Spruce Tips: How To Forage (And My Favorite Recipe)
It’s Spring in Interior Alaska, which means plantlife is coming back to life. Once the snow melts, the spruce trees begin producing bright green baby tips on the ends of each branch. These tips can be harvested and eaten fresh, steamed, added to salads, smoothies, and made into jelly. Once time I even saw a recipe once where someone put them in popsicles for their kids.
Below I’ll share my personal favorite spruce tip recipe: shortbread cookies.
Scroll to the bottom to go straight to the recipe. If you’re interested in collecting tips and processing instructions, read on.
Some tips for collecting tips
Timing
Spruce tips begin to grow in Fairbanks in late May, after the birch trees have gotten their leaves but before the roses get their flowers.
Distance
You’ll notice them from several yards away, but might not be able to see them while driving by from a car – you’ll want to get outside and take a walk.
Location
I’ve had good luck finding spruce tips in sunnier hillside areas. Boggy areas tend to have much skinnier trees, and less tips.
Safety
As a rule of thumb, I do not collect wild edible plants near roadsides. Plants draw in nutrients from their roots, and that may include harmful chemicals from paving.
Responsibilty
As a second rule of thumb, I have read that one should never clear a whole plant of its bounty. Leave some for it to continue to be healthy for next year. With spruce tips, I have read that you should not take the “leader,” which I take to mean the tip at the end of the branch – only take side shoots. I’ll be honest and say that I haven’t always followed this practice because I hadn’t read that particular advice. It’s ok to make mistakes, but let’s all try to do our best for the planet next time, and remind one another!
How to
To pick the tips, you can simply pull on them. They’ll pop right off. I’ve heard that you want to get them before they’ve fully opened, while they still have their papery tips on them.
Come Prepared
I bring a small reusable container and a large 5-gallon bucket. Any small and large container will do. The reason I bring both is that I collect in the small, and dump into the large. Many times, when carrying around my main foraging container, I have tripped or simply dropped my container and lost my bounty! Don’t let this happen to you. Collect in a small container, and dump them into the large container periodically. When your large container reaches ¾ full, it’s time to stop. You don’t want to trip and fall dump them on the way back.
Processing Spruce Tips
I read somewhere that processing your foraged goods is called “muddling.” This can be a very meditative process. Try listening to some relaxing music while processing, or better yet, observe the sounds the plants make as you process them in complete silence. Observe the smells of sweet citrus, the bright greens, the taste. It makes for a great 5-senses meditation.
You’ll want to sort through and remove any debris that may have inadvertently gotten into your foraging container. Pull off the papery tips. These items can either go outside – that’s where you got them! – or into your compost bin.
If you’d like to learn more about my lazy way of composting, I’ll be writing an article about that in the near future.
Using Spruce Tips
There are many recipes on the internet for various spruce tip and pine tip or needle recipes. These shortbread cookies from Little House Big Alaska really hit the nail on the head for me. I modified the recipe to make it vegan by replacing the butter with vegan butter (I use Smart Balance), and they turned out great!
Have you tried any spruce tip recipes you like? Share below in the comments!
Della
