Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible.
Who here remembers Euell, the charismatic grape-nut commercial guy (their taste always reminded him of "wild hickory nuts")?
He has been living rent-free in my head since the talks of food shortages fired up. It may sound almost comical to the average food consumer at first, but pine trees really do have a lot of nutrition to offer, and Euell was no grape-"nut".
Quote:"Who the heck is Euell Gibbons? Any American kid growing up in the 1970’s would know. Gibbons was the spokesperson for Post Grape-Nuts cereal, made instantly famous by a single television commercial where he uttered, “Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible.” That statement was so bizarre – and laugh-out-loud to us kids – it spread like wildfire (and sold a ton of Grape-Nuts cereal). But it was only recently I learned Gibbons wasn’t just a hired bindle stiff, but a man ahead of his time. He had a lifelong interest in foods foraged from “nutritious-but-oft-neglected plants” (surely learned from an impoverished and transient childhood). He wrote several successful whole-foods cookbooks, including “Stalking the Wild Asparagus” (1964) and “A Wild Way to Eat” (1967). In his later years, Gibbons and his wife joined a community of Quakers in Philadelphia, where he cooked the daily shared breakfast (of course he did)."
Chances are, you've probably eaten parts of a pine tree already. Pine nuts are a popular food item and are often incorporate into pesto!
Pine trees are packed with nutrition. Even that annoying yellow floof (pine pollen) is a meal. According to https://thegrownetwork.com/eat-pine-trees/
Quote:Pine pollen is a good source of nutrition, including protein, folic acid, several B vitamins, and vitamins C and E. It even contains some vitamin D, which is not common in plants. Pine pollen also contains several minerals and trace elements.
One of its more interesting properties is that it contains a chemical very similar to testosterone. While the levels are not high enough to be frightening, they may contribute to some of the health benefits of pine pollen, such as lessening inflammation, lessening the effects of arthritis, countering the effects of excess estrogens, increased prostate health, and anti-fatigue effects.1)2)3)4) Pine pollen also has liver protective properties.5)
There are plenty more ways to enjoy the nutrition from a pine tree. The needles also make a decent (delicious) spice:
Pine tree recipes, click here
This is a great starter on eating pine trees: Edible Pine Tree Parts
In the link above, the author discusses some important points about harvesting bark and resin. Only harvest them from a tree that has recently fallen (say, within a few weeks) or a tree that is going to be otherwise cut down. Bark (and resin) harvesting severely (and permanently) damages the tree:
Quote:Similar to harvesting bark, intentionally wounding a tree to harvest pine resin will scar a tree and provides access to insects and microbes that could stunt or kill the tree. Harvesting from small branches or existing wounds is a better more ethical option. Only harvest resin from the trunk of a tree that’s destined to be cut down for other reasons.
(from above link)
I highly recommend you read the linked articles if you're seriously interested in adding conifers to your diet, even if only for a survival option or a tasty spice!
Word of warning, I've heard from several pine-munchers that the bark can be a little tough on the human digestive system, so use caution.
Other than that, do your research and be responsible in your pine-chow harvesting.
Bon appetite.
(05-12-2022, 04:02 PM)Servovenford Wrote: Who here remembers Euell, the charismatic grape-nut commercial guy (their taste always reminded him of "wild hickory nuts")?
I remember that guy. A fella in high school drew a caricature of him with bites taken out of everything around him. Probably the thing that keeps him lodged in my memory.
(05-12-2022, 04:02 PM)Servovenford Wrote: Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible.
Who here remembers Euell, the charismatic grape-nut commercial guy (their taste always reminded him of "wild hickory nuts")?
He has been living rent-free in my head since the talks of food shortages fired up. It may sound almost comical to the average food consumer at first, but pine trees really do have a lot of nutrition to offer, and Euell was no grape-"nut".
I have a constant battle with the squirrel over the pine nuts, and they are brazen enough to drop the empty cones down on my head.
The Florida pine, I call them Dr. Seuss trees, make up over half of the woods on my property, the rest are Oak which I love, and the acorns are also nutritional and useful in a SHTF scenario.
I also have way too much Acacia, which a hate, but it is good for filling in the open spaces and providing a good privacy wall. I can thank my neighbor for the Acacia.
For every one person that read this post. About 7.99 billion have not.
(05-12-2022, 04:02 PM)Servovenford Wrote: Who here remembers Euell, the charismatic grape-nut commercial guy (their taste always reminded him of "wild hickory nuts")?
I remember that guy. A fella in high school drew a caricature of him with bites taken out of everything around him. Probably the thing that keeps him lodged in my memory.
05-13-2022, 12:31 AM (This post was last modified: 05-13-2022, 12:33 AM by Ninurta.)
I remember Euell Gibbons. Just a couple weeks ago, when we were making a list of non-perishable stuff to stock up on due to the food shortages, I said to Grace "Ya ever eat a pine tree?" mimicking him in the Grape Nuts commercial. We have an ancient, giant White Pine 10 steps from the back door.
When I was a kid, there was another huge and ancient white pine about 10 steps from the front door of the house I lived in then. I recall the sap oozing out of it and encrusting the bark. If you got it while it was still sticky, before it crystallized, it made an excellent wound dressing. Antiseptic and sealed the wound too. I've heard of people chewing the sap for oral health.
I've never eaten a pine tree, or anything out of a pine tree so far as I know. I did go looking for pine nuts one time, but never could figure out what the hell I was looking for, so I never found any nuts on a pine tree.
My son went next level, and baked bread from flour made of pine bark, though. He took his kids out and they all gathered the bark and pounded it to flour, then baked the bread. It looked like a charcoal briquet to me, but he said it wasn't bad.
This is a photo of that loaf:
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Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
(05-13-2022, 12:15 AM)ABNARTY Wrote: I normally just cut me a log of pine, soak it in some apple cider vinegar, light it on fire, and then gnaw on it while watching TV.
Nothing better to help open my crown chakra right up.
Might wash it down with some Oak tree juice. Not acorn ferment, just squeezing's from the stump. Helps keep me regular.
Yer a mighty tough man, you are! I can't do it. The tannic acid in Oak tree juice draws up my alimentary canal something fierce, puckers it right up from stem to stern, and puckers my ass so tight you couldn't drive a straight pin up it with a 5 pound hammer.
BUT - that same tannic acid makes some pretty fine leather out of hides!
.
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
(05-13-2022, 12:15 AM)ABNARTY Wrote: I normally just cut me a log of pine, soak it in some apple cider vinegar, light it on fire, and then gnaw on it while watching TV.
Nothing better to help open my crown chakra right up.
Might wash it down with some Oak tree juice. Not acorn ferment, just squeezing's from the stump. Helps keep me regular.
Yer a mighty tough man, you are! I can't do it. The tannic acid in Oak tree juice draws up my alimentary canal something fierce, puckers it right up from stem to stern, and puckers my ass so tight you couldn't drive a straight pin up it with a 5 pound hammer.
BUT - that same tannic acid makes some pretty fine leather out of hides!
I used to use pine sap to bind my homemade hash after I cooked it down. Dried pine sap can be chewed like gum. I've eaten Juniper berries from the bush and drank gin on a number of occasions. Pine boughs can be used as a natural bedding in a survival shelter situation. I've heard that old sap filled pine wood makes a great fire starter, however, pine wood is horrible to cook on. If you have to cook with it, seal everything in aluminum foil tightly.
05-13-2022, 06:05 PM (This post was last modified: 05-13-2022, 06:10 PM by Ninurta.)
(05-13-2022, 04:59 AM)Michigan Swamp Buck Wrote: I used to use pine sap to bind my homemade hash after I cooked it down. Dried pine sap can be chewed like gum. I've eaten Juniper berries from the bush and drank gin on a number of occasions. Pine boughs can be used as a natural bedding in a survival shelter situation. I've heard that old sap filled pine wood makes a great fire starter, however, pine wood is horrible to cook on. If you have to cook with it, seal everything in aluminum foil tightly.
The nearest town to where I grew up was named Lebanon, because of the "Cedars of Lebanon" and the prevalence of eastern red cedar all over the place there, which is really a kind of juniper. I never ate the berries, but it makes great fencing because it's slow to rot (we had hundreds of feet of split rail fencing that was made from cedars and had been there for 100 years or so), and if you just lay down the whole tree and make a line of them, cattle won't cross it. I cut down 3 fields of it one time with an ax, and stacked them into windrows to control cattle... but that stuff will eat you up between the sap and the needles scrubbing it into your skin. That's when I learned to use long sleeves when dealing with it in quantity. a lot of them had funny hard round brown balls growing on them, and when it rained the balls would send out rubbery orange tentacles all over the ball that smelled funny, I later found out that was some kind of apple tree blight fungus that cedars also got infected by, but it never hurt the cedars.
Now, all these years later, red cedars have taken over what used to be pasture when I was a kid, and there is a vast cedar forest growing there now.
The sap filled pine wood you mention is what old timers here called "fat wood" from the heart of the pine, and everyone kept some in their fire kit. It wouldn't take the spark in bulk, but shaved down and set to an already burning tinder, it would keep a small flame burning hot enough to catch the rest of the wood.
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Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Quote:Pine pollen is a good source of nutrition, including protein, folic acid, several B vitamins, and vitamins C and E. It even contains some vitamin D, which is not common in plants. Pine pollen also contains several minerals and trace elements.
One of its more interesting properties is that it contains a chemical very similar to testosterone. While the levels are not high enough to be frightening, they may contribute to some of the health benefits of pine pollen, such as lessening inflammation, lessening the effects of arthritis, countering the effects of excess estrogens, increased prostate health, and anti-fatigue effects.1)2)3)4) Pine pollen also has liver protective properties.5)
Mhmmmm pine tree sperm /sarc
Have you ever wondered why internet message posts are named posts, maybe it has a phallic connection?
(05-13-2022, 12:31 AM)Ninurta Wrote: I remember Euell Gibbons. Just a couple weeks ago, when we were making a list of non-perishable stuff to stock up on due to the food shortages, I said to Grace "Ya ever eat a pine tree?" mimicking him in the Grape Nuts commercial. We have an ancient, giant White Pine 10 steps from the back door.
When I was a kid, there was another huge and ancient white pine about 10 steps from the front door of the house I lived in then. I recall the sap oozing out of it and encrusting the bark. If you got it while it was still sticky, before it crystallized, it made an excellent wound dressing. Antiseptic and sealed the wound too. I've heard of people chewing the sap for oral health.
I've never eaten a pine tree, or anything out of a pine tree so far as I know. I did go looking for pine nuts one time, but never could figure out what the hell I was looking for, so I never found any nuts on a pine tree.
My son went next level, and baked bread from flour made of pine bark, though. He took his kids out and they all gathered the bark and pounded it to flour, then baked the bread. It looked like a charcoal briquet to me, but he said it wasn't bad.
This is a photo of that loaf:
.
No kidding. You sure they didn't just cook up a lump of deep fried coal? Seriously though that looks like it turned out alright. I'd try it (in a pinch).
