Snacking on Spruce Tips (& Other Conifer Tips) Vitamin C
Have you ever tasted spruce tips?
They've got this zesty citrus flavour with a hit of pine. Refreshing and surprisingly delicate and tender, they are an amazing forest walk snack - plus they are packed with vitamin C and contain Beta carotene.
What are spruce Tips?
Spruce tips are the early new growth on spruce trees. Many other coniferous trees also have edible tips and I am not very discerning between the types as I wander because they all taste good. Apparently the Yew tree is the only conifer whose tips you should avoid eating.
Use them in sweet or savoury recipes or snack on them right from the tree
I like to eat them raw but you can add them to many of your favourite recipes. You can also make spruce tip tea which is very refreshing. I have never taken the time to preserve them before but this year I am seeking recipes and ideas on how to store some of that goodness for later use.
Spruce Tips for Natural Medicine
I am thinking of making a spruce tip oxymel. Oxymels are infusions of herbs steeped in raw honey and apple cider vinegar. They are an easy and effective way to support the immune and respiratory systems.
You can use a wide range of ingredients and if you'd like to try your hand at making one check out the @naturalmedicine guide on Oxymels.
Anyhow, as I said, I love eating them fresh and will be snacking on them daily for the next week or so. After that they become quite bitter and pine-y tasting in a less pleasant way. If you have any recipe ideas for preserving spruce tips for winter use please let me know!
Harvesting Sustainably
It is easy to harvest spruce tips sustainably because there is an abundance on every tree. I just take a few from each branch and keep moving along the forest. So easy, no tools needed. We love the abundance of food that grows wild on the land around us and this is one of the simple ways in which we can nourish ourselves while also doing no harm.
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An oxymel from spruce tips sounds amazing. We don't have spruce around here but am constantly on look out!
Well you do have olive trees and that is AMAZING!!
I'm thinking the spruce tips would be amazing candied with ginger and citrus peel for christmas. Loved learning there's a name for the honey-ACV process - although I prefer honey and white spirit. Lovely post, my dear.
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Thank you and that sounds lovely (I love candied ginger) however I'm not sure how to preserve them in a way that would keep them delicious for winter time use. Any bit of heat seems to turn them brown and dehydrating isn't good either and they don't come out of the freezer nice either. Maybe I just need to accept that they are a spring time immune boost and be grateful for that. Honey and white spirit sounds quite divine - much prettier name.
I have never tried them, but really want to after reading this xx
Kids love them too. They are such a fun snack.
Every year you post about them, and I would have forgotten about them, and it would be too late here. Maybe 1 year I will get to try them.
There's always next year!! We seem really far behind this year. The pine pollen still hasn't started either - crazy!
It's been very weird here too, one night 45F, next day 85F. But the rain let off for a while to return tonight with 1". We had been going to put the chicks out, but now are afraid of flooding... Maybe on Weds...