Spring is just around the corner, and in the Qingdao area, western China, mulberries are flourishing. This greenhouse grows the variety "Long Mulberry” which is rare.
The saplings come from Taiwan, the trees are fully in red, green, and purple. The entrance of the greenhouse is really eye-catching green, and the trees are dense and scattered. In the middle of these branches and leaves, there are strips hanging down. These strips look like "caterpillars" hanging down in the gaps between the leaves of each branch.
These are the legendary "long mulberry" and they are distributed irregularly on the branches. Some grow beside the leaves, some grow on the branches; some bear a single mulberry fruit, and some four or five mulberries can be grown in one place, and even seven or eight mulberry fruits can grow in the same place. The unripe ones are green, the ripe ones are red, and after they are ripe, they become dark purple. Such clusters of green, red, and purple in between are a pleasure to behold.
Perfect circumstances for sweet mulberries
Mr. Zhang Juke said that the long mulberry planted in this ecological park was directly purchased from Taiwan in 2013. After the first year of overwintering, it was found that the temperature and soil were all right, so in 2014, plants for five more greenhouses were added. At that time, the Green Village Ecological Sightseeing Park was the only place where long mulberries were grown in the entire Qingdao area.
Mr. Zhang: "We are close to Qingdao's mother river, the Dagu River. The underground water source is quite rich, and the minerals are also rich, which can even enhance the nutritional value of long mulberries." The length of the long mulberry is about 15 cm. The fruit structure looks similar to that of ordinary mulberries. They are composed of many small balls and have short hairs. "Ordinary mulberries are harder than long fruit mulberries and taste sour. The sugar content of our long mulberries can reach between 35 and 40, which is sweeter than sugar cane! Picking has been the main focus for the past few years, and it can start every March. The economic value is much higher than ordinary mulberries. "
Why aren't these long mulberries available on the market? Mr. Zhang Juke explained that the riper the long mulberry, the darker the color, and when it is dark and purple, it is fully ripe. But the long-fruit mulberry, like the mulberry, has a very short fresh-keeping time. If the fully ripe mulberry is picked, the bad fruit rate will be very high during the sale process, so there are few in the market. Even if there is selling the fruits, it is just red which means it is just ripe.
Mr. Zhang Juke said that because of the epidemic last year, they also started online e-commerce sales. Basically, new orders are introduced by old customers, and daily sales through WeChat groups and other channels can reach more than 50 kg. However, in order to ensure the quality and taste, they can only do the same-day delivery to the nearest location.
Source: news.bandao.cn