Went with the family for a picnic at the "Montes de Malaga" today. To our delight we found that the "Madroño" trees (Arbutus Unedo) or Strawberry tree in English, are in season. Apart from picking a few as a trail snack I also got some great pictures. I was surprised to find that the flowers and the ripe fruit were on the trees at the same time.
I got pictures of the Strawberry tree fruit at various stages of development like the green ones below.
I found that the best time to pick the fruit was when it reached a dark red color like the first image above. At that point the fruit literally drops into your hand. 
The taste of the Strawberry tree fruit is hard to describe . It is sweet and soft but with some small seeds.I´ve been told that if you eat to many of this fruit in one sitting you can get a bit tipsy from them.
Relatives of this tree include the Greek Strawberry tree and the Hybrid Strawberry tree.
Thanks for pointing me to these beautiful strawberry tree pictures. I've had some tree strawberries as a snack also.
ReplyDeleteGood morning Dan,
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of pancake recipes with the addition of tree strawberries.
Have you tried that yet?
It sounds very interesting.
Would you put them inside the mix or just put them on top?
This is great information about the new tree addition to my garden! Thank you for sharing such a helpful and relevant post.
ReplyDeleteI,m very interest of this infor , can you tell me can i plan this tree in canada ? and also where can 1 find thid tree in north america? Thank for share this in for .
ReplyDeleteVinh
Vinh - Check out this link for information on this tree in North America...
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbutus
Dan,
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous site. I am an artist and would like to speak with you about using some of your images for inspiration. Please email me at your convenience at torihead@yahoo.com
Tori
wow, flowers and fruit at the same time! this is a really cool tree :)
ReplyDeleteThat is too cool. I had no idea there were tree blogs. So neat! I was looking for info on the arbutus and that brought me here. Do you know if these grow in Texas? Someone with a blog in Texas (View from the Pines) is trying identify her tree in east Texas. Thanks in advance.
ReplyDeleteHello from northern California. Do you think this is the fruit I have on my hands here?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/11385692@N00/3924309921/
Jen, I do believe that you have found a Strawberry tree. The fruits are quite soft when they are ripe and have a pleasant taste. You can check the leaves and flowers as well for an exact match up. I´ve often seen the flowers and fruits on the trees at the same time of year.
ReplyDeleteHey tree lovers!
ReplyDeleteAnybody know where I can get a sweetshade [australian frangipani] on the central coast of California? This is a lovely small tree with plumeria-like sweet flowers.
Ebay! :)
ReplyDeleteHi again..Never heard of this tree! Now i have to try and find/grow one!! lol...actually looking @ the first picture i thought it was a Lychee, which is another tree/fruit i just found out about. A neighbor gave us a bag of them..which i being a tree lover ,immediately planted the nut/seed! lol.... I have about 10 Lychee babies now :)Beautiful pictures..thanx for sharing.
ReplyDelete