Almost a month ago, I had a conversation on twitter about the various dishes that can be made with pine and spruce, from short bread to mayonnaise and beer. The "Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska" blog even has a recipe for candied spruce or pine tips.

Here are images of evergreen tips at two levels of maturity:

Tips, too old to harvest

Younger borderline harvest-able tips
Unfortunately, my better half and I found these tips towards the end of the season, late May. The majority were at the later stages of maturity. Eventually, they will harden, expanding and forming new needles.

A tweep who goes by the handle @kitchenmage introduced me to a recipe for a Douglas Fir Sorbet. Next spring, I will attempt it with foraged evergreen tips.

The recipe comes from former Chef Jerry Traunfeld of the Herbfarm. It follows:

Recipe
What you'll Need:

• 3 cups Water
• 1 cup Sugar
• About 1 quart fresh Douglas Fir branch tips, washed
• 3 Tablespoons freshly squeezed Lemon Juice
• 1/2 cup Champagne (optional)

Method:
Heat the water and sugar in a medium-sized saucepan. As soon as it comes to a full boil, drop in the fir branches. Stir to submerge them, then cover and remove from the heat. Let the syrup steep for 30 minutes. Pass the syrup through a fine strainer and stir in the lemon juice and champagne. Freeze in an ice cream maker.

Source: rickandrob.com

I never thought anything edible could be made from evergreens.

Update: Just got a tweet from Ron Zimmerman (aka: @Herbguy), chef/proprietor of The Herbfarm Restaurant, stating that old Douglas Fir needles work too.

Herbguy Ron Zimmerman May 30, 11:16 PM
Act. old Doug Fir needles work 2: RT @foodiePrints: omething about spruce & pine tips with a recipe to try next year: http://is.gd/KkJu

Chef Zimmerman is an avid twitterer and a pleasure to follow. BTW, he was featured in May's issue (2009) of the Rachael Ray magazine: http://twitpic.com/6bjyw. It may be the only issue of that magazine I ever buy...



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