The Pom-pom Fruit of the Paper Mulberry

I was attracted to this red-orange wild fruit that looked like a pom-pom growing on a tree. My first question was: “what is it?” The second was: “is it edible?”

Nobody knew the answer to the first question, but those around me were unanimous in saying “probably not” to the second question.

Paper mulberry fruit

After some a lot of digging, I found out it’s called the paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera). It is closely related to other mulberries but has been given its own genus.

It is believed to be the “most widely transported fiber crop in prehistory,” brought by the early migration of people from mainland Asia into Austronesia.

It is used in the Pacific Islands to make barkcloth (tapa), the traditional material for clothing.

In China, it played a significant role in the history of papermaking. Traditional handcrafted paper in Japan (washi) and Korea (hanji) are made from its inner bark.

Now, back to the fruit.

Green ball and pom-pom

Apparently it starts out as a green ball, which eventually grows hairs that become the orange pom-pom part (the pom-pom does grow on trees!). And yes, the orange part is edible, and is “sweet, juicy and fragile” according to eattheweeds.com (that’s not a typo).

That sounds enticing, but I’m good, thanks. Photos of these pom-poms will do, for now.