Spruce tips are such an easy harvest, they’re full of vitamin C and chlorophyll, they can be made into nourishing teas in the winter or used to season soup, stews, meat or infuse them in sea salt! They have a light lemony spruce taste that mixes well with teas such as peppermint or raspberry, or complimenting roast chicken or even buttery popcorn.
Living at the edge of the boreal forest, in a very harsh climate, finding wild edibles like spruce tips to supplement with is such a satisfying task to add to my spring list.
If you live in or around the boreal forest, this is a wonderful book to have on hand to learn about all the wild edibles your area.
According to The Boreal Herbal, spruce is, “anti fungal, antimicrobial, antiseptic, disinfectant, high in vitamin C and beta carotene.”
I once read that early sailors coming over from Europe suffered terribly from scurvy and the native Americans treated their scurvy with spruce tip tea. How they knew spruce tips were full of vitamin C and would cure scurvy; I’m always astounded that people figured these things out long before analysis laboratories.
We harvest them around this time of year, just as the protective honey brown coating is flaking off the tips.
We harvest them from our acreage and try not to strip the trees. Harvesting about 1/4 of each branch evenly also prunes the trees. We use the method of harvesting spruce tips as a way to shape our smaller spruce trees.
Besides drying them for tea and seasoning; I pack them in sea salt or pink Himalayan salt and let them sit in a dark cool cupboard until winter. I love giving out small jars as gifts too!
Spruce Tip Salt
Dried spruce tips
Sea salt or salt of choice
Clean jar (I wipe mine out with isopropyl alcohol to disinfect and be sure my jar is dry. You could boil your jars but I find the method of wiping out with alcohol the best way to be sure it’s clean and the alcohol evaporates)
Make sure the spruce tips are full dry and crumble them into a jar. Then layer the crumbled spruce tips and salt until the jar is full. Cap and place in a cool dark place. The spruce rips infuse the salt, creating a lovely, nourishing culinary product to use during the winter or add them to handmade gift baskets.
