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are all pine inner barks edible? can all pine needs make tea? and other questions

24K views 28 replies 20 participants last post by  Gib 
#1 ·
i was wondering if the inner bark of all pine trees was edible. should they be boiled for a general rule of safety? also, needles of the any pine be brewed for tea?

now for the other questions. answer if you know don't if you don't. are hawthorn berries edible raw? or do they need to be boiled.

does clover actually help respiratory aliments?
 
#2 ·
What you're looking for when you eat any kind of tree bark is the cambium layer. It is where the tree stores energy in the form of carbohydrates. Most trees have a cambium layer, including pine trees. Just like some plants store their energy in bulbs, roots, tubers, etcetera, trees store theirs in the cambium layer.

It's better to chew the strips of cambium up and spit them out. In this way your saliva is absorbing all the carbohydrates, and you don't have to spend the extra energy trying to digest all the non-digestible roughage in the cambium layer.

It doesn't taste pretty. There's a reason indigenous peoples used it as a famine food, and not a primary food source. I think you could probably boil the carbohydrates into a solution like you were saying and drink 'em up, too.

It tastes like you're chewing on turpentine. :thumb:
 
#3 ·
I was also wondering if all pine needles are good for tea - short vs. longleaf, etc. Don't know how many "survival" shows I've watched where the "star(s)" were just making snow water while sitting under pine trees, and griping about no nutrition that day. Or even during temperate weather, just boiling up their water and not taking advantage of the vitamins in the pine needles.
 
#7 ·
I've heard that all species of the "pinus" (pine) and "picea" (spruce) genuses should be safe to eat their needles raw or make tea from them. The ponderosa pine is toxic to horses, but should be okay for people. Of course, try small amounts first as with any wild plant, just to be safe.

The yew tree is poisonous though.
 
#9 ·
I'm starting to think that the wisdom of our past has been lost.

The old timers in the north country knew that pine needles made a very important tea. Up north you didn't have the luxury of citrus and roses to provide vitamin c to prevent scurvy. Scurvy is prevalent in diets high in meats and low in vegetables.

Pine needles are extremely high in vitamin c. I just did a google search for clarification.

http://www.zetatalk.com/food/tfood07p.htm

I do believe that cedar is better due to being less bitter. The cedar in the northland was called 'the tree of life' by the French voyagers.
 
#10 ·
i am slowly learning about all the edible and useful wild plants. they have been around me my whole life and i didn't even know, nobody even knew. and many will never know. all of these plants are so beneficial that it baffles me that no one knows anything about em except that they are "weeds" and they need to use poisons to kill them.
 
#11 ·
I definitely know what you mean Dodge631, I have spent a lot of my time learning traps, making shelters, and fishing. I have just recently decided to expand on my knowledge. Edible and useful plants is the area I decided to take an interest in and focus on now. I would just like to say how amazed I am about all the things I have been learning and I never even had a clue.
 
#12 ·
dodge and night.

i'm 65 and its still a bit embarassing to admit that i was born on a produce farm and pulled WEEDS for years and never knew they were useful. dandelions yes but the others were weeds. years later i started learning by just going out with some plant books and practicing. i would go primitive camping with just enough rice and beans to avoid starving and start looking.
you didn't say where you are. if you have hemlock the young little patches of new needles are good for chewing or tea for vit. c.
as long as you don't take ewel gibbons to literaly its fun. but getting fat by strolling throuhg the meadow each day is a bit of a stretch.
any way its all the other stuff i learned in the process that is priceless.
 
#13 ·
Greetings All,

I must stand again for advocating that using pine needles for food or tea, in humans, NOT include the Ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa, the Jeffrey pine, Pinus jeffreyi, or the lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta because of the isocupressic acid content that causes loss of fetus in ruminants (the only mammals known to consume them in quantity).

Some, on these boards and elsewhere, maintain that only horses or cattle or whatever need to worry, but in my mind, since no one will ever ethically test these products on pregnant humans, it is not remotely worth the risks.

As far as the research I have read, Ponderosa pine is a bit different case because it has additional toxins that can be very damaging, beyond the reproductive system, bit still; if these species have these effects on horses, cattle, goats and sheep, it may not turn out to be health food.

Thank you for reading.

edibleplantguy
 
#24 ·
Edibleplantguy,

can you please clarify,

Which of the following are you saying:
-pine needles should never be eaten or cooked by any humans
-only pregnant women should not eat or drink pine needles/tea
-some pine needles could be eaten or cooked, except these pine needles:
Ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa, the Jeffrey pine, Pinus jeffreyi, or the lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta

-or are you referring to the bark only.:sleep:

thanks
 
#16 ·
As my uncle continually drilled into my head. A Spruce is not a pine.

Scientific names;

Norway Spruce: Picea Abies
Norway Pine: Pinus Resinosa

I used to ask questions like; "how many pine do we need to cut today.'
He'd respond: 'None, but we are going to cut some spruce'
 
#17 ·
Pines native to North America produce needles that can be made into tea. Flavors vary, but are nutritious, especially in vitamin C.
Spruce and fir needles can also be used in tea, and taste better than pines.
Use the new, young needles for best flavor, older needles get stronger turpentine taste.

Haven't tried the cambium. Good luck.
 
#19 ·
My kids will probably give me the stink eye for this. It was about 12 years or so ago, they were 4 and 5 and came into the house making a disgusted face and sounds. I asked them what was wrong and they said “the tree honey tasted bad” so out we go to find out what is was. There were some popsicle sticks with rather copious amounts of pine tree sap on them they had gathered. Tree honey
 
#20 ·
From angiers field guide to medicinal wild plants---

"The north american genus of pines includes the trees and shrubs collectively known as the evergreen conifers, embracing the two or three dozen pines themselves, depending on which school of thought the botanist doing the counting follows-the arbor vitae (literally the tree of life, so named because it saved a group of early explorers from dying of scurvy), the great hemlocks (the poison hemlock; any of the small poisonous herbs of the carrot family having finely cut leaves and tiny white blossoms differ vastly and visibly and are no relation), the prolific spruces, the tamaracks, the larches, the bald cypresses, the sequoias, the life-giving junipers (which one winter saved jacques cartier and his crew in the frozen st. lawrence river, which they had discovered), the true and the false firs, and the numerous cedars.If you make an error between a pine and the christmas-tree fir or the more familiar spruce, they will be the same medicinally. All have a life-sustaining edible inner bark and the all-important vitamin c....."

I think that about covers it.
 
#28 ·
I lay tarps near mine to collect the hawthorn apples, but the guide book probably probably note that these tress are a beast to deal with and have very long, hard, sharp spines that can get to be almost 2 inches long and will pierce skin, clothing, hell even tires if you mess with them. Better to collect the fruit of other plants and leave these unless there is no other choice.
 
#22 ·
Last year I took a wild edibles class with Green Dean of eattheweeds.com, also known by Straight Razor on these boards. He drilled it in to my head: if it has needles and cones, it's a pine. If it's a pine, it's edible.

Now granted, as stated before, the cambium layer isn't worth eating if you have other food, but you can eat it. In fact, I think it works better in strips boiled like pasta.

I've had pine needle tea often, and chewed pine needles on the trail. Very astringent, and very piney. But a little sour, the vitamin C.

Again, before you put it in your mouth, be SURE of what it is.
 
#26 ·
Greetings All,

Hello reason2, sorry for the long delay in clarification. I am saying that almost all pines are all totally non-toxic, except for the following. The Ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa, the Jeffrey pine, Pinus jeffreyi, and the lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta, because of their isocupressic acid content, should never be made into a food or drink any part ever, for a pregnant woman. I am not aware of this compound being healthfood for anyone, but for women who are not pregnant, there is no case history for trouble (especially given how infrequently we 21st century folks make foods and beverages from pines).

In addition, the buds and twigs of ponderosa pine should never be eaten by anyone because of the possible kidney damage from dehydroabietic acid. No seeds of any of the pines have every been assayed to be toxic. And most pines and all true spruces (that I know of) have edible inner bark (cambium). Other evergreens (conifers) especially from the tropics are in no way assured to be non-toxic.

The most dangerous conifers in North America are certainly the yews (yeah, our most common landscape plant--Yikes). The only structure of the yews that is non-toxic and edible is the red berry-like aril (female cone actually), but even that has a dangerous toxic (taxine containing) seed inside. That seed is why I advocate teaching children that the whole deal is toxic, until they are at an age where you are confident they won't make a life-threatening error.

Thanks for reading.

edibleplantguy
 
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