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.
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.
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.
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.
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 1/2 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
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. 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.
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 mugolio 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.
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
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.
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
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, 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.
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.
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 1/8 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, or Pine Cone Syrup
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
- Combine the sugar and pine cones and pack into a quart jar, then allow to macerate (age) in a cool dark place for at least 2 months.
- 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.
- After the maceration is complete, scrape the sugar slush and pine cones into a pot, bring to a boil, then strain and bottle.
- 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.
So interesting, I am always grateful of the work you do.
Have you ever tried to macerate the cones into maple syrup?
No, but you could. Just keep in mind the cones will add water, and maple syrup already has a higher eater content that typical mugolio. You could reduce it afterword. If you have extra maple, it would be worth trying with a few cups.
I am macerating pine cones with maple sugar as we speak
Maple sugar is prone to crystalization but the flavor is excellent. Warm it up to relax it.
When are pine cones most likely to be small and harvestable for this project?
In Minnesota and Wisconsin where I live, they’ll be available from May-June, and sometimes longer if you go a bit north. If you’re from a different part of the country (or world) and the timeline is a lot different let me know and I’ll do what I can to help guide people here.
I am in California and desperate to find out what i can use. What do you suggest?
Any young growing meristematic portion of conifers can be used. All pinus species are edible. There’s probably thousands of things that could be used, use your instincts and imagination. Refer to the comment I replied to from Sean just now too for other ideas. Cedar cones (not juniper) have worked very well for me, just make sure to harvest them green and unripe.
I plan to try this with spruce cones as well as red pine. Thanks!
I gathered a very small amount of dropped California coastal redwood cones almost 3 months ago and just bottled it today. It’s delicious but a bit tannic? Astringent? Like it leaves the tongue dry feeling. Is that typical? I think I simmered it a little too long because it thickened more than is ideal. We got a huge crop after a recent storm (mid October), so I’ll have another chance in about a month and a half to make adjustments!
I’m in the same boat. We had a fire recently, so the redwoods popped a lot of cones, but the water content was not as great as what the recipe is showing. Curious to know what Chef replies with!
The time to harvest the cones is in the spring when they’re young and tender.
Yes, they were young and tender, so they just have more than one growing season. We got another drop of fresh green ones a few months ago. Way too tannic, really, and the syrup solidified from boiling. Not enough water content to boil with redwood cones.
Would love to try this but wrong time of the year fro most cones . But I did find some green cedar cones that are about 8cm long – still soft enough to cut with kitchen knife. Would you chop these up first to fit in the jar?
Yes, those should work fine. Cut them into 1/3rds or a similar size so they can neatly fill the jar.
Should I leave the cones while, or chop them in half?
You can do either. If your cones are larger, you may want to slice them, if they’re small, there’s no need. It will work fine either way, as long as the cones are soft enough to be cut with a knife.
Ok I am SO excited about this… the spruce tip syrup I made last year was absolutely divine! I notice you mention winter green in passing in the recipe prequel… I have access to wintergreen literally everywhere and adore it’s scent and flavour; would the same principles apply if I’m to make a syrup with it? Thanks as always for the awesome inspiring work you do!
Hey Laura. So the wintergreen is a bit different. Basically you make a thick syrup and infuse it with chopped wintergreen leaves, then strain them out. You can’t heat it after the leaves have been added so it also doesn’t last as long and needs to be refrigerated.
Love mugolio. A few years back, I made a SW version of Zirbenschnapps from the immature pinecones of Ponderosa pine. It also turned red, but there was no syrup step in the recipe, just a straight infusion followed by a little sweetening. This post reminds me to pull out the bottle and start experimenting.
Oh OH something I have never steeped in alcohol. I can’t believe it. And you say it turns RED. Thank you Ellen.
You just pop the young cones in a jar of vodka or equivalent and wait???
Allen knows that I steep pretty much anything I can lay my hands on in vodka or grain alcohol. I have done spruce tips but not pine cones yet. Thanks for the idea.
Yesterday I hit the jackpot on pine cones from a couple of different species, including larger ones I cut up, and a whole bunch of little ones about an inch long. They will fir in a quart jar fine, but is it a good idea to slice them anyway to speed things up, or is there a subtlety in leaving them whole? Also found enough super tiny ones to do the cider-pinecone preserves…
Hey Mark, so if the cones are very tiny, I would suggest chopping them roughly to medium-fine to make it so you can fit more cones in the jar, since that means more water proportionate to sugar, which means an easier syrup. Younger cones hold less water and aren’t as ideal for the syrup as green ones. The image of the very small cones I had in here is throwing people off a bit, so I’m going to remove it since the tiny ones are better for the whole preserve. When you use green cones, the rush of water they give off is really remarkable. Let me know how it turns out for you.
Side note: some cones I always chop, even in the green stage since they’re too large to fit in the jar (Pinus siberica).
I started a batch last week with equal parts brown sugar and tiny cones. So far it seems like there’s a clear syrup layer with cones and a sugar layer below. The layers are equal in size. I weighed down the cones to make contact with the sugar a few days ago but nothing has changed. Any suggestions?
You’re just a little early. The tiny small cones will work, but they’re not as ideal as when the cones have started to turn green, since the cones hold more water at that point in their growing cycle. Made with green cones overnight the jar will fill with a rush of water very quick. The small cones will still work, but you may have to add a splash of water to prevent it from crystalizing when you cook it. When the cones near you start to turn green try it again and you’ll immediately understand what I’m talking about here. I’m going to make sure to get some extra process shots this year to help people along since this has become pretty popular, but it won’t be for a few weeks since our cones are still quite small.
I’m also going to make a note of chopping up very small cones to make it so you can fit more of them in the jar, which means more water, which means an easier syrup. Props to Mark Sprinkle there for reminding me of that. So, you could also chop up some more young ones that will add more water to the jar, which will help. Don’t worry about safety here, as sugar is a preservative and you will bring the finished syrup to a boil.
Sweet, I’ll chop up a few and add them. I’m on the north shore and the pine cones are just starting to pop up.
Yeah be patient too, it can take some time to draw out the water from the smaller cones.
How can we tell if the pine cones are the edible ones if we do not know what type of tree it is ?
I do not know a poisonous pine cone, or any conifer product sans Yew, which is not a tree.
I made mugolio recently with dark brown sugar and it’s fantastic!, but I’m having a technical issue.
How do I keep it from crystallizing? I had to reboil because I thought I didn’t boil long enough the first time, but I went to use it today, and found that it’s not syrupy anymore. The sugar is granular again.
Add some water, warm it, cool, check the consistency, repeat.
Just warm it up a bit and shake to help dissolve.
Excited to try this! does anyone know the instructions on water bathing it?
It would be the same as for jam and other things I’m sure. Fill canning jars to 1/4 inch of the top, screw the rings on to finger-tightness (fully screwed on but not much past the point where you feel resistance). Then put in a pot of boiling water, raised from the bottom with a canning basket, so water can move under the jars, and with at least an inch of water above. Let boil for 10 minutes. Remove and set on a towel, and do not disturb it for 24 hours.
While you can water bath process mugolio and spruce tip syrups, it’s unnecessary, all you need to do is use clean jars, pour the boiling hot syrup into them, screw on the lid, and turn them upside down. The jars seal naturally, it’s how we process and store about 50 gallons of maple syrup in the farm I live at. Spruce tip syrup and mugolio I would suspect are even safer as they have a natural acidity from the conifer, and pine cone syrup also lacto-ferments as it ages, lowering the pH.
Hi Alan. I just came across your post! Exciting! I imagine the boiling kills the goodness from the fermentation? Do you have to boil it? Thanks
Lindsay. You must bring the syrup to a simmer to melt the sugar. If you want “benefits” from your ferments, eat some raw, like sauerkraut, curtido, etc.
Thank you for the recipe. Is water not required to be added in the pine cones and sugar maceration process?
No water. Just follow the recipe.
I’m a day in and the bottom of my jar has begun to liquefy (so cool)
Should I stir it at all? I have one of those gas vent things on the lid so I don’t need to open it.
Thanks for putting all of this stuff online also. Makes for an interesting cooking experience!
Andrew, totally fine to stir it, it will help it on it’s way. No risk of contamination or anything as it’s nearly 100% sugar and you’ll be boiling it to loosed it after the long maceration. You’ll love the finished product.
I don’t think we have red pine in CA. Can you tell me what other pines you would use?
I’ve also used the cones of Pinus siberica, Thuja occidentalis, Abies balsamea, and Picea glauca. Any young coniferous part can be used, spruce tips too. Classic Spruce Tip Syrup
I live in Australia, and the most common variety of pine tree around my area is Radiata Pine. They’re fine?
Also, I think I’ve read somewhere that cypress cones are something to steer away from?
BTW, found your pine cone recipes while looking for info on Saffron Milk Caps and Slippery Jacks, which are in season here at the moment, growing around the Radiata Pines. Very much enjoying them. 🙂
Sandra, as far as I know all true pines should be edible. Yew is toxic, but it is also not a true pine. Articles that say pines are poisonous or toxic in some form I would suspect are conflating information specifically referring to ruminants, or people attempting to ingest needles or tea (cedar I know has been used) as an abortifacient. You are not ingesting the needles or any physical part of the plant here per se, only the natural liquid that combines with the sugar. The concentration of liquid from the cones is in such a small amount in the finished product, that I would (and have) served this to people indiscriminately. Maybe someone might have an issue if they drank a cup of syrup-I don’t know. I also wouldn’t recommend anyone drink that much sugar syrup for any purpose. Dosage is always important, for example, cinnamon and nutmeg are also toxic in “non-normal” doses.
🙂 Thanks.
I noticed in one of your articles you mentioned problems with getting to young cones growing high in the trees. It seems we have a solution to this “down under”. The cockatoos bite off young branches and drop them, leaving the cones intact 90% of the time.
Very destructive birds to have around any kind of fruiting tree, but they have their positive points too. 😉
Hi Sandra, I’m from Australia too and I was wondering how you went with the radiate cones? is it safe to use them because I’d love to try!
Thanks
Excited to make this with the spruce tips and cones I am gathering. What about trying this with juniper (eastern red cedar in MN) berries later in the summer? I imagine it would create a gin-like taste. Could cedar branch tips be used as well?
Sean, you can probably make it with eastern red cedar, but I would try Thuja occidentalis cones first (Eastern white cedar). When improvising, remember that the water content of the ingredient you will be macerating is what helps to make the syrup. Green pine cones seem to gush water into the sugar overnigtht when gathered at larger stages. When water is introduced into the syrup, it will also probably ferment, sometimes quite vigorously, which can be good, but will add some different flavors, for better or worse. You can probably use branch tips, but I haven’t tried it with that species, only T. occidentalis, which did work well when used in combination with the cones. Hope that helps.
Hi. Are you using only female cones or will male pollen cones do as well? Thanks
Male cones won’t work.
i see so much on spruce tip syrup…can the young green cones be used as well
Sheila, that’s exactly what I’m using here. If you’re referring to the young green cones of spruce, they can absolutely be used as well.
ty so much i have trees full of them and cant wait to try them
You’ll love it. Have fun.
Hi, thank you for the fantastic, detailed write-up and recipe.
I’ve seen elsewhere (I believe it was Rene Redzepi of Noma fame) that once macerated and boiled, the pine cones themselves are edible; any advice regarding this?
I have read elsewhere though that they have some detrimental effects, or at the very least are incredibly bitter. I’m baby green pine cones found in UK
Hey David. So pine cones harvested for mugolio are larger than the recipe you’re thinking of. Varenye is the Caucasian preserve of whole pine cones where the cones are actually eaten, they need to be the size of a pinky nail for that. At the green stage when they’re larger they have a higher water content and are perfect for making mugolio. See my method of making pine cone varenye in this link.
Thank you for this recipie. I’ve made mine with what I think are dwarf mountain pine cones. I feel nervous about mould. Will it be ok to open and stir every now and again? Its in a kilner jar but now its only half full.
Charlotte, I have never seen mold on any syrup I’ve made from any species of pine or spruce cones. This is more of an occasional issue with spruce tips if they aren’t agitated regularly. Proceed with no fear.
Thats good to know, I’ll do my best to relax about mold.
I just discovered a patch of white mold on my batch (it’s been going for 5 weeks now). I removed it and gave it a stir. Think it’s still ok?
I also started a different batch with Virginia Pine so we’ll see how that goes!
Hi Alan, thanks for sharing your expertise with us! I’ve had a few jars of mugolio resting in my kitchen since this spring, and was sad to find mold growing on the tops of the pine cones (harvested when young from red pine trees) in one of the jars. I assume I should discard that whole jar, right? Do you have any advice for how to avoid this in future batches? I did boil the jar and lid for ten minutes before using it, and agitated/burped it daily during the first few weeks.
You don’t have to discard the jar, just pick the mold off. It’s important to stir the mixture to coat the pine cones with the syrup as it sits, as the mixture ferments, the pH lowers and it will stabalize. You also cook the finished syrup, which is a kill step/sterilization.
Like Dina, I found mold growing on the air-exposed cones. I cleaned it up manually and ended up putting the jar in the instant pot for a couple house of pressure cooking, with the lid loose, of course. The taste is still fabulous!
With the shapes and sizes of cones being highly variable, as well as the ambient temperature of people’s homes and where they store ferments, it’s possible to see some mold, especially if you don’t shake the jar or stir it regularly to coat the cones with the fermenting syrup. Do it a few times and you’ll get the hang of it. Practice makes perfect.
Very exciting! When making a lot, have you done it in a crock, Ie: with a lid, but not screwed shut? Would that work, or may invite guests.. ( ants)
Using a crock could potentially work if you keep it inside and figure out a way to seal it. But yes, I’ve done large batches and lazily left them outside, only to return and find them crawling with ants. For fun, I brought the mixture to a boil, strained out everything, and it was fine, but it’s definitely not ideal and I don’t recommend it. Food-grade polycarbonate cambros work very well, as in the types that restaurants use. I recently made 3 gallons in one and left it outside, as the lids are air-tight it kept all the pests out.
Thank you for your knowledge！
I tried making pine cone jam, syrup and medicinal liquor for the first time yesterday.
However, the pinecone i used is “Deodar cedar”.
I didn’t see the recipe on the internet made of such kind, so I felt anxiety about toxicity. While researching, I arrived at this site.
Excuse me for the sudden comment. I would appreciate it if you could let me know.
All true conifers are edible. Yew (Taxus baccata) is not, and looks quite different.
I really appreciate your kindness！！
I will continue to enjoy conifer.
Really you and the blog helped me.
Thank you！！
And I wish your happiness from my heart！！
Thanks Ray
Hi Alan,
Does the taste get finer/more complex if I decide to age it for over two months? Or should I stop at 2?
Avanti, totally fine to stop at two months. 30 days is the minimum I recommend.
Have you ever tried a batch that you took over 2 though?
What do you think about using young hemlock tree cones for this? I know they aren’t poisonous, but has anybody tried making syrup with them?
Coop, it has been done, and it works just fine. I haven’t used them myself though.
This is an easy and fun recipe! Great to made with kids and watch the syrup macerate.
Thanks Kate, yes it’s a great edible science project.
I’ve been a fan for years. Thanks so much for sharing your vast knowledge and contagious passion!
You’ve written that all true conifers are edible. I just want to doublecheck that cedar berries will be safe. And if so, have you tried this with them? Tasty?
Thanks Sarah. Cedar cones (Thuja occidentalis) are fine and I’ve made it with them, the berries that resemble juniper should be ok too, as this doesn’t absorb tannins and astringency-I haven’t made it with them specifically though so it’s just an educated hunch. Either way it would be safe.
Thanks very much Alan. I’ll proceed, and try to remember to post back here about my results after the long fermentation. Harvesting the berries today in light rain at meadow’s edge surrounded by early blooming goldenrod and black raspberries just beginning to ripen, was a sweet sweet joy and pure meditation.
I have about 8 mugo dwarf pines all around my yard. I imagine these are safe to use and are the same as the mugo pines they use in Italy? Any idea?
Yes. Pinus mugo. Same tree as the Italians use. I’d be interested in tasting some of the syrup if you make a bunch. I could send you some really fun ones I’ve made. Lmk.
So I didn’t see anything about doing this with local raw honey? I realize it would crystalize, But I’m used to melting down honey or even using in solid form. I also realize the honey would add another flavor, but I have some mild wildflower honey I suspect would be very yummy.
I’m trying to stay away from cane sugar.
Love the fact it’s not just infused with pine but actually fermented.
Also, since this is lacto fermented, does it have all that amazing gut bacteria found in many fermented foods? This would be a really great way to get in more pre and pro biotics!
I’m thinking this could be more healthy than using raw honey!
You can do it with raw honey. I have a section on that in my post on spruce syrup. Since you heat the syrup after the maceration it will kill off bacteria, good and bad though.
I would think by now that you would be at a level of professionalism where you didn’t need all these insanely annoying ads (what they really say is i’m cheap and greedy) It sucks, trying to read a serious article with visual bombs going off in your face and i’ve started to go elsewhere. Just sayin’.
Dabney, I hear you. I said I would never put ads on this site, so let me tell you why I did. I started this site while I was a broke line cook, living in my friends basement. At that time, with little traffic and a non-existent mailing list, it was pretty cheap to run. Even so, there were costs, mostly food and ingredients.
As time went on, the costs associated with the website grew proportionate to the readership. For 8 years I absorbed the costs, and didn’t think twice about it. Everytime someone sent me a message that I had helped them learn something new, or helped trouble shoot an issue was payment enough. Little by little, the costs started to add up though. Here’s a list of companies I have to pay every month to keep my feeds alive. Some are a few bucks a month, others are in the multiple hundreds. All of them to provide a service of sharing information that brings me exactly ZERO income.
Mailchimp
Linktree
Wordpress.com
Hosting company
Various plugin memberships
Lightroom and Adobe
Journalistic article memberships
Facebook
Instagram
These are only online memberships and similar, too. The foodcost for recipe development for the site alone (I’m about 20k in the hole from writing my book, which is separate) is about 6-800/month at this point. OH, and don’t forget the gas it takes to travel to all kinds of locations I visit, and the thousands of dollars in legal fees I spent last year filming a show my videographer and I shared for free on here, as well as the thousands of dollars I sunk into FB to try and get it enough views to show the powers that be that wild food has a legitimate audience.
Fast forward to 2020. When covid hit, the views on this site increased dramatically, into the multiple millions. On one day, when 20,000 people visited a single post featured on a (semi) mainstream online news outlet, my hosting company saw it as a red flag, and pulled my entire site offline without warning. The host company held the site hostage essentially, and gave me two choices-return the site to a back-up that was 4 months old, losing months of work in the process, or pay a couple thousand dollars immediately and install a dedicated server to handle the increase in traffic. Having just lost all my speaking gigs and consulting income overnight, my options were grim. I could not afford to support the site out of my own pocket anymore.
One option was to simply say goodbye and remove the site from the net-not my favorite. Another would be to put all the information behind a paywall-also not my favorite. Or, I could start some sort of Patreon, and try to add on another online platform and the learning curve that goes with it. Lastly, I could install ads. The ads barely bring in enough to keep the site in the black, but they make it so I don’t have to pay to give out free information anymore. Ask yourself, what would you do?
What the ads do, what they truly do, is make it so everything I have put into this site: all the money, research, thousands of images, and time can remain free to anyone, anywhere, keeping it free, just like the wild food I represent. To insinuate that I actually make money off of it is silly, but understandable, as, unless you run and maintain a site yourself, you would never know the sort of pennies an ad company brings in unless you’re a site like the NY Times, etc.
If you haven’t done anything similar to what I do yourself, or, more specifically, had to weigh the difficult ethical and financial decisions I’ve had to make, I won’t be taking any criticism from you. For some people, free apparently isn’t cheap enough, and I’m happy to see you go.
Alan
Just opened a jar of mugo that I’ve let age for 3.5 months. Amazing. Started with about 2 cups of very young red pine cones and 2ish cups of sugar. My yield is 8oz. Time to figure out what to use it for.
Glad it worked for you Mirja.
I live in southern Australia and radiate pine is the pine that is prolific in the area- I’m wondering if i can use the flowering tips of this pine tree? And would the pine to sugar ration change?
Those will work. Cut the pine tips (again they must be young and tender) into pieces, then use the same weight of sugar as the original template/recipe. If, after 5 days the tips are not covered in liquid, add more sugar and a splash of water until they’re covered. Make sure to stir once in a while.
Thankyou Alan -I’m starting my journey tomorrow – cant wait to taste the syrup. Thankyou again.
Let me know how it turns out for you. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to shoot a message over.
Thank jou for the recipe in advance.. I livenin the Netherlands and used pinecones, green and 2 to 3 inch in size.. Tree is Pinus Sylvestris.. The lines are young and green.. But not soft AT ALL.. Does that matter or just takes more time? Thank you in advance
They need to be soft enough to cut. I have noticed some cones stay a little green when they are getting firm. I would set a reminder to get some in the spring.
Thanks .. Will do.. Will try with heating and see what happens.. Maybe will end up with a syrop of sorts.. 🙂 just discarding them feels like wasting everything.. Thx again.. And will set an alarm..
First of all wanna say thank you Alan for the recipe and inspiration.
I’m using young green pine cones picked locally, coming up on the 1 month mark. I may have misjudged the proportions of ingredients and right now my macerated mixture looks like a 80/20 ratio of sugar to liquid.
Should I supplement the mixture with a bit more water, leave it alone, or compensate with more water during the final boiling step?
Leave it as-is. It’s fine. A month ago would have been a little past-prime to harvest green pine cones, you really need to do it in the spring for them to have the most aroma. I would go ahead and bring it to a simmer, strain and taste it-the sugar will melt. If it firms up in the fridge warm it and add a bit of water to adjust the consistency.
Hi Alan! So first of all thank you for the recipe and work! I live in Mexico and found some young black pine cones last week. I started yesterday and was wondering how often should I be opening the jars to release the CO2? This is the first time I try a recipe like this. I’m also keeping it inside a wine fridge which is at 15° Celsius, is that okay? Room temperature here is pretty warm!
Thank you so much!
Your temperature is fine. The co2 from the fermentation process will never be enough to break a jar, so don’t worry about that. You should stir it once in a while though.
If using lemon for flavor how much and when would you add it?
I don’t add lemon to this. If I was going to, I’d add it off the heat after I simmer it, as cooking citrus can add bitter notes and weaken its aroma.
This looks like so much fun to get into. I looked into this too late in the season. Would it work to make this with a sugar substitute like stevia or erythrol? Or would that mess up or be potentially unsafe for the process?
Thanks Jeremy, for safety especially, this should only be done with good quality, real sugar.
Okay sounds great thanks for the quick response!
I am in middle Tennessee and I cant find many trees for this. I have found some of the spruce trees with long green cones. The only issue is the green cones are maybe 30 feet in the air. Not sure how to harvest cones when they’re all so high. Also what time of year are most cones going to be green?
The cones MUST be harvested in the spring or early summer, or it wont work.
If using juniper, I assume ripe berries/cones??
No I would use green, remember part of the process that is important here is for the coniferous object in question to have a high amount of natural water. Ripe cones will not.
Unfortunately I found this at the wrong time of year! Hopefully I can remember to look for cones next spring/summer!
But I was curious about contaminants- is there anything you do to clean the cones of dirt and debris and check for things like bird poo?
Yes, don’t pick cones with bird poo on them. 🙂
I tried this out and it made a fantastic tasting syrup. Not sure where I went wrong though as the bottom half crystallized once bottled. Womp womp.
You cooked it too long. This can happen especially with small batches that will be more finicky, but, if I have people start out making large batches, they will have way more syrup than is practical for home use. Warm it up to loosen it and add a splash of water.
Double checking, are Ponderosa Pines safe for this? I know there are concerns with ingesting their needles.
I have only heard of one tree that made a syrup that wasn’t that tasty (Sub-alpine fir). All of them should be safe though.
Anyone try this with a scots pine? How did it turn out? I’m excited to find out about this – I’d never heard of it before, and had always thought that some pine trees were poisonous. Thank you for sharing this information!!
Those should work. Every pinus I’ve had so far has been great. The only one that didn’t work as it was too dry was Arizona cypress.
Thank you again!!
Alan, I have been waiting for a few months now to try this recipe. I am a Christmas tree grower and we always pick off the fir cones and throw them on the ground to enhance the beauty of the tree. The cones are about an inch long right now and we will be picking them off before long. This year I will be throwing them into a 5 gallon bucket (or buckets) and making some syrup. If it turns out, I will bottle it and sell it in my retail store on the farm. We have acres of Canaan Fir and a few Korean Fir that are very prolific cone producers. Any specific advice for making extra large batches? Thank you for taking the time to answer all these posts! Yes, I read them all. For your readers who need a source of cones, have them contact their local Christmas tree farm. We love helpers to de-cone the fir trees.
The only advice I have is to use food-safe containers like Cambro brand. Scaling it is easy, just multiply. It’s easy as all you do is use double the weight of cones in sugar.
Have you noticed a difference with Norway spruce cones when they are red like in your picture or when they’re a little older and green? Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Just get them as young as possible. As long as you can cut them through with a knife they’ll work. I will add that Norway spruce isn’t as good as some of the others, the syrup is more tannic than red pine, etc. White spruce is better if you can find some.
Unfortunately its mostly Norway spruce near me but will have some firs in the future. Glad to see it works with red and green cones. Will try both to compare. Thanks again!
One of the best things I’ve tasted.