It’s that wonderful time of year again. As December spirals toward the winter solstice, we’re wrapped in twilight and twinkle lights. If we’re lucky to have a clear day, we witness the sun rising and setting all within just a few hours. Scandinavian winters may be dark, but they are festive.
And so far, this winter has been the best that I can ever remember. We totally skipped all of the slushy and icy conditions on the ground, and went straight into freezing cold and winter white. At the beginning of the week, it was still –18˚C (that’s 18 degrees below zero) out as I walked the kids to preschool! But gah, it was beautiful. The sky in layers of pastel pinks, purples and blues with everything white below.
@nathaliemyrberg 
@wyldstudio
In terms of foraging, the landscape may look bleak to the unaccustomed eye. You’ll see mostly bones of trees and empty birds nests as you scan the horizon of developed areas. But go to the forest, and there you will find life in excelsis. Though it does require a sort of knowing.
“There is no lack in the land unless you decide it lacks a tulip.”
Jay Griffiths in Wild: An Elemental Journey – in the chapter on Ice
The most obvious of those still thriving are the conifer trees – standing tall and ever green. Spruce, Juniper, Fir, Pine, Cedar, Hemlock…
Conifers have been known to stop the spread of influenza, improve memory, warm up muscles and joints, improve respiratory function, circulation and the immune system, dispel fatigue, lower stress responses and balance moods. All things we need during long cold winters, as viruses spread like crazy, our lungs struggle with all of the indoor heating, and we feel down and tired. They contain a wide range of potent properties – anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, antiseptic, expectorant, etc. that can be used both internally and externally.
Perhaps you will even bring a piece of wild nature into your home in the form of a Christmas tree. Today I’d like to share some other ways you can make use of conifer trees, particularly Spruce, and enjoy this wintry season to its utmost.
I’ll share some tips on identifying, harvesting and processing Spruce needles. Plus many merry ways to use them!
Feel free to try any of the ideas with Pine, Fir, Juniper, or whichever evergreen you have access to. Just stay away from Yew, which can be toxic, both to animals and people. We have very few Yew trees here, and they’re mostly cultivated, but if you aren’t sure how to identify Yew, then I recommend that as a first precautionary step.
Identifying, Harvesting and Processing
Spruce trees are evergreen conifers. They grow from a single origin point on the branch, not in clusters. If the needles grow out of the branch in clusters of two or more, than it’s probably Pine.
It can be more difficult to distinguish between Spruce and Fir. But unlike Fir trees, Spruces have a little stump or peg lodged between the branch and needle. When you pluck a needle from the branch, that little stump/peg comes off as well, hanging from the needle. This is the case for ALL Spruces – red, blue, white, Norwegian, Austrian, Engelmann, etc. and is NOT the case for any Firs.
Also, Spruce needles are woody and square. They can easily be rolled between your fingers. Fir needles, on the other hand, are soft and more flat, not as easy to roll between your fingers. Fir often have white strips on the bottom of each needle and attached to the branch more like a suction cup.
I like to taste the needles from many different spruce trees before picking. Yes, that’s right, a wild tasting! Use those wonderful gifts we have called senses. Simply pluck a single needle from an evergreen branch. Sink your teeth into it, slightly breaking the needle, smell it, and really take a good whiff. Once you’ve given your olfactory system a moment to experience it, then you can chew with your mouth. The flavor should come through. If not, then move on to another tree.
My favorite needles are those with a bold citrusy, slightly resinous flavor. They are unlike anything I’ve experience in modern day cuisine. The best flavors and aromas are supposed to be found in older leaves that have already shed their brown casing, but I don’t always find this to be true. Use your senses, and always be respectful.
Once you’ve found a suitable Spruce, make sure it is healthy and clean, and I mean ‘clean’ in the wildest of ways, i.e. not growing too close to traffic or industrial activity, not sprayed with pesticides or chemicals as 99% of Christmas trees are. If you’re going to consume the needles in any way, then the best trees are those growing naturally in wild nature. The deeper into nature you can go, the better!
Use scissors or a knife, or just your fingers if you can, to snip off the end of a branch. It doesn’t take much – there are tons of needles in a very small length of branch. Only take what you need. If you need more than a small branch, please move on to another tree. Never take too much from one single branch or tree.
When you get home, you’ll need to decide how you want to use your Spruce. Whether you want to dry them out first, or leave them fresh and green to use more immediately. Wether you want just the needles or the whole branches.
To dry them: simply gather the Spruce cuttings together in small bunches, tie them together at the bottom and hang them upside down to dry in a cool, dark place. I don’t recommend drying them in direct sunlight, as it can turn the needles brown and muddy their flavor.
How long they take to dry depends on your climate, but in our dry winter climate, it takes just a few days. Once dry, remove the needles from the branches. You can do this with your fingers, unless the needles are especially stubborn, and then you just cut them away from the branch with scissors. For the purest taste, remove the little stub/peg thing at the end of each Spruce needle as well. This is tedious, but well worth it if you’re going to use them in food or drink applications.
Once your spruce needles are dry, it’s much easier to grind them up finely and to use them in a variety of ways with less worry about spoilage.
But there are times when you want the fresh Spruce with all of its moisture content!
(Btw, you can use the branches as firewood once you’ve removed their needles! The sticky sap on most needle-bearing trees is flammable.)
Merry making with Evergreens
Let’s get on with the fun part – creating with your Spruce (or Pine, or Fir, or Juniper, etc.)! Here are some ideas that I’ve tried personally and can recommend, plus a few other ideas on my to-do list this year.
We all love to decorate with evergreen boughs and bits, which we will get into later. But first, some edibles and drinkables. And then some self-care ideas in the form of baths and body oils.
Cocktail rimmer
If you want a deliciously wild cocktail rimmer, grind together Spruce (or Fir or Juniper) needles with sugar. I like a 1:1 ratio but if you’re unsure, start with 1 part Spruce to 2 parts sugar. You can always add more Spruce for a more concentrated flavor. This is especially nice with vodka and gin based drinks. Even better if you’re infusing your spirits with conifers (see below).
You can also sprinkle this Spruce infused sugar over some whipped cream for an simple yet elegant dessert.
Quick Pine Simple Syrup
Put one cup of coarsely chopped Pine needles in a glass jar. Bring 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar to a low boil until sugar is dissolved. Pour over pine needles and allow to steep for 24 hours. Strain and use for all of your wintry cocktails or mocktails. Or use it in dessert making, etc.
Aged Spruce Syrup
Ready for something old fashioned? Midwinter is a time for traditions and all.
This syrup is very different from the simple syrup I shared above. It is aged and so interesting – more like a thick maple syrup but with its own flavor and aroma.
For a traditional spruce syrup, layer equal parts of spruce and sugar in a glass jar, seal, and then squirrel it away somewhere for a few weeks to age. (In some cultures, the jars are buried in the earth and then dug up when spring arrives.) During this aging process, the two ingredients are slowly macerated into one another, and the sugar granules turn into a liquidy syrup. This is due to the moisture content, yeasts and other compounds that get trapped in the jar during the process. The result is a delicious syrup that you can strain out – and even cook down for more concentrated flavor and aroma – and enjoy in so many ways.
Some people even use it like a cough syrup, which I have never tried, but I’m curious.
Regardless, enjoy it with cheese, on pancakes or crepes, with whipped cream and berries, or drizzled on a bowl of yogurt, stir it into lemonade, use it in place of simple syrup in your cocktails, and pretty much any other way you’d use maple syrup or honey, but with a unforgettable Spruce flavor and aroma!
Just yesterday I harvested some Juniper needles that smelled and tasted so delish, I am considering trying this aged syrup recipe with Juniper sprigs as well.
Juniper infused honey 
Spruce shortbread
Spruce shortbread
I have a beloved recipe for Rosemary Shortbread, but around the holidays, I replace the rosemary with finely ground Spruce tips or needles for a festive spin-off with citrusy, foresty tones.
Did you see this year’s batch on instagram stories, the one where my 1-year old snatched the shortbread out of my hands while I was trying to film it? Ha. He’s a big fan.
Here’s the recipe:
- 250 grams flour
- 130 grams sugar
- 1 Tbsp finely chopped Spruce needles or tips
- 1 tsp salt
- 225 grams cold butter, in small cubes
- 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1-2 tsp citrus zest (optional)
Heat oven to 160˚C (325˚F). In a food processor, pulse together flour, sugar, spruce, salt (and citrus zest if using). Add butter, honey and vanilla extract. Pulse to fine crumbs. Pulse a few more times until some crumbs start to come together, but don’t over process. Dough will not be smooth yet.
Press dough into a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Prick dough all over with a fork. Bake until golden brown, 35–45 minutes, depending on your pan size. It’s ready when the top is nicely and lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Slice into squares, bars or wedges while still warm, but leave in pan until cooled. If you wait to cut them until fully cooled, then the spruce shortbread will crumble.
Conifer infused spirits
This is one I will be trying this year. It involves infusing a good quality vodka with foraged Spruce or Fir needles (as well as Juniper berries and maybe citrus peels too?). It’s actually that simple, yet requires some inactive time for the infusion process, so get started now if you want to pop open the bottle for a toast on New Years Eve!
UPDATE: I made it and it was good! Details here and full video of the process here.
Also, my partner and I have been using the Spruce Tonic by Ekobryggeriet in our cocktails a LOT lately. A great pair to Stockholms Bränneri dry gin, which is made with Swedish botanicals like juniper and elderflower. But when we made our own winter gin, it had so much incredible flavor that we found ourselves drinking it straight up, or at the most mixed with plain tonic.
Forest bathing salts
We’ve all heard of the forest bathing concept, right? It’s legit. Simply walking in the forest is extremely beneficial for our entire body and mind. I took it a step further by foraging a small branch of Fir, Spruce and Juniper and making bath salts with its needles. Check out the post Make your own bath salts with foraged ingredients for the recipe.
Spruce infused body oils and creams
Infuse your favorite cosmetic oil with dried Spruce needles or tips, using this method. Once you have your Spruce infused oil, then you can make face oil blends, face or body creams, salves, etc. Read here on the skin benefits of Spruce and how I used a Spruce infused jojoba oil to create the wyld grooming oil. Here at home, I oftentimes add the Spruce infused jojoba oil to our body creams.
Karin och Carl Larssons hem i Sundborn 
Evergreen Tea steeping
Evergreen tea
In Scandinavia, evergreen needles are traditionally made into medicinal teas, as they are prized for their high Vitamin C and antioxidant contents. They’ve also been known to treat everything from respiratory infections to anxiety. You can use a mixture of conifers for this, or blend with citrus zest or herbs like rosemary. Cinnamon is also lovely paired with conifers.
Spruce salt rub
Grind together good quality salt with foraged conifer needles for a delicious salt rub that’s especially great on wild game meats. I’ve even read how many chefs cure their Christmas hams in a foraged Spruce based brine. Other than salt and Spruce, you can also add other wild or herbal elements, from rosemary and thyme to juniper or cedar berries.
Herbal butters by Nicolai Tram of Knystaforsen
Spruced up smör
Smör is the Swedish word for butter. So the idea is basically a compound butter, which always fun to make. They add an impressive element to your meals, or on just some good bread. They’re also a classic way to preserve the flavors and nutritional properties of each season.
Spruce is great for compound butters because it’s earthy, citrusy flavor pairs so well with the sweet, creaminess of butter. You just want to make sure that you grind the Spruce very finely – as finely as possible. No one wants to chow on tough needles!
How much Spruce to add is really a matter of preference. For a 500 gram block of butter, I use about 4 good tablespoons of finely ground Spruce needles. You can obviously use Spruce tips too if you’re doing this in springtime. But here we are mid-winter, so needles it is. Oh, and if you’re using unsalted butter, please add in a good pinch of salt. So 500 grams of softened butter, about 1 teaspoon of salt and 4 tablespoons of mined Spruce. Mix together really well – I always use a food processor for this – and put back in the fridge to chill for a day or so if possible.
Lisen Sundgren’s method is even simpler… in this post here, she shows how you can lay some Juniper or Spruce sprigs on top of a block of butter, wrap it up together in wax paper and put in the fridge for a few days, allowing the butter to absorb the flavor of the Juniper. It sure does look beautiful too.
Now let’s talk about some easy ways to get festive at home…
Hemma hos @nathaliemyrberg
Wild wreath
Making a wreath with all foraged materials is so incredibly satisfying. I love the whole experience and make sure to do it every year. If you have kids, it’s also a great activity to get them involved in.
Follow along in Instagram stories to see our wreath-making this year. I’ve already made a Spruce and Eucalyptus wreath that’s just perfect in our dining room. I have another wreath in the works though – this one with Fir and Juniper – and I plan to make a youtube video of my process as soon as I can get a decent chunk of time.
But until then, here’s a video from one of my favorite Swedish families to follow, Talasbuan. They live completely off-grid up in a more northern part of Sweden called Jämtland. And this a video from last winter where Tove shows us how to make a 100% foraged Spruce wreath, starting 4:45 min in.
I like Tove’s clever tool for making the wreath “ring” backing, but I have found it very effective to simply gather a handful of long Silver Branch branches and twist them into a ring with my hands, using some overlay to tie the ends together. Again, I will try to get a video made of this soon!
Wild garland
For garland, it’s pretty much the same process, but even easier, as you can just arrange and tie evergreen clippings onto a string. I like to use a sturdy string like jute for this. Once made, you can hang the garland inside or outside. There’s something so elegant about garland. And I absolutely love the smell it brings to our home.
You can go all out and make a very full looking garland, or very simple.
Spruce centerpiece
An even easier alternative is to simply lay beautiful evergreen branches on a shelf or mantle. Or add them into a wintry bouquet with other foraged plants, berries, mosses, etc. Some beautiful moss is a must for us! So gorgeous in the center of a table, or in a lantern with a flickering candle nestled in the moss.
@wyldstudio 
@babesinboyland
So many more ideas to share, but as usual, I’m running out of time here. Want to get these out as quickly as possible, and I will update you if I ever get that Youtube video edited and published!
Merry merry from the Wyld xx
