On a recent trip up to our neighbors in Canada, I was fascinated by all the beautiful spruce trees around where we were staying. I remember vaguely watching some chef documentary a while back where they used spruce tips in their cooking and really wanted to try to it out. I’m all about forgaing for random edibles, but I wasn’t entirely sure how to tell which type of tree was which.After a lot of googling, it turns out that most varieties of spruce tips are edible, and even some fir tips as well, though they differ a bit in flavor. I selected a tree I could be 100% sure was what I was looking for (Sitka Spruce), and started carefully plucking off some tips. Come to find out, the best way to tell if it’s a spruce tree is if the needles are particularly painful.. Yay.
I tried nibbling on a few little tips to give them a taste test and they were surprisingly citrusy and delicious! I decided to make the most of the citrus flavor and dove into making some shortbread, subbing in spruce tips for lemon zest in my usual recipe.
Makes about a dozen cookies.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup fresh spruce tips
- 1 cup unsalted butter (cold)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tsp orange zest
- 1 tsp salt
Kitchen Tools: food processor, spice grinder, plastic wrap, baking sheet, wire cooling rack
Prep Work:
- In a clean spice grinder, combine sugar and spruce tips. Pulse until spruce tips are in itty bitty pieces. It should basically look like green sugar.
- Mix spruce tip sugar, salt, and orange zest in a small bowl.
- In your food processor, combine sugar mixture, butter, and flour. Process until butter is in itty bitty chunks and holds together when pinched.
- Form the dough into a 2 inch diameter log as best you can and wrap in plastic wrap. Don’t worry about being perfect, it will be easier to perfect when it’s chilled.
- Place in fridge and chill for at least 1 hour.
Baking:
- Preheat your oven to 350.
- Once your dough is done chilling, give it a few finals rolls on a flat surface to iron out any lumps. Remove from plastic wrap and slice into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Place on baking sheet, being sure to leave about an inch between them as they’ll flatten out a bit in the oven.
- Bake for about 10 minutes, until they are golden brown on the top and edges.
- Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes to firm up before you chow down on them. Or eat them right off the baking sheet. The choice is yours!
Tips + Tricks:
- As with all things foraged, make sure you are completely 100% sure you know what you are eating. If you’re still not sure, it’s always best not to eat them.
- If you need identifying spruce tips, I found this video and this video super helpful.
