Paper… would taste better.

This is Paper Mulberry, Broussonetia payprifera. They are a weedy species here in north Texas. They rarely get the right conditions for fruiting, so you see these huge groves of them with lots of leaves, but no fruits.

This is the second time I’ve seen fruit, in the decades I’ve been looking at the trees. The other thing is, they go from green fuzz balls, to falling off the tree, very quickly. So I’ve never had one in my mouth before.

The orange tips are almost worth eating. They are mildly sweet. The pips have a slight crunch. They do not remind me of any other fruit except for blue crown passion flower, which is well known for its insipidity. If you can imagine a raspberry, with zero raspberry flavor whatsoever… like, hold your nose and eat a raspberry – it’s very slightly sweet, with almost no acid tang, and no “fruit taste.”

The yellow parts are.. technically edible. Slightly tastier than corn cobs. The whole thing looks like something that belongs in a science fiction movie.