[elvis]

Hi
we seem to have LOADs of these trees.

I read the fruits are edible but "not very tasty". They taste fine to me, a bit peachy. The problem seems to be the difficulty i seperating the fruity bit from seeds in side and the red coating. Has anyone made jam or anything from them? Or any other tips?

cheers
elvina

[lisa]

Only not to bother looking for Two-tailed pashas on them 

[Dave]

Hi Elvina
 Wiki on the strawberry Tree
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry_Tree#Cultivation_and_uses
Regards
Dave

[Sue]

Hi Elvina,
I've not yet tried making anything with strawberry tree fruits, but have heard of them being used for jam and liqueur, here are a couple of results from searching on Spanish sites for recipes...let us know your results
mermelada y licor de madroño

mermelada y salsa de madroños

[nick]

I find they vary in quality a lot. Some taste floury and rather dull, but others are rather delicious. I have the impression that drier areas produce sweeter fruits. The best I've eaten are those in El Garraf -

[nick]

By the way, I think the correct term in English for the fruit is arbutus cherry.

[elvis]

Hi all,
ah, arbutus cherry, that sounds much better, it seems daft to keep saying, "the fruit from the strawberry tree", like on the wikipedia entry that says "this tree does not produce strawberries". Seems jam/sauce & liquor are all thats mentioned anywhere, no pies or cakes. Well i'll have a go at some jam and let you know of the results

cheers
elvina

[elvis]

well, i went out and picked some for jam (hmm not as many there were by the time i got round to it, but noticed more fruitful tree's on the south facing slopes) and started to peel them according to the jam recipe Sue sent, but my lot were quite small and i must admit i got a bit bored, so in the end i half followed the sauce recipe which said cook them whole and sieve them!
so that was the fruits, some sugar and juice of half a lemon. Once cooked and sieved i had a large jar full of thick sweet puree. When cold it is delicious on bread. It has the texture of a fruit curd or cheese , very thick (you can see my knife marks in the pic), and tastes very much like apricots.

I think my neighbours have lots left so i'm off to get more before the season finishes!

cheers
elvina

[harryabbott]

The strawberry tree features on the coat of arms of Madrid. It depicts a bear standing and reaching into the tree to eat the berries. Of course the bears are no longer there and the strawberry tree itself is much less common than when the armorial was designed.
A beautiful tree and any fruits I have eaten have been unpeeled and very sweet and palatable. They were from trees in Sierras de Nieves.
Harry

[nick]

On the Madrid bear and strawberry tree

http://www.iberianature.com/material/oso_madrono.htm

[steveT]

Hi
Just to say the liqueur is very good.....its along with liquer de bellota as 2 liqueurs that ARE Spain ie they come from 2 key species ....madrono and encina.

It has a relative in the US the Madrone which grows in the med climate there .... and I guess named by the Spanish.

On bears ..... the fruit appears in winter ...... it must have been a very important winter food source for spanish bears who may not have hibernated or only partially done so at these latitudes.

steveT

[nick]

Welcome back SteveT. Thought we'd lost you!

[Sue]

Hi Elvia,
I know what you mean about the fruit being difficult to peel! We collected a small amount, not enough to make jam and so I made them into icecream which worked out fine even though some of the outer skin was left in. I just kept it simple with double-cream, whipping-cream, a little sugar and the fruit. Sieving is probably an easier method in the long run.

[stephanie]

              Just to say that last year I made super jam from these fruits. Make as for any normal fruit jam then press through a fine sieve to remove seeds etc. Fiddly , but good.     
                             Steph

[judith]

We always add madroñas to rumtopf  for christmas. O
Our spanish friends tell us the fruit is mildly hallucinogenic, but I must admit I haven´t noticed that property...in fact it doesn´t seem to be that potent alcoholically either....perhaps I´m not using the right recipe!