Spruce Tip Vinegar

Mar 15 / Alberto Carbo

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Spruce tips are beautiful little gifts, that look like hand-made tassels, individually placed at the end of each branch. They are packed with vitamin C, carotenoids, potassium, magnesium, and chlorophyll. Their sour and aromatic taste is stimulating and revitalizing.

Spruce tip vinegar is an easy way to preserve the freshness of these wonderful friends and allows for the creation of several other culinary additions later on.

You can learn more about making herbal vinegars and oxymels in the Herbal Medicine Making course with Lori Rose, PhD.

Spruce Tip Vinegar

Ingredients:
  • 225 grams Spruce tips (casings removed)
  • 500 ml apple cider vinegar


Instructions:
  1. Bring the apple cider vinegar to a boil and immediately pour over the spruce tips.
  2. Allow to cool and place in a mason jar or sealed container.
  3. The flavors concentrate and evolve the longer you leave the spruce tips in there.
  4. Feel free to experiment with time and figure out what intensity of flavor you prefer.
  5. I usually leave the tips in 3 days to a week.
  6. Strain out the spruce tips and keep the vinegar in a mason jar.


How to use:
  • Simply drizzle on a salad with olive oil.
  • Make a vinaigrette:
  1. Equal parts oil
  2. Equal parts vinegar of choice
  3. Combine in a blender or with a hand blender, or whisk if you are old school
  • Use it to marinate fish/seafood.
  • Add a teaspoon of vinegar to tea. This is especially handy if you feel the sniffles coming on and have a cough, as spruce tips are high in vitamin C and an expectorant.
  • Include a teaspoon of spruce tip vinegar when making a cocktail.
As always make sure to forage for plants away from roads and pollution as much as possible. Never overharvest any plant, as they are of course not only here for our enjoyment, but also here for the insects, bees, and birds. Have fun out there!
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