Spruce Tips Archives (2024)

FAQs

How long do spruce tips last? ›

If you have a few bags of spruce tips in the freezer, now is the time to use them before the harvesting season begins again. Two of the best ways to freeze spruce tips is to bag them up in plastic freezer baggies or to vacuum seal them and then freeze. Spruce tips can last up to one year.

Spruce tips can be eaten raw or blended in dishes in which you would like to increase the acidity and brightness, such as sauces or marinades for chicken, pork, tofu or white beans. You can use spruce tips in tea or a tincture, steep them in vinegar or syrup or blend them in salt or seasoning mixes.

Due to their antimicrobial and antiseptic properties, Spruce tips can help treat cuts, abrasions, eczema, boils, and acne. Medicinally, spruce tips can be used as a therapy to help ease lung congestion. It's antiseptic properties can help with pneumonia, whooping cough, and croup.

When identifying spruce trees for foraging, simply look for the bright green tips emerging from branches in high-spring. Then of course, look at the needle formation and color to confirm your identification. Harvesting spruce tips is very simple: pluck them off with your finger tips!

I store spruce tips in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel to help hold in moisture. If you'll be keeping the tips for a month or longer, make sure to keep an eye on them as they can mold. They can also be frozen, and used for my ice cream and syrup recipe below at the bottom of this post.

In any case, the article continued, “Is the ground around your spruce tree littered with branch tips? If so, this is probably the work of a hungry red squirrel.

Spruce tips can be eaten in a variety of ways from raw to a syrup. Many of the best recipes I have found are German. Recipes like spruce tip salads and chocolate covered spruce tips. My youngest daughter, Mia, likes to simply snack on them straight from the trees.

All parts of the tree are non-toxic. Medicinal and nutritional qualities of the spruce include help with the respiratory system; active vitamin C, which fights against colds and infections; Spruce needles contain large amounts of shikimic acid, which is a flu-fighting compound and helps fight respiratory ailments.

Late spring is the season to take advantage of this beautiful plant! Spruce tips are the new growth of the trees each year and are most notably antiseptic, antimicrobial and an incredible source of vitamin C.

Also, the freezing of the product stiffens the tips. So even though when we harvest they are nice and soft as they should be, after being frozen and then thawed out, they will not be as soft as they were at the time of harvest.

Why are some spruce tips red? ›

That is a great question. These red spruce tips you mention are not spruce tips at all. They are the immature male spruce cones of the spruce tree. They are easy to confuse with a spruce tip due to the similar size, shape, and location of growth.

After arranging the tops how you want them, water the soil thoroughly. Keep the soil moist until the ground freezes. If you put out your tree tops early in the season, before the weather is reliably cold, consider spraying them with an anti-desiccant to help seal in their moisture.

The white spruce is one of North America's hardiest trees and can live up to 300 years old, although 100 to 250 years is the typical lifespan.

In many cases winter-burn is the cause for needle tips or entire needles turning brown. Winter-burn normally occurs in late winter and early spring when temperatures rise above freezing and warm winds and sunny days prevail.

Spruce is easy to work with and why carpenters prefer using it, saving resources and time. Heartwood spruce trees have a medium rot resistance. On the other hand, spruce is sapwood, making them less durable and suitable for indoor use. The lumber type is also susceptible to insects and fungi.

At the end of the growing season, infected spruce needles often turn yellow and in most cases fall off. During winter, the fungus that causes witches' brooms and needle infection can overwinter in the infected spruce branches.