- Nursery rhyme
Both white and black mulberry trees grow in Sicily and these gelsi fruit are, I've discovered, delicious with ice cream. Black gelsi make one of the most refreshing granite [fruit syrup served as crushed ice] I have tasted in Sicily and next time I have one, I will post a picture. Right now I am pondering the liqueur making possibilities of gelsi...
Incidentally, I once taught the above nursery rhyme to a group of 20-year-old male engineers from Dubai and to hear them raucously singing it before class "on a cold and frosty morning" was a joy indeed! [Song, especially where repeated actions are featured, is a great language learning tool.]
You are right about songs.
ReplyDeleteIt is the rhythm that enables us to remember the words better.
What does this syrup taste like?
I know that's probably not an easy question, but any hints?
You learn something everyday...I know the nursery rhyme, but didn;t actually know there was a Mulberry Bush...to be truthful, I never thought much about it, to investigate :-)
ReplyDeleteDo they have a good silk trade from those mulberry trees?
ReplyDeleteThey look too scrummy to eat. I know we have these trees in the UK too, isn't that where the nursery rhyme originated?
ReplyDeleteI met a Saudi in Maidenhead once who thought England was "far too green".
ReplyDeleteI also met a Canadian in Saudi who thought that the Eastern Province reminded him of back home- the sand was reminiscent of huge fields of corn.
I haven't had mulberries in years but I remember as a kid we had a big mulberry tree nearby and we ate the purple berries all the time. I even remember we had a silk worm which we fed with the leaves but I don't remember what we did with it after it turned into a cocoon. I know we didn't spin it into silk!
ReplyDeleteHave you read Seta by Alessandro Baricco? I'm sure you have. I love that book.
regards
jmb
Here we go round the mulberry bush.
ReplyDeleteI learned that as a child in California.
Hi, Crushed. Syrup: well, you can't really taste the sugar content and it's much lighter than, say, a sorbet. The best instructions I've come across for making them in the UK are in Ursula Ferrigno's "Ital Cakes and Desserts". Hi, Anne. Well, I'm no gardener but I gather it's really a tree that is bush-shaped in the UK? WW, no, not now. The Arabs brought sericulture to Sicily and it flourished under the Norman kings here, especially in Palermo. In recent centuries, the Far East competition has been too much, as elsewhere. But a lot of silk garments are still worn here - much more than in the UK. Hi, ellee, yes. But I gather the white mulberry does not grow well in Britain. Delicolour, "Too green" - that's an amazing comment! It just shows how where we come from shapes our perceptions of anywhere else. The sand like corn - I can just about get my head around that. You have had some great travel experiences! Jmb, thanks for your childhood memory. no, I haven't read that book but I will look it up right away! Thanks. Steve, I wasn't sure if Americans would know the rhyme. Nice that you do!
ReplyDeleteYou should try making mulberry wine, Welsh.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen mulberries before (and it took me a long time to work out that those are mulberries in the bowl! For some reason I thought they were potatoes studded with mulberry seeds! Okay, it's early and my eyes aren't working properly yet.)
ReplyDeleteNow, there's an idea, Lee! Liz, neither had I before coming here. You are funny!
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulberry
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anne.
ReplyDelete