Present around the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast, "the strawberry tree is very resistant thanks to its very deep root system", explains to AFP Stéphanie Singh, forest engineer in charge of the forest and the energy transition at the Park. regional natural park (PNR) of Sainte-Baume in the Var.

"It allows the ground to be maintained, especially when a fire passes through", she explains.

A useful property for a park made up of 70% forests "subject to major climatic challenges" and which has initiated, with the support of the European Union, "a process of enhancement" of the arbutus.

Able to reach three to four meters in height, the stocky and "pyrophilic" shrub (Editor's note: fire-loving), according to the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), thus grew back from the end of summer among the ashes of the fire in Teste-de-Buch (Gironde), where 7,000 ha of forest went up in smoke.

"It's a shrub that regenerates very quickly", attests Ms. Singh, from the heights of the Bois de la Lare in Auriol (Bouches-du-Rhône), one of the sites where the PNR organized its autumn harvest of arbutus, the fruits of the strawberry tree.

Arbutus can be found "a bit everywhere in the hills, but I had never been interested in it", admits to AFP Jean-Charles Lafiteau, manager of a family bakery and pastry shop with six shops around Brignoles ( Var), one of the artisans who took part in the PNR project.

Arbutus trees, December 17, 2022 in Lorgues, in the Var © Christophe SIMON / AFP

The objective is to "promote in its natural environment" a plant which remains an "accompanying essence", often neglected, claims Stéphanie Singh, who worked with the Forest Model Association of Provence, supported by the Region.

Arbutus, "blessed bread"

In search of "identity products", to "stand out" from the competition, Mr. Lafiteau has integrated arbutus into his sorbets, highlighting its "velvety" texture.

But this fruit has another quality: "we know where to go to get supplies, which is blessed bread, whereas today we are looking for sugar", between the Covid crisis and the war in Ukraine.

If the arbutus has "few values ​​as is", concedes the MNHN, this fruit is recoverable in a large number of products: jams, honeys, creams, liqueurs or beers.

In Corsica, there is even a "vine of arbutus".

Stéphanie Singh, forestry engineer in charge of forestry and energy transition at the PNR de la Sainte-Baume, picks arbutus, on December 14, 2022 in Auriol, in the south of France © Christophe SIMON / AFP

The arbutus "has a balance between sugar and acidity and when you work it you don't need to add a lot of things. It is enough on its own, it's very pleasant", underlines Valentina Zanini, the head of the anti-waste association L'Econome, who has concocted two recipes for arbutus jam.

"The fruit is very rich in seeds, so you have to work with it, it's a bit painful, it takes time, but the result is really incredible", adds the head of this association which collects and packages fruit and vegetables, at using a mobile cannery, across the department.

Lack of notoriety with the public, "we often have it tasted, (...) but once (customers) discover it, they are really conquered and it works well", she assures.

Registered in the French pharmacopoeia and used in the composition of capsules to relieve intestinal and digestive spasms, the strawberry tree is also marketed in pharmacies for its astringent and antiseptic properties.

For Clarisse Le Bas, herbalist and ethnobotanist, it is a "great medicinal tree, used in popular tradition for centuries".

And it would benefit from wider marketing of its leaves, "in the form of herbal tea", to facilitate and encourage its use by the public.

© 2022 AFP