Strawberry mountains in Tunisia .. a treat for the sick and a source of livelihood for families

Hayat bin Hilal - Tunisia

Between the mountains of Bani Mutair in the governorate of Jendouba - northwest of Tunisia - you see tall oak and oak trees, and as soon as you wander inside the dense jungle, you see the arbor tree - linga or strawberry mountains as they are called in Tunisia - hidden among the trees.

The red and yellow fruits of the lingge break the greenery of the place and give it a unique beauty that facilitates the beholder before tasting it, and it is distributed in its tree as candy bars, causing the people of the region to go up to the mountains to pick it despite the cold weather that characterized their province.

Ling trees grow in the Mediterranean basin, southwestern Asia and North America. They are evergreen and have a length of 6 to 12 meters. They adjoin oak and juniper trees, and they produce a strawberry-like winter, which makes them unique in their beauty.

The picking season
Young people and children take advantage of the sunny days on school holidays to go to the neighboring mountains and pick langes, so they see them spread all over the places of Ain Draham, Farrana and Khmer mountain ranges as if they were in a race condition.

Children climb the soft branches of the tree with great caution for fear of falling, carefully pick the fruits and put them in bags as they race with enthusiasm and intense competition to obtain the largest possible amount of money when selling.

Children line up to sell the fruit on the side of the road leading to Ein Draham, where many tourists flock to discover the aesthetic of the area, with its red, triangular roofs covered in snow, fluffy waterfalls, and thick forests.

Pantry and treatment
The role of the fruit does not stop when it is eaten fresh. Rather, housewives make a delicious jam and store a portion of it in the refrigerator for eating during the holy month of Ramadan. It is also not only used in eating, but the fruit is used to treat some diseases such as rheumatism, eczema (dermatitis) and other Diseases.

Salha, 50, holds a tree branch chasing the fruits of ling in his tip and saying to Al-Jazeera Net, "I am keen to collect lingge every year, it is beneficial for joint pain and skin diseases." Her nephew Murad, 30, confirms her words, saying: "Indeed, this fruit is very beneficial. For two years, I recovered thanks to it from a rash that hit me."

Ghassan (10 years) is jumping from the tree after collecting a good amount of strawberry from the mountain and opening the bag to taste the fruit of his labor and smiling, saying, "It is delicious, I will collect more." Then he sets out to search for another tree, accompanied by his brother, to sell later on the adjacent road.

Science and research did not refute the people's beliefs about the great benefits of the strawberry plant in the wild mountains, and the nutrition specialist confirmed the need for Hajj to the Island Net that the fruit contains many nutrients beneficial to the body, such as antioxidants, as well as its ability to resist infections and relieve joint pain, noting that a lot of Eating them can cause diarrhea.