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    Home » Wild Herbs and Spices

    Mugolio: Pine Cone Syrup

    Published: Oct 23, 2020 Modified: Sep 16, 2024 Author: Alan Bergo

    Jump to Recipe Jump to Video

    Mugolio, a dark, aromatic syrup imbued with the flavor of pine cones, is the poster child for the kind of crazy cool, Illuminati-esque foodstuff foragers have access to, all for the price of a hike, or even less, depending on how close you are to some pine trees.

    Mugolio, a traditional pine cone syrup recipe
    A jar of Mugolio pine cone syrup. One of the most expensive ingredients I purchased as a chef, it costs the forager pennies to make at home. 

    The syrup came on my radar when my friend Dan Farmer gave me a little jar of some he made to try. I remember it being good, but I forgot about it until I opened the Salt Cellar, and started making my own from spruce tips, which is excellent, but not quite the same as pine cone syrup (for the record both are great). 

    Mugolio is now still a bit of a chef secret, and available through elite specialty distributors, but the price is staggeringly high, exorbitant even, when you consider you can make nearly the exact same thing at home, for less than it costs to make a cake. 

    Mugolio syrup made from pine cones and spruce tips recipe
    Finished pine cone mugolio, and pine and spruce mugolios in the works. Note the loss of volume in the spruce syrup on the right, and the higher water content in the pine cone syrup on the left.

    A chef secret that takes months to make 

    The cost of mugolio is not found in ingredients, but is paid in time. How much time is certainly up for debate, and you’ll notice my recipe turns around a lot quicker than burying a jar of pine cones and sugar in the yard and digging it up the next year (an actual recipe from Romania). You’ll want to wait at least a month for a good pine syrup, although aging it longer can be fun.

    Red pine and balsam fir cones for making syrup
    Green black pine cones (Pinus nigra) right, and balsam fir (Abies balsamea) left. Both can be used to make mugolio.

    Mugolio: more than just pine cones

    Real quick, some reality. I use the word mugolio interchangeably for syrups made from numerous tree parts, if you look around you’ll see mugolio usually refers to a syrup made from the young cones of mugo pine (Pinus mugo), harvested at a specific time of year, under the strictest of conditions, blah, blah, blah.

    Pine cone syrup from Manicaretti. This will run you about 25$ plus shipping for about ½ cup of syrup. Yeaoch! Nice bottle though.

    I’ve made all kinds of similar sugar based products from all kinds of conifer parts, and it isn’t some difficult, arcane thing you can only do in the light of a full moon— just the opposite.

    Making mugolio is easy, and there’s a very forgiving time window for harvesting cones, or other things products like cedar cones, wintergreen, juniper, or spruce tips. All of the aforementioned making excellent syrups in their own right.

    There’s something special about the pine cone syrup though. Pine cones hold more water than any other thing I’ve used, and they also ferment during the maceration process, vigorously.

    The day after you combine the pine cones and sugar, there will look as if there was a rush and release of water—what was once a solid packed jar of pine cones and sugar is not 75 % full and liquid.

    Species of unripe pine cones I've used to make syrup

    Balsam fir cones for making pine cone syrup
    Spruce cones for making pine cone syrup
    Norway spruce cones for mugolio
    Green black pine cones or Pinus nigra for pine cone syrup
    Jack pine cones for making pine cone syrup
    Unripe red pine cones for pine cone syrup

    Variation in flavor between species 

    One of the most fascinating things about mugolio is that every species of tree you harvest unripe cones from will impart a noticeably different flavor unique to the finished product.

    Once I started to notice the different flavors, I made a point out of trying to "mugolio" as many different species of unripe coniferous cone I can, and I found some fascinating things.  Here's a quick breakdown of the differences between flavors I taste. 

    Pine cone syrup made from various species of conifer cones
    Pine cone syrup made from various species of conifer cones. The balsam fir especially is worth it's weight in gold. 

    Pinus/Pines 

    Mugolio made from pinus cones have a resinous, assertive taste. 

    Picea/Spruces

    Spruces lack the aggressive resinous flavor of pines and are the most subtle of all I've tasted. Instead of the resinous taste, spruce cones, just like spruce tips, have a citrusy note to them, and so will syrups made from their cones. 

    Thuja and likely others/Cedars 

    The only cedar I've made mugolio with is the green cones Thuja occidentalis, since they're easy to find in landscaping. It has a taste exactly like the aroma of fresh green cedar, a bit in between spruce and pine mugolios. 

    Abies/Firs 

    Of all the syrups here, and all the different flavors, the syrups I've made from balsam fir are the most delicious.

    Firs have a resinous punch like pine mugolios, but it's slightly less aggressive, and most noticeably, comes with strong notes of warm spices like cloves, allspice, and cinnamon.

    Unfortunately, mature balsam fir trees, at least around me, seem to only want to grow cones at the very top of the tree, which can make getting enough for a batch of syrup tricky. 

    Using other conifer products 

    Other tree products like spruce tips, pine tips and cedar cones I've worked with are more dry, and may not ferment during the maceration process, but they can still make a fine syrup. 

    Red pine tips for making syrup
    Young green pine tips can also be used, but they contain less water than green cones so the syrup may not lacto-ferment, which isn't a problem.

    The point is: you can make syrups like this out of all kinds of things, and everyone I’ve had has been good. If you have spruce trees near you, take a look at the basic spruce tip syrup too, which is nearly the same, sans the fermentation. Here's a few things I've used: 

    • Unripe eastern white cedar cones (Thuja occidentalis. This could can be an abortifacient in high doses) 
    • Juniper berries (Juniperis virginiana) 
    • Spruce tips (many species) 
    Pine cones aren't the only thing you can make into mugolio. Pictured are cedar cones, spruce tips, pine cones and wintergreen.
    Pine cones aren't the only thing you can make into mugolio. Pictured are cedar cones, spruce tips, pine cones and wintergreen.

    The best part is figuring out how to use it. Somethings take some experimentation, mugolio not so much.

    You can literally put it on just about anything where maple syrup would be good, and you’ll be glad you did. The syrup has the essence of pine, but with none of the strong tannins you’d expect If you took a bite out of a pine cone—just pure piney goodness.

    Harvest young pine cones in spring or early summer 

    Adolescent Pine Cones Green Pine Cones (3)
    Stages of growth. Any of the pine cones here could be packed into a jar and used to make mugolio, but any stage with green will be easier than smaller cones, which may need a splash of water to not yield a crystallized syrup. 

    Most importantly, you are looking for unripe pine cones in the spring and early summer, not the fall, not the winter. Opened cones are not to be used.

    This is up for debate, but my favorite comes from green cones as they contain more water. Purists might say that you need to harvest pine cones when they're the size of a pinky nail, or some other arbitrary size.

    I can tell you after making this for years now, that any of the pine cones pictured in the image above will make a fine syrup, but smaller cones will make a syrup with a much stronger flavor, strong enough that some people may not like it.

    Another good rule of thumb I've found is that whatever cone you're picking will probably be sticky and exuding resinous, sticky liquid at a prime stage for making pine cone syrup. 

    Making fermented foraged pine cone syrup or mugolio
    Making fermented foraged pine cone syrup or mugolio
    Making fermented foraged pine cone syrup or mugolio

    Green cone=higher water content

    Larger green cones hold more water in them which makes syrup making much easier, and also allows for some fermentation in the process, which adds fun flavors.

    As long as the cones are meristematic and tender, and can be cut through with a knife, even if it's into pieces with long cones like white spruce or balsam fir, they will make a good mugolio. The only cones that won't work, are mature, tough, barky cones, like those you'd see on the ground. 

    Using very young pine cones 

    Young edible red pine cones for pine cone syrup or mugolio
    Very young pine cones will make a strong mugolio, but I would suggest chopping them to make it so you can fit more in a jar. 

    You can use young pine cones, but they're smaller and don't hold as much water as cones that are green, so they're not ideal here.

    If you really want to try with very young pine cones, try chopping them up medium to make it so more cones can be fit in a jar, which means more water, meaning an easier syrup. You can also add a splash of water to help it on it's way. 

    Labneh with butternuts and pine cone mugolio syrup
    Labneh, or mild yogurt cheese, drizzled with mugolio and toasted butternuts.

    Is it safe? 

    Yes, this is absolutely, positively safe, and there's no need to worry about botulism. I can't speak to the exact science of spruce tip and cedar cones syrups, (also safe) but pine cone syrup is especially safe as it ferments as it macerates, due to the higher water content of the cones if harvested at the green stage.

    The extended fermentation lowers the pH, making it shelf stable. Remember that sugar is a preservative, and conifer products are all naturally acidic, which is a preservative in itself. 

    Consider using gloves 

    The most prime pine and spruce cones for making syrup will be plump, but still unripe. At this stage, most of them will be very sticky and oozing a sappy resinous substance that will quickly coat your hands and will stay for hours. Consider wearing gloves to avoid sticky hand syndrome. 

    Choosing the right sugar 

    Some recipes might call for white sugar, and while it will work and give you a flavored syrup, white sugar is more dry, and I find the clear color far less attractive than the caramel color that organic, unrefined turbinado-style sugar or even light brown sugar or a similar substitute will give. 

    I try to avoid using plain white sugar when I can, and I highly doubt that original mugolio recipes used such highly refined products when the first adventurous people crafted them.

    Use a good sugar that you can feel good about eating, and drizzling over everything, because you'll want to drizzle it, on, well, everything. Here's a list of sugars that will work 

    Turbinado 

    Turbinado is slightly more dry than commercial brown sugars, but it has an excellent flavor. 

    Light, golden, or dark brown sugar 

    These are some of the most versatile and affordable, but I suggest using a high quality organic brand. The varying molasses content of the different colors of sugar is negligible in regards to the flavor of the finished syrup. 

    Maple sugar 

    Maple sugar is the most expensive you could use, and in my opinion is not the most ideal as it's prone to crystallization from my experience. It is delicious though. If you'd like to harness the flavor of maple with your pine cones, you can just toss pine cones into maple syrup at a ratio of 1 cup of pine cones to 1 lb (2 cups) of maple syrup. 

    Making spruce and pine cone syrup/honey
    You can also make blends using spruce tips and pine cones for a great flavor combo.

    Zirbenshnaps

    Zirbenschnaps, from Distillerie Farthofer.

    This stuff is unique enough that it needs a special mention. Zirbenschnaps is a liquor made with pine cones.

    I’m not an expert on distillation by any means, but I’ve been working with a distillery to make similar products, and one thing we’ve been toying around with is making a rendition of it by simply using it as the sweetener in a macerated liquor.

    The traditional zirbenshnaps has a red tone to its color, which makes me think they’re using a syrup made from fresh pine cones cooked immediately—not aged. 

    I know there’s also birch schnaps, and that’s made with reduced birch syrup, so I think using mugolio would be fine. Currently I know zirbenshnaps is only sold at ultra high-end restaurants in my area. 

    Whatever you make with it, it’s one of the most fascinating and delicious condiments made from wild ingredients I know of.

    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. 

    A large batch of mugolio I did for takeaways at one of my book signings. It makes a great gift.

    Skimming the foam

    Similar to maple syrup, when you cook large quantities of the syrup, it will begin to froth and foam at the top and will double in size quickly.

    Some cones seem to create more foam than others, especially Norway Spruce. When you notice foam during the cooking process, do your best to skim it off with a spoon and discard.

    Skimming scum from Italian pine cone syrup
    Thick scum can form on large batches or with different species of cones I've cooked. When you see this, spoon it off and discard. Very small batches of mugolio may have their scum dissipate as they settle, but it may hang on and stay in the jars with larger batches from my experience.

    After you bring the syrup to a simmer and strain, put it back in the pot and bring it to a simmer again, 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. 

    Canning for long-term storage

    Pour the piping hot syrup into large jars, or, for smaller ones, pour the syrup into a pitcher with a spout, and pour directly into canning jars (4 oz mason jars make a great gift). Fill the jars nearly to the brim, leaving about ⅛ inch headspace, then, working quickly, screw on the lids tight and turn the jars upside down.

    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 clean. The jars will seal naturally but should be refrigerated after opening. 

    Here’s a few ideas for using it, and a few things yet on my list to try.

    Ideas for using 

    • Drizzled on pancakes, crepes waffles and other things primed for syrup.
    • Use it to flavor whipped cream
    • Excellent drizzled over soft cheese like mascarpone, labneh, chevre, etc. 
    • Drizzled over fresh fruit
    • Using in place of honey, I love drizzling it over bowls of warm buttered wild rice with nuts, fruit, and yogurt for breakfast.
    • It’s good in desserts, added in small amounts like you would use honey. Dairy based desserts like ice cream, panna cotta and custards of all kinds can just be seasoned to taste with it.
    • Try adding small drizzles to salads, or whisking into vinaigrettes.
    • Mixing it with a splash of vinegar just to loosen it a bit makes a good brush on or glaze for hams, etc. 
    • One of my friends adds it to whiskey
    Mugolio, a traditional pine cone syrup recipe
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    4.94 from 232 votes

    Mugolio, or Pine Cone Syrup

    Dark, rich syrup infused with the essence of pine. Makes a little under 2 cups. This is a small amount, you can scale the recipe using the same proportions as needed. For large batches, just combine pine cones with approximately twice their weight in non-white sugar.
    Prep Time5 minutes mins
    Maceration Time30 days d
    Total Time30 days d 5 minutes mins
    Course: Breakfast, Brunch, Condiment, Dessert
    Cuisine: Hungarian
    Keyword: Birch syrup, Pine Cones
    Servings: 30 Servings
    Calories: 56kcal
    Author: Alan Bergo

    Equipment

    • 1 quart mason jar or similar

    Ingredients

    • 2 cups (8 oz) young red pine or other pine cones (soft enough to be cut with a knife) *
    • 2 cups (16 oz) organic brown sugar or other brown sugar, just not white which is dry and makes a clear syrup

    Instructions

    Maceration

    • Rinse the cones in warm water to remove any foreign particles if needed. I don't usually wash them. Inspect your cones for any that have holes or insects and discard.
    • Combine the sugar and pine cones and pack into a quart jar, then allow to macerate (age) for 30 days. Put the jars in a sunny place where they will get warm during the day, which will help ward off mold.
    • During the first few weeks of maceration, open the jar occasionally to release carbon dioxide as the mixture will ferment vigorously. Shake it occasionally to help it on it's journey.
    • As the cones release their water, the volume of the contents in the jar will decrease. Sugar slush will settle on the bottom and is natural. If you have more cones and sugar, you can add it to fill up the jar. The less air in the jar, the lower the chance of mold.

    Finishing and storing

    • After the maceration is complete, scrape the sugar slush and pine cones into a pot and add two tablespoons of water for each quart jar. Bring to a brisk simmer and heat through to melt the sugar, then strain and bottle. Discard the cooked cones and thank them for their service.
    • All you need to do is bring the temperature up and melt the sugar, if you reduce the syrup too much it will crystalize after it cools. For the amounts listed it should take about 5-10 minutes.
    • The syrup is stable at room temperature since the fermentation lowers the pH, but will keep the best flavor in the fridge. It can also be water bath processed, which I'll do if I sell it. For home storage I pour the very hot syrup into jars, screw on the lids and turn them upside down to seal.

    Video

    Notes

    *I use young cones of Pinus resinosum (red pine) but many different pine cones (and even cedar cones) can work similarly. Each one I've tried has a slightly different flavor.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1Tablespoon | Calories: 56kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 0.02g | Sodium: 4mg | Potassium: 20mg | Sugar: 14g | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 0.1mg
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Cody Danielson

      May 04, 2025 at 10:06 pm

      5 stars
      Hello! Thanks for all the info - trying it now! I’m going with the vacuum sealer for this, just did my first batch today. I’m assuming it was correct to vacuum out the air, but I left one sealed with vacuuming out the air just to see what the difference might be. Can you confirm that it was correct to vacuum the air out before sealing? Just want to ease my mind

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        May 04, 2025 at 10:07 pm

        Hi Cody, either way works. Also works just fine in a jar.

        Reply
        • Bill

          May 06, 2025 at 8:23 pm

          Alan! I’ve got a unique question! So I first learned about this last year! I was obsessed! I collected 3 jars worth, filled them with sugar and set them in the pantry! Burped them every couple days as the fermentation. However never got around to the final step. Boiling it, so in short they’ve just been sitting in the pantry for about a year! What’s are your thoughts? Can I still boil and make syrup out of it after a year

          Reply
          • Alan Bergo

            May 07, 2025 at 7:43 am

            Hi Bill, yes I have a jar from last year I'm about to process. It should be just fine. Just make sure to inspect the cones for any mold beforehand, which, while harmless after cooking, can affect the flavor if it's been sitting for a period of time.

            Reply
    2. Jess

      April 02, 2025 at 12:38 pm

      5 stars
      This is so delicious! Do you think that this could substitute maple syrup in the acorn tort recipe you posted?

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        April 04, 2025 at 8:43 am

        Yes.

        Reply
    3. Dan

      March 18, 2025 at 12:20 am

      Hi. I'm having trouble troubleshooting with a new batch of pine cones from a different species getting any liquid out. Hoping you can please advise. Would be very appreciative for any help.

      Last year I gathered a few pine cones (of an unknown species but not eastern white pine maybe a dozen cones) when I was down at the Connecticut shore and made a delicious syrup as per the instructions in your book. These cones were not green as much as reddish brown with a hint of green here and there.

      This year I happened to be up in Massachusetts and found Eastern White Pine cones from branches that must have come off during a storm.

      Unlike last year the cones were bigger about half a pinky size, and on the outside were a little more brown but still soft and pliable. If you broke it open with your fingers they were green they had a bit of sap although not excessive around the outside. taking a taste of the inside it, didn't taste excessively bitter.

      I was told on I naturalist these are first-year female cones and not easily accessible because they're typically at the top of the tree so it must have been the storm that brought them down. I must have something like a cup worth of cones which I matched with a cup of maple sugar.

      My question is this:

      Unlike last time with lesser number of a different species of cones and the same sugar wherein I saw a lot of liquid extraction in the first day or two.

      Here I'm using the same ratio of sugar to cones as in your book like I did last time but I see virtually no liquid extraction! What's going on?

      If my cones were hard and old I would think it's a problem but they were bendable and green inside. Also sticky to touch one gathering.

      Are they really still too old or do I have to do something else? I'm just nervous that they're not producing any liquid when the other guys did it in like a day or so.

      I would be so very grateful for any advice I can get from you. I'm hoping there's a way to salvage this and that they're not junk.

      I love your entire cookbook I purchased it.

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        March 24, 2025 at 8:16 am

        Hey Daniel. I’d give it a few weeks. Some cones are a little different from others.

        Reply
    4. Ag

      January 29, 2025 at 2:23 pm

      Hi Alan! I’ve made mugolio a few times now using the instructions from this great blog post, and just found two batches I forgot about. One is about a year old and has been at room temp and I did not strain it out yet (still has the cones) and the other was strained but has been in the fridge since straining for about a year now. Are they still edible/does it go bad? I wasn’t sure what the shelf life is if they were not canned. Thank you!!!

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        February 01, 2025 at 8:38 am

        They're fine.

        Reply
        • Ag

          February 07, 2025 at 8:33 am

          5 stars
          Thank you!!!

          Reply
    5. Alex

      December 25, 2024 at 4:25 am

      5 stars
      I'm from Austria, where we traditionally make Zirbenschnaps. We don't make it with syrup, but soak cones directly in alcohol.

      To make it, you harvest cones from Pinus cembra (which we call Zirbe), when they are already brown but not hard and woody yet (early summer).
      Then the cones are cut into pieces and put into alcohol. You want to use something without a lot of taste, e.g. Wodka (we have Ansatzkorn which is specifically made for stuff like this).
      Then leave the cones in the alcohol for a few weeks and filter it.
      Finally add sugar to make it a little sweet.

      There are also other liquors made with different cones. For example we also make Latschenlikör with the cones of Pinus mugo (grows high in the mountains and is very small).

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        December 26, 2024 at 3:18 pm

        Hey thanks so much for commenting Alex, I've been trying to find examples of how that's traditionally made.

        Reply
    6. Sherry

      December 19, 2024 at 7:40 pm

      Hi Alan,
      Thanks for this recipe....We made several batches this spring using different types of cones...I am not sure what I am doing wrong but we are having a problem with the finished syrup crystalizing and therefore not useable although the flavors are delicious.

      Thank you,
      Sherry

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        December 21, 2024 at 6:58 am

        Hi Sherry. If it crystalized you're cooking it too long. A small amount at the bottom is acceptable and can happen from time to time, but being so crystalized it's not usable shouldn't be happening. It isn't wasted though, you can just add a splash of water, scrape the jars into a pot, heat them to melt it and re-jar.

        Reply
        • Sherry

          December 29, 2024 at 6:23 pm

          Thank you for the quick reply Alan! Ok, I did scrape out the crystals as you said and just heated enough to melt them and re-jarred and same thing happened. I will just heat up a jar when I want to use some of the syrup but I want to figure this out for next year as we live in the mountains and have so many pine trees it would be fun be able to do this and hand out as gifts. The taste of the syrup is wonderful.

          Reply
          • Alan Bergo

            December 29, 2024 at 9:16 pm

            Ok, so I don’t do it at home, but a little corn syrup will stabilize things and stop it from crystallizing. Also you may need to just add more water.

            Reply
            • Tammy

              January 27, 2025 at 11:46 am

              4 stars
              I haven't used your recipe yet since it's currently winter and the cones aren't out yet. However, another video I watched about this syrup said NO water should be added. Just an idea to try.

            • Alan Bergo

              January 27, 2025 at 11:49 am

              If you haven’t made it then why are you eating my recipe? And for reference, adding water is the only way to remove or prevent crystallization. Furthermore, if you haven’t made it, why would you advise people on how to do so?

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