brewing them as a tea.
First we picked a lot of needle enough to fill
a glass 'sun tea' jar, maybe gallon size.
Then we washed them well and put them in the jar.
We boiled enough water to pour over the needles, put the
lid on the jar and let them set over night.
Today I strained the tea using a mesh strainer
and a coffee filter. The tea was a light golden color, very pretty.
We tasted it and it tasted just like the smell of pine...very different.
We added some honey and some lemon, it wasn't horrible just
different. We finally added some Ginger Ale to it and wow
it wasnt bad at all.
I'm wondering if it was warm would it be more
palatable?
Warning: if you are pregnant or trying to get
pregnant do not drink or eat pine needles
the will cause an abortion.
I didn't know you had a wild edibles blog! And I didn't know you can eat pine needles. Do you know the nutritional value of the needles?
ReplyDeleteno, not off hand but I can find out...I think
ReplyDelete;-D
After doing a quick search I could only find verification that it is high in vitamin C more than oraange juice...her is a snip of an artcle by Euell Gibbbons:
ReplyDeleteWhite pine needles have been tested for nutritional benefits, and they have good yields of vitamin A and about 5 times as much vitamin C as found in lemons. Had those old-timers who used to suffer from scurvy every winter when fresh vegetables were unavailable used an infusion of white pine needles instead of tea or coffee, they would never have been touched by scurvy.