EVERGREENS HAVE LONG BEEN a food and medicine source for indigenous peoples. Native Americans extensively used the white pine, spruce, and fir inner bark, needles, young tips, branches, and pitch for tea and gum.
When I came to the United States, I couldn’t believe how many Norway spruce trees there were. I saw that not only were there evergreen trees in forests, but they are planted all over the country as part of the landscape design. Of course, people also buy firs, pines, and spruces as Christmas trees—putting lights on them, enjoying them at Christmas, and then throwing them out.
An evergreen tree, unlike a deciduous tree, does not lose its leaves in the winter. But this does not mean that evergreens are static. New growth appears in the spring, and white pine trees drop their needles in the fall.
Edible evergreens are commonly distinguished first by looking closely at the leaf shape and formation: (a) flat and scale-like leaves found on juniper trees such as the eastern red cedar, Juniperus virginiana; or (b) needle-like, single or clustered needles, found on pine, fir, and spruce trees.
Some common evergreen trees are found in the wild in parts of the United States but are also widely planted in backyards across the country:
NORWAY SPRUCE, Picea abies, (there are also black, red, and blue spruces): Up to 8 inches long with large cones, the tree itself has strongly drooping branches. The dark green needles are singly borne, and square when you look at a cross section.
WHITE PINE, Pinus strobus: The long thin needles are found in clusters, about 5 per bundle.
DOUGLAS FIR, Psedotsuga menziesii: The western evergreen has straight flat needles as well as distinctive cones with turned-up bracts.
The needles of varieties of pine, spruce, or fir may be pokey, but they are not poisonous. But be careful not to consume the berry of just any evergreen, some of which are toxic, like the yew.
The main groups of evergreens in the Northern Hemisphere have a long history of edibility and uses. As with any wild foraging, be careful to be sure that you know the history and management of the land on which the tree grows, and that the tree has not been sprayed or injected with oils or pesticides.
Because evergreens are often sold for ornamental use in landscapes, they are bred as different “named” variations and cultivars. Since these cultivars may differ from the straight wild species, the most prudent course would be to stick to the straight or wild species, unless a particular ornamental variety has a documented history of culinary use.
Evergreen trees have an amazing flavor: citrusy and piney. You can almost feel the fresh cleanness you experience when you walk through pine and spruce and fir forests. It’s not that crazy to think of trees as a spice if you know that cinnamon is a bark, and juniper berries are the cone of an evergreen, and maple syrup is the sap from a tree, and capers are the bud of a bush.
In the spring, evergreen spruce trees sprout baby needles on the ends of last year’s branches. Next spring (in May in New York), when you pass by a spruce tree, take a glance at it. You may first see little brown papery casings, which clothe the emerging tips. The casings will split and fall off, and then you can’t miss the neon lime green tips, which are soft before they harden into needles. Their sweet, lightly citrusy flavor is addictive: I like to break them apart raw and scatter them like an herb or spice in cucumber salad, rice pilaf, desserts, and soups (see Smoky Potato Scrap Broth, here).
It is very easy to make spruce salt. Chop up fresh spruce tips and leave them in salt; and the spruce tips will dry into the salt. Sprinkle instead of just plain salt on a protein, such as lamb, pork, or fish.
As the tips open more and fan out, and before they harden into needles, they become a little sharper in flavor, and are good for an aromatic oil or syrup. Spruce tips also freeze well.
We have recipes for sugar, syrup, and powder in this section.