Getting to Know Mulberries:
More Than a Sweet Fruit

A mulberry might first catch your attention for its sweetness. In Chinese herbal tradition, however, the fruit has another identity: sang shen (桑椹), an ingredient traditionally associated with nourishment and moistening dryness.

That background gives this familiar fruit a deeper story. From its place in traditional herbal practice to research on its plant compounds, there is more to discover than its flavour alone.

Meet sang shen

In Chinese materia medica, sang shen is known as Mori Fructus and comes from the mature fruiting structure of Morus alba. It is commonly used in dried form.

One useful distinction comes early: mulberry fruit and mulberry leaf are separate herbal ingredients. The fruit is sang shen; the leaf is sang ye. They come from the same tree, but they have different traditional roles and are studied as different materials.

When you see a headline about “mulberry benefits,” check which part of the plant it means. Findings about a leaf extract do not automatically describe the fruit in a herbal tea.