# Knowledge and Consumption Habits Related with White Crowberries (_Corema album_ L.)
## 1 Introduction  
_Corema album_ (L.) D. [PERSON] (Ericaceae) is an endemic shrub of Atlantic coastal dunes of Iberian Peninsula and its fruits (Portuguese white crowberries, Atlantic pearls, beachberries, camarinhas in Spanish or \"camarinhas\" in Portuguese) (Figure 1a,b)) have been used for centuries in traditional medicine or as a food ingredient. Indeed, the use of this plant and fruit in human culture dates back to the Early Neolithic period, as evidenced in species features documented in historical written sources and current archaeobotanical research places [1]. The dioccious and perennial shrub is a drought-adapted plant that thrives in a wide range of coastal soils but grows preferentially in soils with percentages of sand around 70%, low levels of inorganic and organic nutrients, and pH between 5.6 and 7.8 [2]. The flowering and fruiting of _C. album_ occurs from February to August and the beginning of ripening is in June [3].  
In the first half of the last century, _Corema album_ plant was one of the most conspicuous shrubs in the Iberian Atlantic sand dunes but its fruits never became a formal commercial crop. Nowadays, the climate change impacts and the growing pressure from anthropogenic-origin disturbance has caused the loss of its natural ecosystems. However, the crowberry has the potential to be an interesting niche of berries in the market of commercial crops, because of its peculiar white color, novelty, and nutritive and bioactive compounds [3; 4; 5; 6].  
The berries, white as basic color but with the possibility of developing a pinkish tinge, are quasi-spherical fruits with a small diameter (5 to 10 mm), a weight up to 0.66 g, a thick woody endocarp and usually have three seeds [6; 7]. The water-rich berries, with a moisture content higher than 83%, have high levels of fiber (around 40%, dry matter), total sugars (62.80%, dry matter) and low protein levels [7; 8; 9; 10; 11]. In general, crowberries are more acidic and less sweet than other berries such as blueberries, raspberries or blackberries, but have a distinctly fresh taste and an agreeable lemony flavor [7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13].  
_C. album_ presents high levels of antioxidant activity that can be attributed to compounds such as phenolic compounds, mainly derivatives of chlorogenic acid and flavonoids, including myricetin, rutin, kaempfer and hydroxycinnamic acids, p-coumaric, ferulic, caffeic, sinapinic acid derivatives, and anthocyanins [9; 14]. The bioactive compounds present in berries have been associated to health benefits spanning from prevention of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases (such as disorder of Parkinson's) to protection against oxidative stress, inflammation and cancer [14; 15; 16; 17]. This evidence supports the traditional use of _C. album_ in popular medicine as healthy fruits and suggests that the consumption of these berries could promote positive effects in human health and help to prevent chronic diseases. In the past, the fresh crowberries were hand-harvested by coastal people with low-income resources and sold in traditional commerce of coastal villages, among other foods or medicinal herbs [5]. However, the improvement of the economic level of the population and the loss of crowberries' natural ecosystems led to a decrease in its production and sales, limiting its harvesting to the local people who know this wild berry. In recent years, the white crowberry is an inspiration to recover lost home-made recipes, such as pearberry jelly, pearberry tisane and ice-cream [3], eventually sold in local markets and festivals.  
This work aims to investigate the level of knowledge and consumption of the ancestral and endogenous berry of the Iberian Peninsula: the Portuguese white crowberry.