How to eat a spruce tree: picking and using spruce tips
Tips, Tricks
In this video, I cover how to identify spruce trees, give some tips on picking spruce tips -- the new spring growth -- and then show a few ways that I have been eating spruce trees. What I cover works for all kinds of spruce. Spruce trees are evergreen conifers. The most reliable way to identify a spruce is to look at the needles on a branch. Each needle comes out of the branch alone, by itself, not in a group. And each needle has a stalk, a little stump, a peg, which is the distinguishing feature of a spruce. White spruce, red spruce, black spruce, blue spruce, Norway spruce, Sitka spruce, and Engelmann spruce are the kind you are most likely to see. In the spring, when the new growth starts to come out, is a great time to get food from the spruce tree. The new growth is easy to identify because it is brighter in color and the needles are soft. Picking spruce tips from a standing tree is a good exercise in self-control and judgement. Every tip that's picked is pruning the tree. That tip will not grow back. So don't pick too many spruce tips from one branch. And focus on the tips that will ultimately be shaded and die back anyway - that means the tips in the interior of the tree and the tips close to the ground. I needed to prune my spruce trees anyway, so I could harvest a lot of spruce tips. Every kind of spruce tree has a little different flavor. The Colorado Blue Spruce has a really nice flavor. But they are really prickly. Be careful not to get the mature needles in your picking, because they can be as stiff and hazardous as fish bones. Spruce trees will have their new tips at different stages of growth, so there's a lot of selection. The tiniest tips have the mildest flavor. In our regular food, we don't encounter the spruce's resin flavor, so it can seem strong and strange. If you don't like strongly flavored foods like highly hopped beer, strong coffee, or dark chocolate, you may not like the taste of spruce. The resin flavor of the new growth of spruce tees will taste the strongest straight off the tree. When the tips are soaked in water or other liquids, the resin flavor takes as step back and the citrus flavors step forward. Once that spruce water sits a few hours, it tasks incredible -- like drinking the forest. Watch my video on how to use that spruce water to make some great spruce tree sorbet: https://youtu.be/WfdFwr7mg6g The chopped up spruce tips are great in a simple shortbread recipe - that would work really well for camping because it's good even without cooking! The chopped up spruce tips also make a great version of balsamic vinegar with only 3 other ingredients that are probably in your house. I'll also be posting a video on how I use the spruce tips to make some really good cookies. I hope you get a chance to enjoy something from the spruce tree smorgasboard! I'd love to hear what you think about eating psruce trees! Spruce: Picea genus, Family Pinaceae (Pine family) White spruce: Picea glauca Red spruce: Picea rubens Black spruce: Picea mariana Blue spruce, also known as Colorado Blue Spruce: Picea pungens Norway spruce: Picea abies Sitka spruce: Picea sitchensis Engelmann spruce: Picea engelmanni, Pine family (Pineaceae) My playlist on foraging for wild foods: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEGN8kE_KnjBHba1wyw5WWkAu49RoB_-X My channel: Haphazard Homestead: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcZCvPPU9dgxD0yXrc9DaPA Thanks for watching!
Comments
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Wonderful video and very informative! This is my first experience of your channel, and I truly enjoyed it. I already subscribed! Do you have any professional media training too? The way you communicate suggests you may have...and I could totally see you offering news segments on these topics...you know...the good news! :-D Just a thought! Or...I could imagine you having your own show on NPR covering such topics for foraging and natural living.
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Can you use the older Spruce Pines needles for tea year-round? Also can you use the new spruce growths for 42? Thank you so much for this informative video as I have a huge blue spruce Outback. Very informative.
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I'm new to your channel! oh my can you eat them all summer ???
if they regrow from rain ?
im picking rosehips right now :) -
Hi there - a really enjoyable presentation and super useful. I had never considered spruce a foraging resource before. Thanks for the insight. I look forward to harvesting some for myself in season. A question. Can you eat raw tips? If so fantastic for hiking - a bit like munching on wild garlic as you go. Any way, very enjoyable. All the best to you. Mark.
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Can I eat Red Spruce needles in seasons other than spring, or are the adult needles toxic? Also, can you eat Fraser fir needles? Great video!
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I have a huge Norway Spruce in my backyard, but I had heard that they are the only spruces you shouldn't eat, and I can't find anything definitive on if I can use them. Do you have any knowledge of this and can you direct me to a resource for it. I would love to try them.
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What if you tap the tree for sap? is the bark any good to eat? and how to make oils from the tree?Could you do a video on that? like your video!
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I thought I knew it all until I saw this! Thanks for enlightening me! WIll try this "recipe" in the new year in spring!!
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this sounds great! I really started hating how society has disconnected it self from nature and I want to start hunting more and do camping/survival practice so i don;'t lose that connection. this seems like a great thing to try out.
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I never knew! Wow! Mother nature sure is great. Thank you for sharing!
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This is why I love your channel. I'm subscribed to a multitude of gardening/homesteading type channels and not one has ever mentioned eating spruce tips.
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Wow, that is good. The trees have beautiful and useful tips which can be used as food. Good to know this, Best
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It makes a really good beer too :)
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I did not know this! Thanks!
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Wow! I learn something new everyday. Spruce trees, not just for christmas lights. Cheers!
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Spruce are my favorite and blue spruce is my favorite out of the bunch. Great tips here and excellent tutorial of how to harvest the tips! Thanks for sharing :)
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