We’d like to think that we knew our local area well but last Friday just around the corner we spied a woman getting fruits from a tree and eating them. It looked like she was a gardener on her way to work as she had a pair of loppers in the panniers of her push bike and was wearing some overalls and a pair of steel toecaps.

We initially walked past but did a U turn and asked “What fruit are they?” as we were so curious as we walk past the tree on a near daily basis. She replied still eating the fruits and not really turning around “It’s a strawberry tree, the fruits are lovely but do go for the red ones as they’re the ripest”. Because we spied the loppers and that she was wearing toecaps we had a daft idea that we could trust this person. We didn’t worry we may be sitting on the loo a few hours later or possibly in Lewisham A&E, so we sampled one of the fruits and do you know what, they’re very pleasant and taste like, Strawberries.

A quick search on the web brought us more about the plant Arbutus unedo, it’s the national tree of Italy (as the leaves are green, its got white flowers has red berries, the colours of the Italian flag) and sometimes known as Killarney strawberry tree. It looks like when they are established the tree is quite hardy and can tolerate temperatures down to -10°C.

We’ve also just found online a recipe for a strawberry tree crumble cake which looks great here so we have to strongly resist the urge of carrying down a pair of stepladders and a dessert bowl to said tree or we may get done for filching of fruit (AKA Scrumping)!