I don’t get influenced to buy things but I DO get influenced to make yummy wild harvested creations.
Enter Eastern White Pine syrup. I have had this project saved for a year or two now because you’ve got to get your timing right. The recipe calls for using the fresh tips on the pine trees and I’ve been stalking my friend’s eastern white pines to catch them at the right point.
I think that I got it right? I’m not honestly sure though – most of the examples I saw for this syrup online were using spruce tips and spruce and pine are quite different from one another. The secret, so far as I understand it, is to harvest the tips when they are still tender and succulent which these definitely were. Also to taste the pine tips you’re harvesting to make sure that they are a flavor profile you would like to use.
I have a relatively long history with Eastern White Pine. I’ve used it in oil infusions to make protection candles, made it into a forest bathing salve, added it to a winter syrup, and infused it into vodka (used in my Fire Cider Bloody Marys!). I use it protectively or as a road opener depending on my needs.
I brought the pine tips home and refrigerated them overnight so they didn’t dry out and then laid them out to get a good look at what I had. I had to separate out some adult pine needles from the lot but otherwise, they looked pretty good. Then, layer by layer, I packed them into a quart jar with layers of turbinado sugar in between.
This is a no-heat method for making syrups and I’ve never tried it before. I like this concept because it allows you to really infuse your magic into the creation process as you return to check on its progress over and over again.
Now, I wait.
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