So you may have noticed very little (any?) food content here on this blog lately, a so-called food blog that has been o’er taken by poems and links from other people and merely passable iPhone pictures of the woods and the water.
Sometimes it’s all I can do these days to put my feet on the floor before I begin to feel ALL OF THE FEELINGS. It’s my watery Pisces nature, friends. I cannot shut it out, and sometimes feelings just get in the way of other things.
But I have been writing and painting and (sort of) working on a website re-design and teaching myself how to draw and either going for a long walk or doing yoga (and sometimes both) every day.
I have also been in the kitchen doing a variety of things. First, creating recipes for the incredible human behind Full Moon Acupuncture for her seasonal Renewal that will launch sometime in September. I will post individual recipes in the fall, in support of her work and to just share what is going to be a delicious group of ten dinners and five lunches (plus some bonus sauces/dressings). But recipe development is not always the most exciting blog topic.
I have been making cookies out of the freezer – big, glorious, crunchy/chewy chocolate chip cookies that I eat (at least) three at a time. These are lifesavers, especially since I am dedicated to staying out of stores and only pick up groceries through PeaPod once every ten days or so.
And because I am technically still writing and illustrating a book on foraging that may or may not be a go in 2021, I am wandering fields and forests and gathering food. Sunday’s expedition was to Cromwell Valley Park, for a bonanza of blue spruce tips.
Blue spruce tips are exactly what they sound like: the vibrantly green new growth that occurs at the very end of pine branches in the spring. Each pine has its own specific flavor, some of which are a bit too resinous and astringent for eating straight out of hand. Blue spruce tips, especially when young, have a bright citrus-y flavor with endnotes of pine – it is astringent and perhaps not a taste that everyone will love but still milder than many others.
Medicinally, blue spruce tips are high in vitamin C, potassium, and magnesium. They are used for coughs and sore throats and help to transport oxygen to the cells (which speeds healing).
For my little foraging haul, I made a cough syrup that won’t be ready until October, and a big batch of blue spruce tip simple syrup. I have a few ideas of how I will use it, but our first stop is cocktails.
Kudos to KWeeks for his adroit naming of this. I never know how cocktails will hit my system – some days I can have three and feel nothing; others I have one and feel a little loopy. It just took one of these for me, so the name is apt.
The Tipsy Forager
This cocktail is light, with a fragrant, botanical taste and bouquet that comes from the gin and the simple syrup. To taste more of the blue spruce simple syrup, use a cleaner, less complicated gin. I used Bluecoat because it’s what I had, and the resulting cocktail was dangerous. Refreshing and not too heavy, perfect for warmer weather.
Ingredients
2 ounces of your favorite gin
.5 ounce (or more, to taste) spruce tip simple syrup (see Recipe Notes)
Seltzer
Lemon for garnish
Method
Pack a rocks glass with artisanal ice of your choice (just kidding. Plain old cubes are fine. Let’s not get precious.). Add gin and blue spruce simple syrup and stir to get very cold. Top with seltzer and garnish with lemon.
Recipe Notes
To make blue spruce tip simple syrup, dissolve one cup of sugar in one cup of water. Add one and a half packed cups of blue spruce tips (more’s the better), cover, and remove from heat. Let blue spruce tips steep overnight, then strain and add 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice. Makes almost two cups of blue spruce tip simple syrup.
