Pine trees are perhaps the most common tree in the world, or at least in the Southeastern USA. For the most part however, you don’t eat the pine needles. Drinking a tea made from the needles is a great source of vitamin C however, and can help prevent scurvy during a Zombie Invasion. (Scurvy is a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C). In fact, The US Naval survival training teaches students to chew on pine needles to get vitamin C because they contain 4 to 5 times the vitamin C of fresh squeezed orange juice.
** All pines, spruces and firs have edible needles. All yews are poisonous.**
Yews can look very similar to some of the varieties of firs, so it is important to know your trees before using them. Yews, tend to grow in high elevations, but that does not mean you will never find one at a lower elevation.
Medicinal Properties
There are two ways to make pine needle tea. One way is making it more for flavor, the other is more for the medicinal properties. I’ll explain both in a moment. First, I want to give you a list of the medicinal uses.
• Pine resin can be used, straight from the tree to rub on skin problems like rashes and minor cuts.
• In a survival situation, if you get a cut and don’t have a band aid handy, you can remove the outer bark from a pine tree then slice off a long thin slice of the inner bark. Use a piece of cloth to wrap around the body part and hold the bark in place. It works like an antiseptic to help prevent infection.
• If you have a cold or a sore throat, try chewing on some pine sap. You can literally go pull some off the tree and use immediately. But when you have time, you might try making some “pine sap gum” to chew on when needed. Just mix some melted bees-wax with some pine sap and honey. From it into small balls or lumps and allow to cool. Chew on one of them as needed.
• A strong solution of pine needle tea is said to have the following properties. It is antiseptic, astringent and anti-inflammatory when used (cooled) in a poultice or as a rub, directly to the skin. Drinking the tea can be used as an antioxidant, expectorant, for colds, coughs, and congestions.
Interesting fact: The main ingredient in Tamiflu is Shikimic acid. It is harvested from pine needles. It is currently being made in Asia, but is also contained in pine trees in the USA.
How does Pine Needle Tea Taste?
There are 36 different varieties of pine trees in the USA and they all have their own unique flavor. Chances are, you will have at least a few different varieties near you. You will need to try each of them to determine which you prefer.
Of course, during a Zombie Invasion, it really doesn’t matter which taste you prefer. You’ll be happy to get whatever you can get, so you might want to learn to like what is in your area while you have time to develop a taste for it, and if you can’t make tea, just chew on some needles to get the vitamin C out of them.
But seriously, I’ve been lucky enough to try some tea for several different states and several different varieties of pine trees. They all have a pretty decent taste.
Preparing your needles
The fresh young needles are usually the best, but if you don’t have access to any, use what you can find. Of course, fresher is better.
Image source – Pixabay
Some types of trees have single needles, those have very little extra at the bottom. As you can see from the photo above, some needles have a covering that is holding multiple needles together. Either way, you want to cut off the covering and use only the needles. Chop your needles into pieces between 1 and 2 inches long.
When needles grow individually instead of in batches, they still could a small part at the end that attaches to the limb, that is a different color than the needle. (see photo below) Trim this different colored part off just like you would the brown part around some needles.
Unless you plan on making tea for a lot of people at once, don’t harvest huge quantities of needles. The longer they are off the tree, the browner they get. All of the taste and much of the nutritional aspect of it are gone by the time they turn completely brown.
The difference between tea and medicine
Water temperature and steeping time are the only differences between the two. Tea is made with water that is just below boiling temperature. Medicine is made with boiling hot water. The tea taste better than the medicine because the extra heat releases more of the oils and resins than the tea. The medicine has a slight turpentine taste to it.
For Tea…
Heat about 1 cup of water for each cup of tea you are making. Heat it to just before boiling. You will know it is at the right temperature when the bottom of the pan shows lots of bubbles with only a few bubbling to the surface.
Remove from the heat, add the water to a cup then add about 1 tablespoon of your chopped-up needles. Cover the cup and let it steep for 5 to 10 minutes. You will know it is ready when most of the needles have sunk to the bottom of the cup. Drink and enjoy!
To make a medicinal tea…
Add a cup of water to a pan and add about 1 tablespoon of chopped up needles to it. Bring to a full boil and allow it to boil for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let it steep until it is cool enough to drink. Then pour it into a cup and enjoy.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and nothing said here should be considered medical advice. It is a listing of some of the historical uses people have used plants for. Always do your homework before consuming any plant. Always test any new plant you decide to consume to ensure you are not allergic to it. I cannot be responsible for decisions you make about consuming any plant(s).
My other food foraging posts you might be interested in:
Borage
Cattails
Wild and Mock Strawberries
Seed Bombs
Clover
Fried Dandelion Flowers Recipe
Dandelions
Food Foraging 101 – part 1
Food Foraging 101 - part 2
Food Foraging 10 1- part 3
Sources:
stackexchange.com
growforagecookferment.com
survivalsherpa