Algarve - Medronho Story

You’ve maybe never heard of Medronho but it is Portuguese firewater. It is sold commercially but in the hidden folds of the eucalyptus blanketed foothills of Monchique, the old, time honoured traditions of distilling the clandestine spirit form the Arbutus Unedo Tree remains, or did up to the end of the last century.

This is a unique account of those valley secrets from someone who has lived amongst the old time hill people. Here’s the opening of the book:

For many years my husband’s mother has owned land situated in the foothills of Monchique in the Algarve region of Portugal. Even when they lived on the land full time it was a difficult job to keep the area looking tidy and well kept.  When I use the word, land, I don't mean acres and acres of beautifully tilled fields or manicured lawns with colourful borders. This 8 hectares of land is arid, rocky and a nightmare to look after. Part of the land is situated half way up a mountain and the other half is in terraces that have been cut out of the earth. The transformation of the land in the beginning was challenging to say the least and took many long days and nights digging and cutting out terraces, making stone walls, cutting back orange and lemon trees.  Some of the work was carried out by hand using a humble implement called an enchada, which is the Portuguese name for a kind of long handled hoe. The more difficult areas had to be cleared by using motorised technology such as a bulldozer and JCB. In this part of the Algarve the mountainous valleys start to heat up after lunch time and do reach high temperatures in the mid-afternoon making work impossible. The only thing to do at this time is to sit in the shade and relax. Work can commence after 6pm when the sun goes down behind the clouds.

However, there is one part of the land that my in-laws have never really had to maintain, a huge area which leads from the house up to the top of the mountain. In November and December the mountain turns into a cloud of white bell-shaped flowers, sometimes turning pale pink and is very pretty to look at. When visitors come to the land they are always amazed by the whiteness of the mountain and the buzzing noise made by the swarms of bees that pollinate the flowers. These flowers belong to the Arbutus Unedo Tree, otherwise known as strawberry tree or as we call it the Medronho tree.

Amazon