Blooming season with the sweet berry

 

Now, spring seems to be everywhere despite chill air early in the morning and at night. The most obvious harbingers of seasonal change are blooming of cherry blossoms elsewhere in our apartment complex, attracting attention of villagers. I took picture of cherry flowers against backdrop of clear spring sky. I thought flowery image of early spring matches honey taste well and decided to drink something other than soju or beer this weekend. This time we chose something sweet to drink with broiled fish. When I really want to drink sweeter liqueur, it is usually bokbunja wine, but this time I ordered mulberry wine made from mulberries from Buan County in Jeonbuk province. It comes with slim bottle that resembles Canadian ice wine bottles.

Mulberry fruit is called "Odi" in Korea and the bottle has the name “Odi Wine” on it. Mulberry is used not only as a general food ingredient but also as a medicinal resource because it contains alanine and asparagine acid that decomposes alcohol thus good for hangovers. And many people said that it is high in various components preventing adult diseases and even hair losses.

 

Mulberries are harvested from May to June, and this time overlaps with the harvest of raspberry and peas/the planting time of rice. Mulberry is difficult to store for a long time and consequently processing of alcoholic beverages or beverages is essential for consumption. It is known that the taste of mulberries grown in the wild with raspberries and those sold in the mart is very different. The mulberry flavor is twice as strong and has a sour taste when grown in the wild.

The taste was not very different from Bokbunja, but I thought it was less sweet and good for fish and vegetables than meat. As side dish we had pickled perilla leaves, green chili with anchovies, and chive salade. The alcohol by volume (ABV) is about 14%, like wines but much lower than soju. Due to the lower alcohol contents and sweet taste, you feel like just drinking non-alcohol beverages thus if you are big fan of stronger booze, then mulberry wine is not a good choice. However, if you are ice wine or sparkler lover, then this is worth trying and it may be an opportunity to compare them.

 

How about the place we went to? Was the restaurant we visited provided good atmosphere for drinking mulberry wine? May be not. We normally associate wines with cozy and private space with jazz or classic music in the air. Crowded and noisy place with loud music don’t satisfy such conditions. But after having three or more glasses, the mood seemed to be ok for me because of the magic of intoxication and I was able to ignore distracting factors and concentrate to savor foods and drink.

 

Certainly, mulberry and other berries-based drink in Korea may not be great deal for connoisseurs, but they can be good for ordinary people or budget traveler seeking cheaper options and casual drinking. I also think that I am the one of them too.