mulberry syrup

Middle Easterners keep cool in the hot summers by drinking freshly pressed juices or iced drinks made with fruit syrups. The syrups are made by boiling down fresh fruit juice with sugar to produce a concentrated base that is then diluted with iced water and offered as an alternative to fresh juice. I remember my mother buying luscious mulberries in the summer from a vendor who knocked on our door carrying a huge enameled bowl full of the juiciest red mulberries I have ever seen. He would scoop the mulberries with a metal ladle and drop them into the large glass bowl my mother would hand him, sometimes splattering juice on her beautiful clothes. Once he had filled the bowl, my mother would pay him and then take the bowl into the kitchen, where she would give us children each a bowlful of mulberries to snack on before juicing the rest to turn into syrup. This we would drink once the season was over and sometimes also in winter if we felt like a taste of summer. I always keep a bottle of mulberry syrup in my refrigerator to make myself cool summer drinks, and whenever I do, I unfailingly remember the long, hot summers of my childhood and the beautiful red mulberry syrup drink swirling in my mother’s crystal glasses.

As for the word sharab, it means “drink” in Arabic and it gave birth to sharbat, which became “sherbet” in English, to describe the drinks first devised by the Persians to replace the wine they could no longer drink under Islam. This recipe is for mulberry syrup, but the principle is the same for other berries that take your fancy—just make sure you choose them ripe. Also adjust the sugar according to the sweetness of the fruit. To make mulberry refresher, use about 3 Tbsp of this syrup per 1 cup [240 ml] of ice-cold water. Mix the water and syrup well before adding a couple of ice cubes to each glass.

MAKES ABOUT 1¹/₂ CUPS [360 ML]

2 cups [480 ml] fresh mulberry juice

1 cup [200 g] organic cane sugar, or more if needed

Mix the mulberry juice and sugar in a medium saucepan until the sugar dissolves and taste for sweetness. Some mulberries are sweeter than others.

Place the pan over low heat and let simmer until the juice is reduced to a medium-thick syrup, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool.

Using a funnel, pour the syrup into sterilized glass bottles and seal. Store in a cool, dark place or in the refrigerator for up to 1 year.