Spruce Beer Homebrew Recipe (made with spruce tips) (2024)

FAQs

How to use spruce tips in beer? ›

We treat spruce tips pretty much like hops, adding them at the beginning, middle and end of the boil. We save half of the spruce tips for the final addition and divide the rest into the first and second additions.

Today Sitka spruce, native to the northwest coast of North America, tends to be favored, although other species of spruce have also been used. Lighter, more citrus-like flavors are produced by using the bright green fresh spring growth before the new needles and twigs harden and become woody.

The smell of this sugar brings the forest into the kitchen and into our food. We use spruce sugar on cookies, cakes, and on savory dishes. We use it sometimes in fancy co*cktails at the bar.

Potting Your Spruce Tops:

Keep the soil moist until the ground freezes. If you put out your tree tops early in the season, before the weather is reliably cold, consider spraying them with an anti-desiccant to help seal in their moisture.

Pines have fascicles that bunch up collections of two or five usually fairly long and slim needles. The spruce needle has no fascicles, but attaches to the branch through a tiny leaf stalk; this is unlike the fir, whose needle is directly attached to the branch. Spruce needles are four-sided and end in a sharp point.

While all spruce tips are edible, I find blue spruce to be the most intense flavor. Spruce tips can be enjoyed raw, cooked into any dish and used as you might rosemary because their flavor profile is similar.

Place the rinsed tips in a large 1-qt mason jar and pour in vodka (save the vodka bottle for using later). Seal the jar and place it in the refrigerator. Let the concoction steep/infuse for a full month in the fridge.

If you have a few bags of spruce tips in the freezer, now is the time to use them before the harvesting season begins again. Two of the best ways to freeze spruce tips is to bag them up in plastic freezer baggies or to vacuum seal them and then freeze. Spruce tips can last up to one year.

Typically harvested in the spring, spruce tips are said to contribute a number of characteristics to beer ranging from citrus and floral to cinnamon and pine, making it a nice compliment to many styles.

Most would describe the flavor of spruce tips as 'lemony. ' This is likely due to the presence of the terpene limonene, high organic acid, such as ascorbic acid. Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant that protects the developing spruce branch.

Can you eat spruce tips raw? ›

Spruce tips can be eaten raw or blended in dishes in which you would like to increase the acidity and brightness, such as sauces or marinades for chicken, pork, tofu or white beans. You can use spruce tips in tea or a tincture, steep them in vinegar or syrup or blend them in salt or seasoning mixes.

Lay reserved spruce tips in a single layer on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, or in a food dehydrator. Heat in dehydrator or in low oven with the door open until completely dry. Store in a cool, dark cupboard or pantry.

Latin name: Picea sitchensis. Common name(s): Spruce Tips, Sitka Spruce Tips.

Spruce tips can be enjoyed raw, cooked into any dish and used as you might rosemary because their flavor profile is similar. I think that this flavor would pair well with white gamey meat and chicken. They can be chopped and added to salads, soups, and smoothies.