Pine needle honey

[heatherlynnky]

Ok I have seen this made roughly 30 years ago. For the longest time we had a jar at home. An Oma I adopted in Austria used to mail my mom a jar now and then. She would go walking in the mountains in the spring and as she walked she would pinch off pine buds. She was picky about from which trees though and I never understood what the reasoning was. Anywho I know they were sorta twisted and then boiled and I know there was a ton of honey in it. Thats pretty much all I remember. I do know that the stuff worked wonders and eased really bad coughs. I would like to make some of my own for the family but I need recipes. I found a few online but they do not seem right to me. I might be wrong and may have to experiment but if anyone has a recipe I would love for them to share it.

 

[Denim Deb]

Never heard of it, but now you have me curious. I'm wondering if different types of trees are better for this. I know white pines are really sappy, so maybe that has something to do w/it.

 

[Mattemma]

Sounds interesting. Hope you can find someone who has the right kind of recipe.My first thought was what type of pine was abundant in her area.

 

[Marianne]

Yes, this sounds pretty interesting.

 

[heatherlynnky]

Well my children passed on a really wicked cold and I am coughing and congested so I am going to test out another recipe with pine needles I found. They made pine needle tea with copious amounts of honey and some lemon. I will edit and add the recipe I find and I am going to drink it today. I know the pine needle honey worked wonders when I was little so hopefully the tea does well too.

So I started looking for recipes for pine needle tea and I found white pine tea ( which I have several dozen of around the house) and I found that American Indians also used it regularly for respiratory issues.

" cup of pine needles, green young needles are best

1.5 pints of water

Bring water to boil in a stainless steel pan (do not use aluminum)

Add the pine needles, reduce heat to a simmer for 20 minutes to overnight.

Strain needles and drink warm or cold

you can also put them in unbleached tea bags

The tea should be red in color with a little oil floating on top.

You can add honey or cinnamon if you like, (since I have type 2 diabetes I add cinnamon). It really doesnt taste like pine; it has a very mild flavor." thats from the manataka site

From what i read last night you take a handful of needles. Twist them to get them nice and bruised and broken. Add them to boiling water and simmer for 20 minutes. Then add lots of honey and a spash of lemon. Thats how I am going to do it today.

 

[Marianne]

Hey, that's right! Even the military teach about pine needle soup. Very high in Vit C, if I remember correctly.

 

[~gd]

I have no way of knowing if I am writing about the same thing, spruce [as in Norway Blue Spruce] has new needles in the spring [light green on blue spruce] they are tender and tasty and a great source of vitamin C. They are so rich in C that they were used to prevent scurvy in northern ships until limes replaced them. There were two ways to preserve them for this use, syrup [with honey] or spruce beer where spruce needles replaced the hops. I have had homebrewed spruce beer and enjoyed it. Even in the bad old days barley was cheaper than honey so you can find more references to spruce beer than spruce syrup. I hope this was of some help. ~gd

 

[heatherlynnky]

Interesting. Since I am sick I am spending the day studying up on this. The only ones I know who could make it have died so I no longer have the option of just asking them. I do remember when we walked we picked off light green buds. She also would pick off sap for us to chew. She called it Tirol chewing gum. I was only 6 at the time so....

Hey in my looking around I found a free e course called super market herbalism. Doubt they will have the pine needle honey but maybe they have some other interesting tidbits.

All my mother remembers so far is the light green buds, her simmering it on top of her wood stove and she used wild honey.

 

[elijahboy]

Pine Needle Honey
A favorite old home remedy is the pine honey, which is a medicinally useful strengthening, restorative sweetener that helps to loosen coughs and respiratory catarrh. It is prepared by boiling 1kg fresh pine or fir shoots in 4 liter of water. Leave covered to stand for 2 days, strain through a linen cloth. Add 1 lb of raw sugar and 1 jar of honey to the liquid and simmer until thick. Fill into jars while it is still warm.

 

[ORChick]

Found this for you. Translation is my own, so take it for whatever it is worth to you. (Parentheses indicate my comments, or sometimes I know the meaning without actually being able to translate the exact word)

http://www.brunoschneider.ch/Schamanismus/Pflanzen.html

Fichte

Fichtennadelhonig ist ein gutes, schleimlsendes Hustenmittel. Die Blten werden dazu mit Zucker angesetzt.

Rezept Fichtennadelhonig: In ein Glas werden jeweils eine Schicht junge Fichtentriebe und eine Schicht Zucker abwechselnd eingebracht,- bis es gefllt ist. Dieses wird in ein sonniges Fenster gestellt. Der Hustensaft ist fertig, wenn sich alles zersetzt hat. Dann durch ein Leinentuch filtern.

Die therischen le aus frischen Fichtennadeln helfen bei Muskel- und Nervenschmerzen.

Rezept Fichtentinktur: Eine Flasche wird halb mit Fichtentrieben gefllt, danach hochprozentiger Alkohol dazugegeben. Die Flasche wird luftdicht verschlossen. Am besten mittels Korken,- und anschliessend fr ca. 2 Wochen auf ein sonniges Fensterbrett gestellt.


Spruce

Spruce needle honey is a good, mucous loosening cough remedy. The blossoms (that's the word used, but the new green tips are what is meant) are mixed with sugar for this.

Recipe for Spruce needle honey: Layer young spruce needle tips and sugar in a jar until it is full. Place the jar in a sunny window. The cough syrup is ready when (it has liqufied, and the sugar syrup has extracted the spruce essence) Strain the syrup through a linen cloth (or a coffee filter)

The essential oils of the fresh spruce needles help with muscle and nerve pain.

Recipe for spruce tincture: Fill a bottle half full with spruce needle tips (the new green of spring), and then fill the bottle with high percentage alcohol. Cover airtight; best with a cork. Set the bottle on a sunny windowsill for 2 weeks.