Arbutus berry ✦

Arbouse

What it is

Pliny read the name as unum edo, I eat only one, which tells you plainly what Rome made of the fruit. It takes a full year to ripen, so the tree carries scarlet fruit and next season's white bells at the same time, and by then it has begun to ferment on the branch — which is why Portugal distils it into medronho rather than eating it.

In the kitchen

Pick only what comes away at a touch; anything you have to pull is grainy and flat. It sets a jelly on its own pectin, but sieve it first — the seeds and the granular skin will not soften with any amount of cooking.

Goes with

Honey Lemon Chestnut Brocciu White sugar Myrtle Juniper berry

Same species

Strawberry-tree honey

In season alongside

Cabbage Cauliflower Coco de Paimpol Date Fig Hedgehog mushroom

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