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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Spruce Tip Key Lime Pie

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a slice of spruce tip key lime pie with whipped creamBright green, creamy and bright, spruce key lime pie is one of the most enjoyable spruce tip recipes I’ve made. I love spruce tips, but cooking with them is kind of a misnomer. Besides making syrup (which is great) I don’t really cook them much. 

Just like paw paws, spruce tips keep their flavor and bright color better if they’re not exposed to high heat. That, and their affinity for lime were what gave me the idea to try and make a key lime pie from them. 

White spruce tips

I tried a few versions when I was developing this, and, the more avante-garde I got, the less I liked it. There’s just something magical about a can of sweetened condensed milk that really makes it. 

Spruce tip key lime pie garnished with edible bee balm and campanula flowers

A homemade crust is nice, but optional.

Here’s how it works. Take some cream and warm it with the sweetened condensed milk. Diluting the cream with sweetened condensed milk denatures the cream’s tendency to thicken when it’s agitated, so you can puree it with the spruce tips without turning it into butter. 

close up of the young spruce needles garnishing whipped cream

A sprinkle of fresh tips makes a nice garnish.

After the mixture is pureed, you strain it through the finest strainer you have. Then you mix in a bunch of lime juice. The lime makes the dairy seize up and thicken like magic, and from there you spoon it into a crust, chill it to set, and serve. 

Edible bee balm and campanula flowers

Edible flowers make a nice garnish, just make sure they’re mild and not too savory. Pictured is scarlet bee balm and campanula flowers.

The Crust 

I did a couple different versions here to make it so even people that don’t like to bake can make this. First I made a nice crust with black walnuts and graham crackers.

The walnut crust is great, but, after eating a key lime pie one of my relatives brought to a family gathering and seeing that she used a pre-made crust, I had to try it with one of those too, just to make sure it would work. It does, and if you’re pressed for time, there’s no shame in using one. 

Use fresh or frozen spruce tips 

One of the best parts about spruce tips is that they freeze well.

Frozen spruce tips

They lose a tiny bit of their bright color, and you won’t be sprinkling them on anything, but frozen spruce tips are sold to chefs for $20/lb through wholesalers in North America all year long. It’s also ok if your tips are a little leggy or long since they’ll be pureed and strained. 

Straining 

If you look closely at the two different cakes in this post, you’ll see that one has more green flecks than the other. For the most refined version, you’ll want to strain it.

Strained.
Strained.
close up of spruce key lime pie that wasn't strained, showing spruce particles
Not strained.

Some people don’t mind small flecks of tips in desserts like this, as well as my all time favorite spruce tip ice cream and panna cotta. If you don’t have a very fine strainer, it’s ok. It’s not my first choice, and you need to grind them up well, but it will work in a pinch. 

a slice of spruce tip key lime pie on a plate

a slice of spruce tip key lime pie on a plate
Print Recipe
5 from 2 votes

Spruce Tip Key Lime Pie

Key lime pie flavored with spruce tips is a simple dessert that tastes like spring. Serve with stewed blueberries or whipped cream. Makes one 9.5-10 inch pie, or at least 8 servings.
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Settting time6 hrs
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Spruce Tips
Servings: 8

Ingredients

Filling

  • Scant 1 oz spruce tips, chopped such as white spruce, or blue spruce
  • 1 3/4 cups heavy cream
  • 4 sheets leaf gelatin (silver) or one ¼ oz packet unflavored gelatin sheet gelatin grades are organized by color/strength-see note
  • ¼ teaspoon salt a pinch
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • A few scrapes of fresh lime zest
  • 1/2 cup key lime juice
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk

Walnut-Graham Crust

  • ¼ teaspoon salt a pinch
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1.25 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped black walnuts or regular walnuts
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Good pinch of salt

Instructions

Crust

  • First bake the crust. Preheat the oven to 350, then melt the butter and mix with the graham crumbs and black walnut or regular walnuts, cinnamon, sugar and salt. Press the mixture into an 9-10 inch inch pie dish, then bake for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool the crust while you prepare the filling.

Filling

  • Bloom the gelatin sheets if using in ice water. Warm half of the cream with the condensed milk in a saucepan, then whisk in the gelatin sheets (squeeze them dry) or powdered gelatin thoroughly until just dissolved, remove from the heat, add the remaining cream, salt and sugar and whisk in a sink or bowl full of cold water until room temperature.
  • If you use powdered gelatin you'll want to puree it with a hand blender to make sure there aren't any clumps.
  • Pour the mixture into a blender with the spruce tips and puree for 30 seconds or so, until well blended and the mixture is a brilliant green, then strain through the finest strainer you have into a mixing bowl.
  • Whisk the lime zest and juice into the cream-spruce mixture well (it will cause it to thicken, this is normal) then pour into your par-baked crust.
  • Refrigerate until set, at least a few hours and preferably overnight.

Serving

  • Cut the pie into slices and serve with whipped cream and a few spruce tip needles if you have some. Gently cooked wild blueberries make a good garnish too.

Notes

On the gelatin
I made this both with powdered and leaf gelatin, and both will work, but I really encourage you to seek out silver leaf gelatin for cooking instead of powder. Powdered gelatin often has a set that's more firm. Leaf gelatin is the professional kitchen standard. It's cheap and once you use it, you won't go back. 

More 

Spruce Tips: Harvesting, Cooking and Recipes 

Spruce tip key lime pie garnished with edible bee balm and campanula flowers

A homemade crust is nice, but optional.

 

 

 

 

Related

Previous Post: « Foraging Golden Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus citrinopileatus)
Next Post: Black Locust Flowers »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Raquel Pallak

    June 4, 2022 at 7:11 am

    How much sweetened condensed milk please? Have you made this with egg yolks instead of gelatin? Thank you.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      June 4, 2022 at 7:37 am

      Thanks Raquel, you guys are on the ball today. I haven’t made it with egg yolks because for best practice the should be cooked, and I wanted to keep this all-raw. You could probably whip some in a double boiler and fold them in, but I’d have to compare some similar recipes that have comparable proportions (mousses, etc) to find a starting point.

      Reply
  2. Nancy Oviatt

    June 4, 2022 at 7:24 am

    This looks delicious! Condensed milk seems to be missing from the ingredient list…how much is needed? Thanks

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      June 4, 2022 at 7:36 am

      I am the typo king! Thanks Nancy, I added it.

      Reply
  3. Phyllis Bergo

    June 4, 2022 at 7:32 am

    I think you left out the condensed milk from the ingredient list

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      June 4, 2022 at 7:38 am

      Thanks Gram, I’m on it.

      Reply
  4. Judy Krohn

    June 4, 2022 at 8:55 am

    I’ve been thinking about what to do with the delicious spruce tips I taste from a tree I pass when i walk to the mailbox. This (and the other recipes) look like just the ticket! Thanks

    Reply
  5. Cynthia

    June 4, 2022 at 1:05 pm

    Thank you for the tip on freezing the spruce tips. seems they always come and go before I have time to remember what I wanted to make with them. I have never bought key lines but assume I can find them at the grocery at some point during the year.

    Reply
  6. Clayton

    June 5, 2022 at 4:39 pm

    Love seeing spruce tips in desserts. This seems like a brilliant combo — can’t wait to try it! Thanks for pointing out that the flavour of spruce tips is super easily damaged by heat. Nine times out of then when I encounter them in preserves and syrups, they’ve been cooked to oblivion and are unrecognizable. What species do you use BTW?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      June 9, 2022 at 8:51 am

      I really like white spruce, Norway spruce, and blue, in that order.

      Reply
  7. VELMA STERENBERG

    June 18, 2022 at 10:38 am

    5 stars
    Hello Alan
    Thank you for this excellent pie recipe (plus other spruce tip delights) which I will be trying in the next couple days. For further culinary adventures, this just in from another local foodie forager. I got to my spruce tips a little late and was whining about it to friends. One of them highly recommended juniper tips in place of spruce and I have a bush in the back yard in perfect shape for a harvest. I believe one would have to be a bit more careful with amount used, as Juniper is more astringent than spruce. I’m going to make two pies and have a tasting session with the foodies; critical comments are sure to be flying.

    Did a quick search on the web, but couldn’t find anything about using juniper tips; had to wade through uses for juniper berries so maybe missed it.

    I may have to try the pie with larch (aka tamarack) tips next year. I find the larch tips a preferred snack when in the bush at this time of year. Spruce tip ice cream next on the list.

    Thank goodness there are people like you on this planet.
    Regards, Velma

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      June 19, 2022 at 8:07 am

      Thanks Velma

      Reply
  8. Ed

    June 23, 2022 at 3:20 pm

    5 stars
    This turned out incredible! The spruce flavor and color were not quite as apparent in mine, but that may be because I didn’t use enough spruce tips or because I left them in the fridge for a little while before using. Regardless, the texture and flavor were perfect.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      June 23, 2022 at 3:52 pm

      Good. You can always add a little more spruce if you want to adjust the flavor, but you can’t take it away. Remember for next time.

      Reply
  9. Corla

    June 28, 2022 at 8:06 am

    Wonderful pie! I made this as soon as the recipe came out while we were at our rv in northern Saskatchewan. I used a small compote of Saskatoons (serviceberry) for the topping. As we were to have a silent auction fund-raiser for our camp I decided to enter 1 pie into the auction. So as a preview to the upcoming auction I gave samples out to four or five fellow campers so that there would be people to vouch for the taste on the day of the auction! Long story short, I doubled the recipe and made three pies ( using purchased Graham crusts) and it was a great hit at the auction… $45 per pie (CAN). A new boreal forest fav!!!😉

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      June 28, 2022 at 8:08 am

      Glad it worked for you.

      Reply

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FORAGER | CHEF®
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Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
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Alan Bergo
HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mul HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mulberry trees and both got a bunch of fruit knocked down by the storms and wind. 

If anyone in West WI or around the Twin Cities knows of some trees, (ideally on private property but beggars can’t be choosers) that I could climb and shake with a tarp underneath, shoot me a DM and let’s pick some! 🤙😄

TIA

#throwadogabone #mansquirrel #beattlefruit #mulberries #shakintrees
Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of t Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of the more interesting things I’ve eaten. 

These are an ancient wild food traditionally harvested in Southern Italy, especially in Puglia and the Salentine Peninsula, as well as Greece and Crete. I’ve seen at least 6-7 different names for them. 

A couple different species are eaten, but Leopoldia comosa is probably the one I see mentioned the most. They also grow wild in North America. 

The bulbs are toxic raw, but edible after an extended boil. Traditionally they’re preserved in vinegar and oil, pickled, or preserves in other methods using acid and served as antipasti. (Two versions in pic 3). 

They’re one of the most heavily documented traditional wild foods I’ve seen. There’s a few shots of book excerpts here.

The Oxford companion to Italian Food says you can eat them raw-don’t do that. 

Even after pickling, the bulbs are aggressively extremely bitter. Definitely an acquired taste, but one that’s grown on me. 

#traditionalfoods #vampagioli #lampascione #cucinapovera #lampascioni #leopoldiacomosa #foraging
Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke sallet and didn’t do too well (I’m at the tip of its range). I did see some feral horseradish though which I don’t see very often. 

Just like wild parsnip, this is the exact same plant you see in the store and garden-just escaped. 

During the growing season the leaves can be good when young. 

They have an aggressive taste bitter enough to scare your loved ones. Excellent in a blend of greens cooked until extra soft, preferably with bacon or similar. 

For reference, you don’t harvest the root while the plant is growing as they’ll be soft and unappealing-do that in the spring or fall. This is essentially the same as when people tell you to harvest in months that have an R in them. 

#amoraciarusticana #foraging #horseradishleaves #horseradish #bittergreens
In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo del carrubo” (carob tree mushroom) as it’s one of the common tree hosts there. 

My favorite, and really the only traditional recipe I’ve found for them so far is simmered in a spicy tomato sauce with hot chile and capers, served with grilled bread. 

Here I add herbs too: fresh leaves of bee balm that are perfect for harvesting right now and have a flavor similar to oregano and thyme. 

Makes a really good side dish or app, especially if you shower it with a handful of pecorino before scooping it up with the bread. 

#chickenofthewoods #fungodelcarrubo #allthemushroomtags #traditionalfoods #beebalm
First of the year 😁. White-pored chicken of t First of the year 😁. 

White-pored chicken of the woods (Laetiporus cincinnatus) are my favorite chicken. 

Superior bug resistance, slightly better flavor + texture. They also stay tender longer compared to their more common yellow-pored cousins. Not a single bug in this guy. 

#treemeat #ifoundfood #foraging #laetiporuscincinnatus #chickenofthewoods
TBT brisket face 💦. Staff meal with @jesseroes TBT brisket face 💦. Staff meal with 
@jesseroesler and crew @campwandawega
📸 @misterberndt 

#staffmeal #brisket #meatsweats #naptime
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