What is a strawberry tree?

The name for our restaurant came very quickly.  Rather than a whimsical fairytale shurb, strawberry trees do exist and there are many great parallels between our vision and this lovely shrub and its history.

The Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo) is an evergreen shrub or small tree native to the Mediterranean, Western Europe and North Africa.  Its indigenous range reflects Giselle's family history wonderfully. 

Its extremely decorative fruits resemble strawberries, hanging from the evergreen tree like Christmas baubles. They attract hummingbirds, butterflies and birds.  Unusually it both flowers and fruits at the same time. The fruits take five months to form after the flowers are pollinated, meaning that last year’s fruit and this year’s flowers appear together.

Madrid is where Ed's Strawberry Tree story started and this plant is part of the Madrid Coat of Arms and is pictured on the Madrid flag.  The strawberry tree represents a symbol of reconciliation between the church and landowners due its benefits and importance in people's lifes.  The wood was used for charcoal, the bark for tanning leather, its leaves have medicinal antiseptic qualities and the fruits are packed with antioxidant goodness.

Today, in Madrid they produce madroño liqueur where the berries ferment naturally on the plant and in Sardinia bees produce rare medicinal honey.

All of these off-shoots from one humble shrub - that's how we like to think of our project - bringing nourishment and community, good memories, and time sharing food together be it through our restaurant, shop, classes or tastings.