mulberries are not commercially sold due to their difficulty in harvesting. The delicate fruit must be hand-picked, and harvesters are easily identifiable by the deep-purple ink stains covering their fingertips. They also have a relatively short shelf life. Foraging the berry makes for a great family outing, albeit a bit messy, and the harvests can be used for various recipes.

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