Recipe 02. Foraged mulberry frangipane tart

The easiest intro to foraging

Mulberry trees are the easiest introduction to urban foraging and can be identified by the tragic masses of ripe fruit littered on the ground around them. They’re one of the few fruits that I both adore and feel disgusted by - mostly because I can’t help but imagine the silk worm larvae that survive by burrowing through the leaves. Some cool but also semi-depressing things I’ve learned about mulberries and silk worms: 

• White mulberry trees are the fastest trees in the plant kingdom!! Their pollen release is > half the speed of sound (is this not the wildest info?!) 

• Silk worms aren’t found in the wild anymore bc we’ve been selectively breeding them for way too long and now they can’t fly or breed or feed without human involvement :,( 

• Silk worms are attracted to mulberry leaves bc of a jasmine-scented chemical they’re emitting

• White mulberries are invasive in the US

There are so many ripe mulberry trees in our area! I think they’re white mulberry trees based on their shorter / shinier leaves and shorter fruit.

Found in a park right next to our house

Here’s a tart recipe to deal with the emotional roller coaster of nature: 

1. Cut the stems off your mulberries and soak them in water with a little bit of baking soda for ~10 minutes. Apparently there can be tiny worms living inside them and soaking can evict them unless you’re into that kind of thing.

Giving silkworm pupae

2. Squash the mulberries with a spoon and make a sort of “jam.” I put quotes here because jams are something I don’t have an affinity for yet so I usually just macerate the berry, throw an undefined amount of sugar in, and squeeze half a lemon in and simmer. 

Is this aesthetic or no 

3. Make the tart shell! I always use Claire Saffitz’s tart shell recipe because it’s so good and has almond flour which I love. I haven’t tried any other tart shell recipes though so I have zero point of reference. Her recipe calls for:

   • 1/3 cup almond flour (1.4 oz / 40g)

   • 1 cup all-purpose flour (4.6 oz / 130g)

   • 1/4 cup powdered sugar (1oz / 30g)

   • 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt

   • 1 stick unsalted butter (4 oz / 113g), cut into 1/2-inch pieces, chilled

   • 1 large egg yolk (0.6 oz / 16g)

   • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

     Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and toast the almond flour for ~5 minutes.

     Mix all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, and salt together. Add cooled almond flour. Add the butter. I just use my hands for this but you can use a food processor.

     Beat egg yolk, vanilla extract, and 4 tsp of cold water together in a separate bowl. Add this mixture into your dry flour mixture until it comes together.

     Pat dough into a thin-ish rectangle and leave in fridge for at least 30 minutes.

     Smash dough into tart pan.

4. Make the frangipane! I used this recipe from The Café Sucre Farine minus the powdered sugar and sliced almonds. I also decrease the sugar bc I’m asian and everything Western is too sweet for me. You’ll need

   • 4 ounces room temp butter

   • 1/2 cup sugar

   • 3 large eggs

   • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

   • ¼ teaspoon almond extract

   • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

   • 1 ½ cups almond flour

Basically just mix all of them together and add the almond flour last!

3. Stuff your frangipane into your tart shell 

   

4. Swirl your mulberry “jam” / liquid into the frangipane 

3. Bake for ~50 minutes at 350 degrees F 

4. Forget to take a pic of the finished product and take pics of the slices the next day instead

This is my favorite plate. She’s thrifted

oo,

BitNan