How to eat a spruce tree: picking and using spruce tips

Описание: 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 the spruce tips sit in the water a few hours, the water tastes incredible -- it's like drinking the forest. Watch my video on how to use that spruce water to make some great spruce tree sorbet:    • How to make Spruce Tree Sorbet  

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:    • Foraging Wild Edibles: Real Food for Regul...  

My channel: Haphazard Homestead:    / @haphazardhomestead  

Thanks for watching!