By Chip Walton | Chop & Brew
Every spring, I get excited to see the fresh light-colored tips emerge from the branches of the spruce, fir and pine trees throughout my neighborhood. That means it’s about to be syrup season – spruce tip simple syrup, that is. I have been making spruce tip syrup for three or four years. I was first turned on to the process by my buddy Rob Fisk, of Wyndfall Cider, when he invited me to go spruce tip picking for his annual syrup making. I found further inspiration, details and guidance for Hank Shaw’s Hunter Angler Gardener Cook blog. Check out his Spruce of Fir Tip Syrup post for his recipe and process, plus some precautionary information about which trees to NOT make syrup from; because, you know, death and stuff.
My process is pretty much the same as his, as detailed in the quick video and recipe below. Again, this syrup is made with springtime’s fresh-growth spruce tips, meaning the new, soft and feather-y tips that grow at the end of last year’s branches. These are not the sharp-needled, thick, woody branches – although I have used those in autumn brews for the holidays as they do lend a stronger pine/resin flavor. Depending on the type of tree, the pine flavor of fresh spruce tips is way more subtle. More prevalent are aromas and flavor of citrus, orange, lemon/lime and green herbs. I usually make this recipe that yields about one pint. I use spruce tip syrup as a general sweetener for coffee/tea or cocktails – you have to try a gin and tonic with this syrup! It’s also great to use in grill glazes, salad dressing, and as a dessert topping.
Spruce Tip Simple Syrup
Yield: 1 pint
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups spruce or fir tips
- 2 cups sugar
Process
Using your hands or kitchen scissors, cut/pick fresh growth spruce tips from tree. Make sure the tree is not treated with anything that you wouldn’t want in your food, like pesticides. Back at home, use scissors to cut the tips into smaller pieces, exposing more of their central branch.
Bring two cups of water and two cups of sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Once sugar water is boiling, add the spruce tips. Stir and simmer for a few minutes. You’ll see the color of the tips almost immediately change from a bright green to a much duller yellow-green color. After a few minutes of simmering, cover and remove from heat. Allow this spruce tip/sugar water mixture to steep for at least three hours or overnight. I usually let it sit all night on the stove top to get maximum flavor.
After a long steep, strain syrup mixture through a double mesh or other fine mesh strainer. I usually do this two or three times to prevent any stray needles from getting into the syrup. Package in clean, sanitized jars.
I have found that the syrup can last up to a few months in sealed jars. I have had issues from time to time with small globs of what appear to be pale white, cotton-y mold in the syrup, but I’m not 100% sure that that is even what it. If and when that happens, I usually trash it. Generally in our house, the syrup doesn’t last long enough for it become an issue.
Note that in Hank Shaw’s recipe, he suggests adding an optional 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice to the syrup. I have never done that – only because I never remember – but will be adding that this year.
Spruce Tip Wine
I have also taken this process and ramped it up in scale to a gallon of spruce tip simple syrup as a base for spruce tip wine. I made the syrup and then did some bench tests to see what specific gravity different ratios of water-to-syrup would yield. I decided to go with one part syrup to two parts water for an OG of about 1.072. Although when I made the wine, I ended up with OG 1.058 because a slightly over-diluted it. After fermenting with Lavlin D47 wine yeast and hitting it with a high volume of CO2 in a keg, the beverage turned out as a highly refreshing, spritzy summer slammer with lots of citrus-y notes of lemon-lime and slight bit of pine but not overwhelmingly resinous. Think of booze soda or Zima. Highly enjoyable!
Check out Chop & Brew – Episode 111: Spruce Tip Wine below to see that full process: