Last week, my son and I went to one of Amman’s old neighborhoods to visit a the well known cultural/art center Darat al Funun. In the garden of that center are a number of toot/berry trees (of the red and white varieties).
In Jordan, this is the only known kind of ‘berries’. The tree itself is big (English name: Mulberry. Scientific name: Morus alba for the white variety and Morus rubra for the red variety and Morus nigra for the black variety)
Kingdom:Plantae
Phylum:Magnoliophyta
Class:Magnoliopsida
Order:Rosales
Family:Moraceae
Genus:Morus
So it’s unlike the bushes/shrubs that carry the various kinds of berries in Europe. The toot fruits are very delicate and very sweet when ripe and they fall off the tree when they become overripe.
European berries cannot grow easily in Jordan. My wife tried to plant some berry shrubs in our garden, but I think the weather is too hot for them here. Imported fresh berries can nowadays be found is upscale supermarkets in Jordan, but they are super expensive (simply un-buyable!)
So.. we spent 20 minutes reaching for the white berries and eating them off the tree, marking the official start of this year’s toot season!
Comments
7 responses to “It’s toot season in Amman”
and, let me add a small something, their leaves are the exclusive dish of the silkworm. So the finest silk grows on these trees, in a way.
Yes they taste and look much better with they are picked straight from the tree…
Yummy yummy
Have you tried Toot Molasses? It’s Unbelievable.
Toot reminds me of the my old uncle’s house, in a very old Amman neighborhood, when everyone warned us to stay off the toot tree because it’s high and we might hurt ourselves. But of course, we would never listen
it was the farthest tree from the house, It felt like an old tree, but was surprisingly the largest one. I used to climb that tree, and pick toot of it every summer as we visit Jordan.
By the way, the picture that you have on itoot is floating over the links on the side (only in Firefox, but not IE), I tried to leave you a comment there, but apparently commenting is no longer for anyone and only for iToot members.
hey i love toot, and ur son seems cool hehe
the question is: why did you take him to darat al funun?
Thanks for the extra info everyone. It seems that toot trees bring out nice stories and memories.
Quawaider, thanks for sharing your story. BTW comments on toot (the site, not the tree) are open for everyone. I saw a lot of comments from you there actually. I know about the floating picture but didn’t do anything about it (it was late
)
Jansait: I took my son to Darat al Funun to 1. See the archeological exhibition there. 2. To eat toot! We also went to see the art show at the French Cultural Center (our friend Diala Khasawneh is showing there).
I tried recently, and comments are not showing up. I think same goes for everyone. I guess someone has changed something. Would you be so kind as to check it.
Thank you
humeid: you’re a great father to him