Splurging on Spruce Tips

We tried spruce tips for the first time ever the other day. I have been eyeballing the trees in our yard for some time now, waiting like a kid shaking presents leading up to Christmas. Finally, they were ready!

Usnea

I picked a cup full while harvesting Usnea off some dead tree limbs (will post about Usnea later).
I wasn't sure how I wanted to try them at first. Tea, bake them into a cookie, candied...so many ideas from reading about them online.

Damon made the decision for me as he put six freshly caught trout onto the grill.

We love trout salad here.
We started eating trout salad when we first moved to Alaska and were half feeding ourselves just from fish we caught and wild edibles we foraged for. It was actually a really fun and happy time in our lives and we always feel nostalgic now when we eat trout.

With trout salad coming up, I garbled (to pick clean the foraged goods) the spruce tips and put them in a bowl with apple cider vinegar.

Spruce Tips and Trout Salad

Trout Salad Recipe

Grill your trout skin on. Once cooked through, let cool and then pick the meat off the bone. This is a messy, tedious process but worth it.
With a bowl of trout meat, add:
1 onion, finely chopped
1-2 large ribs of celery
Mayo to taste
To this I added the spruce tips (removed form the vinegar) chopped lightly.
Serve on a favorite cracker or in a lettuce wrap

My family was a little skeptical of the spruce tip addition to the meal but after a first, hesitant, taste - They Love It! In fact, a few people didn't get to the bowl in time after their first taste - all gone in moments it seems.
I've also added these vinegar spruce tips to carrot and cabbage salad. Soon I'll be giving spruce tip shortbread a shot too!

Why do Spruce Tips Rock?

Besides the yummy flavor that is a lil minty, a lil bitter, a lil medicinal - sounds weird but it is good.
Spruce needles are exceptionally high in Vitamin C, contain carotenoids, rich in minerals such as potassium and magnesium, and they contain plenty of chlorophyll. Native Alaskans often used the dried and preserved tips in tea to prevent scurvy in the winter months as well as to treat symptoms of colds and flu.
These benefits can also be found in other conifer tips, I'm told.

Harvested Spruce Tips

Harvesting Spruce Tips

Look for bright green tips on the end of branches in late spring. These might have a brown, papery casing on the end. When this casing comes off easily, they're ready to be picked. Don't force the casing. If the casing is already off, they can still be picked. However, if the green tip is already spreading out and hardening, they're still edible but not as strong or as pleasant.

Picking them should be a sticky, strong smelling process - one I personally enjoy.
My 7 month old baby boy smelled my hands when I came in from picking and made the funniest face but grinned as if he understood.
Garble them soon then, if you want to preserve do so while fresh so that you can keep the oils intact.