Traditional spruce tip syrup tastes like maple syrup crossed with a pine tree. It's one of the easiest, most versatile spruce tip recipes I know.
Update
Originally I made this the old way by combining tips and sugar. I've never had a problem, but with the difference in ambient temperature in different places, some people had issues with mold.
I adjusted the recipe so that you process the tips with the sugar in a food processor first, and that's taken care of the issue, although it won't be reflected in the images here.
Original Post
I've been writing this website for years, and although I have a spruce tip syrup that tastes like spruce, it's not the most powerful one you can make--it's a hybrid, a shortcut.
That older recipe of mine was back from when I had bartenders breathing down my neck about running out of spruce tip syrup for the bar, and, in 24 hours, it's a pretty good approximation of the real thing, and handy in a pinch. But it's still an approximation.
This is the real deal, the old fashioned, time honored traditional syrup that most people, especially those who have family from Eastern Europe will recognize. There's two ingredients, well three actually: spruce tips, sugar, and time.
Like I mentioned with my shortcut spruce syrup, you can get some good flavor from the tips overnight using my other recipe. But, the slow, steady maceration of the sugar and spruce tips, and the concentration of aromatic compounds that gets trapped in the jar (along with wild yeast--be sure to burp the jars occasionally) is really potent, in a delicious way.
There's icing on the cake too, in that there's zero tannins. Zip. Zilch. Zero.
If you've ever tasted a pine cone, or eaten something like the Georgian preserve varenye, you'll know eating pine cones can be a resinous, mouth drying experience. (More on general cooking with spruce tips here).
Oh, and the shelf life. The infusion with the sugar alone is strong enough that it will even hold at room temperature for months, without that much of a noticeable decrease in aroma.
I prefer to refrigerate it to keep it bright and zippy, but I'd be lying if I said I hadn't forgotten about a jar here and there, then opened them up to be pleasantly surprised after a few months.
The recipe itself, if it can even be called that, is easy enough that a child can make it (and it's a great thing for kids to make to teach them about edible parts of conifers, along with supplying a dose of vitamin C to prevent scurvy).
You take equal parts spruce tips and sugar--no weight measurements, no finicky scales, and mix them together, put them in a jar, let them sit in the sun for a couple months, then heat, strain, and voila--syrup that tastes like the soul of a spruce tree.
No white sugar
It might surprise you (as it did me) but the type of sugar is really important here.
Originally I almost wrote this method off as a technique, since I'd put jars and jars up of spruce tips and sugar at the restaurant, only to be left with a syrup that was just ok.
Over the years I've watched more than one chef make the exact same mistake. We assume that white sugar would be better, maybe cleaner somehow, but it isn't. The secret is all about harnessing aromas, specifically giving aromas a place to go. Aromas like spruce are very water soluble.
The magic happens when the natural moisture from the spruce tips seeps into the sugar, making a watery slurry which can absorb aromas better than a thick mat of sugar.
Brown or organic sugar are what you want here for two reasons: 1, the color of the finished syrup is more attractive. 2. Brown sugar contains more moisture than white, and more moisture, means a more aromatic syrup. Makes sense, right?
How I use it
No rocket science here. This is a sweet syrup, perfect in place of maple syrup on pancakes or anywhere you'd use maple.
It’s also good with other things with it's sharp piney aroma. Here's a few examples of how I'd it.
- With cheese. Soft cheese, especially goat cheese, loves the piney kick of spruce syrup, maple on the other hand, might be a little bland.
- Drizzled on crepes filled with berries and cream cheese (an old brunch dish I used to run worth revisiting).
- With thick yogurt. I often eat a bowl of granola and thick greek yogurt for breakfast, and drizzling on some spruce syrup, along with a handful of berries makes for a great meal.
- As a glaze for meats. Think ham, etc. A tablespoon per 1.5 lbs or so meat like fatty ground pork can make a nice breakfast sausage too.
- Lining flan molds. Sometimes I'll add a drizzle of honey to the molds of a panna cotta or flan instead of caramel, and spruce syrup works just as good, it will turn into a natural sauce when the custard is unmolded.
- Beverage sweetener. Think lemonade, drinks, etc.
- Tossed with unsweetened, fresh fruit instead of sugar. Sometimes for dessert I might want just some fresh raspberries tossed with sugar and a dollop of whipped cream. Fresh berries tossed with spruce syrup will eventually give up some of their own juice and make a sort of natural sauce.
Not a 1:1 sugar substitute
Spruce tip syrup is some sweet stuff, and over the years I've seen a couple friends of mine make some very, very sweet desserts (by mistake) using it.
While it might be tempting to say, flavor some ice cream with it, it can be difficult to get it right. Don't use it as a 1:1 substitute for sugar as it's more sweet. Mostly, think drizzle.
Vacuum sealed syrup
A jar with sugar and spruce tips is the old way, and it's a good one, but for those of you who have vacuum sealers, know that you can do the same thing sealed in a bag.
The benefit of this method is that there's no glass and pressure to worry about as the mixture ferments, the drawback being that it can be a little more awkward to pour from, and some people eschew plastic.
The mixture below was a version with a number of different local herbs, including young pine cones, which are pretty popular in some groups. Before you go making your own franken-syrup though, I'd urge you to make the simple spruce syrup outlined in this post.
I've made a lot of variations on conifer syrups, and other things, and the jist is anyone can take a bunch of random things, mix them in a jar and call it forest syrup, but, that doesn't mean the end product will be something you like.
Personally I like to keep the syrups pure, so I can taste the base ingredient. My advice is to keep it simple at first--less is more. There's a reason the experimental syrup below doesn't have a recipe to try that I like, yet.
Using Pine Tips
Yes, you can use the young, tender tips of pine trees too, it works out just fine, but has a slightly different, and often more resinous flavor (I've only used red pine).
You can also use pine cones, but they contain more water in their green stage, which makes the syrup ferment, making it a slightly different product. Pine cone syrup generally tastes much stronger than spruce syrup too. See more about using pine cones specifically in my post on Pine Cone Mugolio Syrup.
Using alternate sweeteners (honey, maple)
After I put up the original recipe here there's been a number of comments inquiring about using different sweeteners like honey and maple syrup. After testing a few batches I can tell you that, absolutely, it works, and it's fantastic.
The ratios are slightly different, and the finished syrup will be a bit looser (especially maple as it contains more water than honey) so you may want to reduce it a bit longer than the traditional syrup.
The flavor of alternate sweeteners is very good though, and it's a good alternative to using conventional sugar if you're trying to not consume too much of it, as many of us are.
Fermented Spruce Tip Syrup
The big difference between Spruce Tip Syrup and Mugolio (pine cone syrup) is that green pine cones contain more water than spruce tips, which allow the mixture to lacto-ferment and develop different flavors.
Fermented spruce syrup is good, but is slightly different than the most traditional version I know of I'm sharing here.
To make your syrup ferment, add ½ cup (4 oz) water to the basic proportions below, or just enough water so that the spruce tips are just barely covered with liquid from the get-go. Anywhere from ⅓ to ½ cup of water will do the trick.
Making Large Batches
I occasionally make very large batches of syrup, 2 or 3 gallons at a time. Here's a few tips on doing that if it's something you're interested in, especially as this is such a fun (also cheap) and interesting thing to give as gifts. The tips below are intended for those people making 1 gallon batches and up at a time.
Dealing with foam
When you cook large quantities of syrup, it will begin to froth and foam at the top and will double in size quickly. Here's how to deal with that.
- After you bring the syrup mixture to a simmer and strain, put it back in the pot and bring it to a simmer again, then turn off the heat.
- Next, let it rest for a minute or two so the syrup can settle and return to it's original volume. If you don't do this, you run the risk of having jars that are half full after settling.
- Next, fill the jars nearly to the brim with piping hot syrup, leaving about ⅛ inch headspace.
- Working quickly, screw on the lids tight and turn the jars upside down, then allow to cool.
- You don't have to water bath-process this as it's basically the same sugar concentration as maple syrup, just make sure your jars are very clean. The jars will seal naturally but should be refrigerated after opening.
My syrup has mold
Spruce syrup is more temperamental than pine cone syrup, likely from the difference in ambient temperature people in different locations may have. Spruce tips don't contain as much water as pine cones either, which means the syrup won't ferment, which lowers the pH. Keep in mind a little white mold is harmless, and the finishing step of cooking also kills bacteria. That being said, if you leave white mold and don't remove it, it can harm the flavor.
If you see any mold on the top of your mixture, here's what you can do.
- Pick the mold off and discard, then blot the inside of the jar and the top of the tips with a cloth wet with white vinegar.
- Adding water will make the syrup ferment, lowering the pH and making it inhospitable to bacteria. Refer to my directions for fermented syrup above.
- Vacuum sealing the mixture before aging. Refer to my notes above.
Classic Spruce Tip Syrup
Equipment
- Mason jars
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups (8oz) Spruce tips
- 2 cups (16 oz) Brown or organic sugar
Instructions
- Combine the spruce tips and sugar and pack the mixture into a quart jar.
- Leave the jar out, putting it in a place where the sun will warm it each day. I've left them outside without issues. The warmth of the sun will help prevent mold.
- You'll notice the volume of ingredients decrease as the spruce tips release their liquid. If you have more spruce tips and sugar, feel free to add mores in the same raitos-this will lower the amount of air in the jar and defend against mold.
- Keep the jar like this for 1 month, or for an old school version, bury it in the ground and dig it up the next spring. Stir the jars occasionally, pressing the tips down to keep them under the syrup with a clean spoon.
To make the syrup
- After the initial maceration (aging with sugar) pour and scrape the spruce-sugar slush into a pot.
- Bring the mixture to a boil to dissolve the sugar, strain, then bottle and store. Discard the spent tips, and thank them for their service.
- If for some reason, your syrup is a bit thick after cooling (over-reducing can stiffen or crystalize in the fridge) warm it back up and carefully adjust the consistency by adding a touch of water.
Storing the finished syrup
- Store the finished syrup in the fridge. To preserve it long term (it's totally safe as it's basically all sugar) pour it boiling hot into a jar nearly to the brim, turn upside down and allow to seal, or process in a water bath in mason jars. If held at room temp after opening mold may form on the top, but it can always be re-boiled and refrigerated. This is a very stable product and will last like maple syrup in the fridge-near indefinitely.
Video
Notes
The syrup is shelf stable and safe as-is, but if you want to preserve it in jars at room temperature, boil it, then pour into jars, turn them upside down, and wait for them to seal. You can also just store it in the fridge. If you store it at room temperature, the flavor will slowly diminish over time. Spruce Honey or Maple Syrup If you want to make this with honey or maple syrup, use the below proportions and proceed as directed. The mixture will ferment as there is a higher water content, which is fine.
- 3 oz (90g) 1 generous cup spruce tips
- 1 lb (1.3 cups) honey or maple syrup
Suzanne
Have you ever tried using the infused sugar in something other than the syrup? I'm trying to figure out how best to infuse it in either a fat or in sugar to use in a recipe. If I infuse it in fat, though, it needs to be heated since the fat I'm using is solid at room temperature (cocoa butter). That makes me think infusing the tips in the sugar like you did here might be the better path.
Alan Bergo
The sugar naturally becomes syrup. If that isn't clear from the post I need to put up some process photos. The only way to get the flavor of spruce into fat is to use dried needles. I have a video online showing how to make a brine for ham with them if you're interested.
Hillery L.
I'm interested in that brine! You got a link for it?
Also, does the outside air temperature or sun exposure affect the process at all? I live in SE Alaska and we don't get much sun or heat here right now, so I'm curious how it will do on my porch for two months without those factors.
Alan Bergo
It's fine. Keep it on a porch where some sun hits it and it has some ambient warmth. Make sure to stir it and keep the tips covered in syrup to prevent mold.
Suzanne
Thanks again for this post and all the info. I wound up adapting it to allow the tips to "marinate" in the sugar, but then strained them out after two months and dried out the sugar to use in chocolate. The flavor is beautiful. Thanks for this post and for updating things as you got questions!
Alan Bergo
Sounds like a creative way to use the sugar, I'll have to remember that.
Laura K
Did you use brown sugar? And it didn’t liquify after 2 months (stayed “grainy”)?
Mike
It will be a bit of a slurry on the bottom. I just stir it up and press it back down, making sure the tips are all covered and it does fine.
Dorla
Thank you for sharing all your amazing knowledge! We live in an old growth spruce forest in Alaska with no direct sun inside or around the house, and bears coming through. To keep the syrup processing with sun exposure, as well as bear protected, I decided to keep it on our skiff, moored away from shore. I’m also wondering if I could make syrup with Devil’s Club buds, and/or freeze them like spruce tips. We love them, but their season is so very short. Any suggestions?
Alan Bergo
Hi Dorla, I'm sorry I don't have experience working with devils clubs. I would love to try them sometime.
Kent
You can mix the tips with sugar or salt, but you have to blend the mixture to chop the tips up fine, the dehydrate it in the oven. You can also dry the tips first and chop them then mix with sugar or salt.
Kent
By the way, don't discard the spruce tips after. Candied Spruce Tips are good.
Elizabeth
Hi Alan,
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and tasty recipes.
I just tucked my tips into their sugar (with a touch of sea salt) this morning. I have a few process q's:
1. When do you strain the tips out? How fine a strain?
2. Maceration t? You have listed 30 and 60d separately - is patience rewarded or is this a typo?
Tucking ramp butter under the skin of a roast chicken tonight and beginning to collect things in jars - there's something so grounding about squirrelling away and honouring nourishing food. Your work is much appreciated 🙂
Alan Bergo
I adjusted everything there, sorry if that was unclear. Yes, patience is rewarded here, but 1 month will still give you a decent infusion.
Elizabeth
Thanks Alan! The testing tastes of the infusing syrup are delicious and surprisingly complex!
olaf
Just to clarify, in the initial few days in the sun without water the spruce tips and sugar are in a *sealed airtight* jar?
And the recipe continues to be in a sealed airtight jar for the month following the addition of liquid while it sits in the sun?
Alan Bergo
Yes.
Elke
I made a few liters of spruce-tip infused vodka this season & it was outstanding - but I'm thinking next year I'll save myself some $$$ and just make a bunch of syrup instead! Thanks for the recipe, I love your site. Made lobster cakes last night & just put up a batch of lobster pickles using a modified version of your hen brine. Waiting for the hericium to start popping here in Vermont so I can tuck into your mock crab cakes!
Aaron
Alan, do you know anything about the science of the safety of this type of preserving? I’m having a difficult time finding info to help me understand WHY it’s safe. I’ve got a jar of this I patiently left outside for months. I’m ready to enjoy it, but I can’t convince myself to go ahead and eat it because I just don’t understand why it wouldn’t be a great home for something like botulism. I guess the pH is fairly low, is that all there is to it? I’m interested in getting to know how these now less-common food preservation methods work.
Eve
"Sugar" is a preservative.
Sylvie
As beekeepers, we have lots of honey, and I preserve/ferment/pickle lots of things in honey such as cranberries, baby ginger, baby turmeric (both of which I grow in the garden), green (i.e. immature) seeds such as fennel. I need to remember to collect spruce tips i the spring and try it with honey.
Alan Bergo
Sylvie, that's just a fantastic idea, and I'm kinda jealous I never thought of it myself. I love mugolio and spruce syrup (the former is the same thing made with pine cones) but whenever I can, I like to use all-natural sugars instead of commercial ones. It would be exciting too, especially the pine cones version..the fermentation would be something to watch with popcorn after a couple days knowing how honey reacts, I'd think it could be one of the few natural yeast combos that could break the thick glass of a solid growler, etc.
Sylvie
Alan: oh yeah, it definitively will ferment, but there is SO much honey compared to the produce, that is not a problem... it's not mead... but still I watch my jars. I have never used pine cones but blogs like yours (and Pascal Baudar's) are pushing me to it. They sound most intriguing - I love those unusual tastes! When fermenting citrus or cranberries, or ginger in honey, one ends up with this lovely (color-wise and taste-wise) syrup, and lightly "candied" fruit. Perfect to serve with pancakes or crepes, a simple pound cake, cheese cake, Greek yogurt, roasted beets or roasted carrots, or quails or ducks Etc etc. Anyway, get to know a good beekeeper, one who takes care of her bees fairly "naturally" (it's not all truly possible anymore, but there is a sliding scale of less chemicals vs. more chemicals and even antibiotics) and produces raw honey. They might even have quasi-varietals if they harvest and batch based on bloom times. We ourselves track each jar we sell back to a particular apiary (or even a specific hive within the apiary) and date harvested (which we can then correlate to what nectar is likely in the jar) Anyway, good honey is AMAZING! If your beekeeper is anything like us, they'll gladly trade you. We trade honey for quails, or duck eggs, bread, chocolate... 🙂
Dakota Paul
I would have commented sooner, I just wasn't sure if this page was still active. Thanks so much for this recipe. It was such an amazing experience, from the start, to my final product. Long story short, July 2020 I put 1.4kg of spruce tips from my mom's farm into 1.4kg of awesome brown sugar. After a few months in the sun, the bugs (bacteria/yeast) on the spruce tips fermented the liquid. What was left after that stage was thin, not overly sweet, with a hint of mollasses, slightly sour and citrusy liquid - aka spruce juice. On it's own, it tasted mindblowing, everyone loved it. I used almost off of the liquid to make a syrup, which also was incredible, which people also loved!
All the syrup went into a fermenting batch of Belgian Dubbel. Weeks later I remembered I had a small jar of the uncooked fermented spruce juice, so I added it to the still fermenting beer. Months later I returned, possibly Oct, and the spruce juice had wild-fermented the beer, turning the base Belgian Dubbel into a sprucey, citrusy and slight toffee, very dry and very tart wild fermented sour beer! I should be getting judging feedback from this next month.
This was very unexpected, and was pleasantly surprising no matter what stage this project was in, and best of all it was very easy to do. I expect that myself, and most of my homebrewing friends here in Canada will be harvesting spruce tip this spring in order to do more experiments! I am interested to know if the wild yeast/bacteria always will ferment the liquid during the first phase, or if it was due to my specific batch of spruce tips. I would be interested to know if you get fermentation in your batches. Also, have you done this with mature spruce tips?
Thanks again Alan, I will keep an eye out for your book this summer!
Alan Bergo
Hey Paul. Super exciting about the sour Dubbel, that sounds delicious. What I suspect happened here is that the spruce tips fermented because there was excess water from the sugar. For the classic syrup, you don't use equal parts by weight, but by volume, and it seems to work the best.
I've done both versions, but I prefer the flavor of the non-fermented spruce syrup. Pine cone syrup or mugolio, which is made the same way, will always ferment as pine cones contain more water than spruce tips. With pine cones, the fermentation is vigorous, and a bit exciting. Both methods are completely safe, especially since they're boiled afterward, which would kill any nasty bacteria, but the fermented syrup definitely has a lower pH, to be certain.
The typical spruce tip syrup doesn't ferment, but I suspect is kept safe by the resinous quality of the tips, or maybe the high amount of vitamin C, or natural acidity, as It's a pine product, this is speculative, but well intended, (super scientific, I know). You can make similar things with mature needles, but you need to break them up really well in order for it to work. Here's two links here that might be helpful for you. Thanks for commenting. Alan
https://foragerchef.com/mugolio-pine-cone-syrup/
https://foragerchef.com/spruce-ham/
Dakota Paul
Thanks for the tips! I will definately try to do one batch equal by weight, and one equal by volume, and test the difference.
Alan Bergo
Like I said, I *assume* that's the culprit, but feel free to chime back in later in the year. Jealous of that spruce Dubbel!
k
You can use the spruce tip vodka on sore joints, it works well.
Stephanie
Since this recipe is so high in sugar, could it be canned (water bathed) as i would my regular fruit syrups?
Alan Bergo
Yes, and I should mention that in the recipe somewhere. Thanks for the reminder.
Robin
Thanks for an amazing website with valuable information!
I was wondering if you wash the spruce tips before mixing them with sugar? I'm thinking maybe they shouldn't be wet..?
Alan Bergo
Robin, spruce tips are so clean that it isn’t necessary, barring a tree getting splashed with rain water and dirt, but as the branches are rather higher, it’s really a non issue. If you add some water to the syrup in the beginning, say just enough to barely cover them and melt the sugar, the syrup will ferment as it ages, which isn’t necessarily bad, but will result in a slightly different flavor.
Robin
Hello again
Thanks for your reply 🙂
I got a bit of mold which I removed and then it came back again, so I decided to give it a boil and put it in a jar after 5 weeks. It's incredibly delicious, so happy I made this!
I used Demerara sugar. Do you think panela powder would work too?
All the best,
Robin
Haley
I sorry if this was mentioned before, and I simply missed it:
I started fermenting some tips in some grade a dark maple syrup about a week ago, and it’s tatted to mold (just white mold). Should I remove it &/ boil it, and let it keep fermenting? Was there something I could’ve done to better prevent it from molding?
Alan Bergo
Plain white mold won't hurt you, you can pick it off. Maple syrup is prone to molding left out. I probably wouldn't use maple to make something like this unless I vacuum sealed it or had a jar with an air lock.
Celia
Hello I love your website! Can you make this with baby pine tips too? Thanks for sharing
Alan Bergo
Celia, I'm unsure exactly of what you mean by baby pine tips (immature male cones?) but yes, you can really use any young conifer growth here.
Kathy Winter
Do you have any sense of whether the vitamin C is preserved? At a reasonable level, like rose hip jelly? I wonder if adding pectin would help. Thank you for the article!
Alan Bergo
Thanks Kathy, I can't speak to the vitamin C, but as vitamin C is water-soluble and the mixture is boiled it would probably cure scurvy.
Isabelle
Hello, looking forward to making syrup but would like to use monk fruit instead? Any insights on that i.e. ratios or if it even works. Thank you
Alan Bergo
Hey there, I don't have any experience using monk fruit so I won't be much help. I would try making it with spruce tips as intended.
Isabelle
Ok thank you. I am gonna try some with monk fruit and some with coconut sugar, and some with honey to have some syrup if other two experiments are disgusting! Lol!
Lori Erickson
Hi! I love this idea! I have 3 jars going as of 5.30.21- 2 with spruce tips and 1 with very young pine cones I found on a downed tree on a hike. They have been sitting in a south facing window sealed since then and I checked today and saw some mold at the top of the tips and cones. Should I be concerned about that? Is there a way to avoid them molding, or does it not matter because you boil it eventually? They still smell amazing and not foul or anything. Also, I used dark brown sugar since that has the most moisture. Thank you!
Alan Bergo
Hi Lori, that can happen sometimes, particularly with the spruce as they don't contain as much liquid as green pine cones. Don't worry, it's totally fine. Try stirring the jars occasionally with a clean spoon. It's also a non-issue as you'll be bringing it to a boil. You can add a splash of water to the jars-just enough to allow them to be covered by liquid and that will fix it too, but it will also cause the mixture to lactoferment and give a slightly different (not bad) flavor. I have 6 different species of pine and spruce working right now. All of the spruce tips are still slushy after a month, all the pine cones are swimming freely in liquid.
Lori Erickson
Oh thank you so much! I’m glad to hear it’s fine. I figured it was, but wanted to be sure. I might have to start another jar before all my spruce tips on my trees get to old! 🙂 So excited for the finished syrup after tasting it with only a week in the jars.
Olaf Wilberg
So thankful for this recipe. It's nuanced to get it just right may take some fine tuning... my question is, once you've opened a sealed jar does it need refrigeration? I made some of it too thick and in the refrigerator it gets thicker, almost too viscous to handle. Should I refrigerator anyway or is it safe for some weeks or months at room temp once opened?
Alan Bergo
Olaf, if it's too thick you can add a splash of hot water and adjust the consistency to your taste. You can leave it on the counter for a while and it will be fine, just keep an eye on it for mold. It's pretty bulletproof stuff.
Kathleen
Hello.
Thanks for the recipe! This was my first attempt. I'm just concerned that I did it wrong! When I opened my jars after 40 days or so in the sun, it had a very strange smell, almost moldy, definately not smelling like spruce. Any thoughts? Should I scrap the syrup and try again next year?
Thanks for your reply 🙂
Alan Bergo
Kahtleen, it should smell very sprucey. Don't give up. People's ambient temperatures can vary, also, it helps to stir it occasionally to disperse water while the tips macerate with the sugar. When in doubt, throw it out.
Sarah
I tried this recipe for the first time this summer and I just finished my syrup about a week ago. I’m delighted with the aroma and flavor. My only problem is that I just realized my syrup crystallized (like honey as it ages) while sitting in the fridge over the past week. Do I need to scrape it out into a pot and boil it again, or just warm it like I would honey? Is it going to keep re-crystallizing? What could I have done to keep it smooth and syrupy? I expect I’ll make more next year and hope to avoid the crystallization problem next time.
Alan Bergo
You just cooked it a little too much. Warm it, or let it come to room temp, hit it with a splash of water, or just treat as you would honey.
Kristie
Hi! My spruce tips have been sitting in the sun for 2 months and there is crystallization happening at the top of the mason (still liquid at the bottom). Should I process the syrup? Leave it alone? Add water? Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks for the amazing recipes and inspiration!
Alan Bergo
You should be stirring it every once in a while. I would ahead and bring it to a simmer and process it.
Kristie
Thanks so much!
Jennifer
I just opened my jar to strain and bottle today. This blew my mind! SO GOOD.
I didn't want to waste anything by rinsing my pot and spoon with water down the drain. Instead, since I had coffee brewing, I poured the coffee over the spoons and swished out the pot (the heat rinsed the sticky stuff nicely.) The resulting coffee might be the best I've ever had. Perfect for a blustery Minnesota fall day. I used up everything and it was my little personal reward for making the syrup!
Jennifer
I strained the remaining tips with the coffee, too! That probably yielded most of the goodness.
Alan Bergo
Glad it worked for you Jennifer
Colleen Brown
Hi finally got around to boiling down and straining my syrup today. It is so good and I hated to throw out the spruce tips so I dried them in the oven and am going to use them like sprinkles on cookies or scones or cake. Have you ever used this syrup in something like a cookie or bar. It smells like Christmas and I would love a dessert or a treat idea for the syrup and then also include my dried spruce top sprinkles. Thanks for all the inspiration from your site to try new recipes and foods
Alan Bergo
Colleen, glad it worked for you. You can substitute it for maple syrup in any recipe.
Jeremy
I have been so excited to do this! I have some spruce tips I’m collecting today. Do I need to sanitize or boil the mason jars?
Alan Bergo
Hey Jeremy! Sorry if that wasn’t clear. You should always use a clean jar.
Jeremy
Awesome thanks!
Carolina
Hello - I am not sure whether this post is still active - but trying anyway. I am adept at using foraged greens and making lilac syrup now, but I have little experience with conserving items for long periods (in the sun!) and I really want to try this recipe - we have two beautiful spruces with gorgeous tips waiting to be harvested, From what I glean - I need to sterilize the jar in which I place the tips and sugar, but it is not clear whether I have to seal it in order to avoid issues such as botulism. Or, is the fact this is sugar based and will eventually be boiled render the sealing unnecessary?
Alan Bergo
You’re instincts are right. The reason it’s safe is that sugar is a preservative and boiling is a kill step. I used to make this in multiple gallon batches for my restaurant. And yes, you should always use a clean jar for ferments and projects like this.
Maura
I just picked a quart of tips from a bird nest spruce, and I’m wondering If you pack the spruce tips down when measuring. I’m also in cool and rainy southeast Alaska, but I’m going to try it in a vacuum bag and put it in my greenhouse. So intriguing!
Alan Bergo
Hi Maura. I go over that in the first couple lines of the recipe, you'll need to pack them in.
Clover
I’m in the first few days of this process and finding that after a day and a half there was quite a bit of pressure buildup in the jars. I’m new to this process of jarring and canning, is this normal and will it cause the jars to explode if not burped periodically?
Alan Bergo
You’re fine. Burp them once in a while. I’ve never had a problem with natural yeast, commercial yeast, like when people add it to sodas, etc can definitely explode and be potentially dangerous if not used correctly.
Clover
Awesome thanks a bunch!
Kathy
Hi Alan,
One question which I hope you haven't answered a bunch of times already: the instructions say to blend the spruce tips and sugar in a food processor until evenly ground. However, all the photos show the spruce tips whole when they are mixed with the sugar in jars. So, which do you prefer? It would obviously be easier to remove the spruce tips if they are whole rather than ground; and it seems likely that the finished syrup will be clearer.
Alan Bergo
Kathy, you can do it either way. I actually just changed it back as I can over think things. Just stir it once in a while and you'll be fine. I've never had a problem with this molding, but some people have, so I've neen working on alternate methods people can use to ensure they don't get mold. A little bit of mold isn't a problem as it's cooked, but some people forget about it. Honestly it's just as easy as it sounds. Mix the tips with sugar and put them in a jar.
Mallory
Hi! Thanks for the recipe. It’s my first time trying it and I can’t wait. I just opened my jar to stir it up, and a lot of pressure was released. Does that mean it’s fermenting?
Alan Bergo
Yes. This doesn't typically ferment for me, but it's not a problem at all. Carry on and let me know how it works for you.
Mallory
I rinsed the tips first, do you think that had something to do with it?
Amire
Hi Alan, really love this syrup. Have a lot of blue spruce tips and was thinking of making multiple batches. Wanted to ask, in your experience does macerating for longer than 30 days make a difference in intensifying/enhancing the flavour of the finished syrup?
Alan Bergo
30 days is fine.
Jessica
Could coconut sugar be used in this recipe?
Alan Bergo
I don't know. The water content is important. For example, white sugar won't release enough water and can get moldy. But, the good thing is that if you use a sugar that appears too dry, you can add a couple tablespoons of water after a few days and mix, which will loosen the contents and cause fermentation. Slightly different flavor but still good, and safe.
Toni
Okay, I did this with Douglas For Tips last spring and then left it until now. It's been a hair over a year. There is no mold visibly growing. Would I still be okay to boil, strain, then eat this? You said the old fashioned way was to bury it for a year...it certainly got buried in my shelf of other goodies!
Alan Bergo
You're fine. Proceed.
Jared
Any idea why a wet sugar maceration like this produces a product without the tannins whereas when we have done a alcohol maceration you get lots of tannin? Spruce and black walnut molasses tastes great right away and the same is not true of the alcohol version...
Alan Bergo
I don’t know why, I just know it works.
Melissa Richardson
I'm just wondering what can be done with the tips once strained? I've been munching them, seems like a waste to toss them!
Any ideas?
Alan Bergo
So, Sam Thayer has a good analogy here that often comes up in conversation. It's called the Chicken Feathers Man. Basically, if you try to save everything little thing from everything you make, it just becomes a mess. The tips transfer a lot of their aroma and goodness to the syrup. I recommend thanking them for their service, and discarding them. You could probably use them to start a vinegar, but, again, their aroma is lessened and it would be better to use fresh. Hope that makes sense.
Shannon Briggs
You could dehydrate the spruce tips after and eat them- candied spruce tips! I am making a simple spruce syrup right now just so we can candy the tips LOL I'll try making a candy with the syrup but I now also have to try this brown sugar method!
Alan Bergo
The only thing there is you're dehydrating spruce tips who've already given their flavor to the syrup. If you want to candy them I'd simmer fresh tips in spruce syrup, soak overnight, then drain and dehydrate. Personally I wouldn't do that and I don't think they'll taste that good, but if I was going to, that's how I'd do it.
Jesse
Are you supposed to leave the jar in the sun for a month, or in a dark place for a month? It seems like you mention both in your recipe.
Alan Bergo
Hi Jesse, yes this post is old and has been edited ALOT-here and there I miss things. I've done it either way, but, since ambient temperatures vary it's best to have the sun warm it to help prevent mold, especially if it's your first time.
Heather Thomas-Smith
I made sitka spruce tip syrup last year (collected just as the young green shoots popped out their casings) and left for around 8 months. Fabulous flavour and a really rich dark syrup - nearly all gone now! I strained through a fine sieve before heating and bottling then washed off tips in 40% ABV alcohol to create a spruce liqueur which is fab on its own (or with a slice of orange) over ice or in cocktails (I served up my 'Whisky MacSpruce' cocktail at an Association of Foragers' meet earlier this year). Now making larch tip syrup to see flavour difference.
Will certainly be recommending this method as opposed to using water (I just layered and mixed once in a while with no mould but note your comments above!). Good stuff!!!
Alan Bergo
Hi Heather. Yes, a homebrew group used this recipe to make meads and they sent me some spruce beer and other things. It was really good.
Janet
Hi - great post and recipe. Just wondering how long the finished syrup can keep refrigerated?
Alan Bergo
Near indefinitely. Treat it like maple syrup.
J
I picked immature pine cones last evening and was doused several times with pine pollen. Conifer produce an ABUNDANCE of pollen - could a mixture of pollen and sugar create a similar concoction? There’s a lot of nutrients in pollen - this mix might be the next cure-all!
Alan Bergo
No there's not enough natural water in pollen for that to work unfortunately.