• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Hilda's Kitchen Blog

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipes
  • Book
  • About
  • Resources
  • Subscribe
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Recipes
    • Book
    • About
    • Resources
    • Subscribe
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×
    • Recipes
    • Book
    • About
    • Subscribe

    You Are Here Home » Sauce Recipes

    Published: Jun 9, 2019 Updated: Apr 1, 2022 by Hilda Sterner | This post may contain affiliate links 4 Comments

    Spruce Tips Pesto

    Sharing is caring!

    1728 shares
    • Share288
    • Yummly
    • Tweet
    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    spruce tips in a food processor

    Spruce Tips are not only edible but also quite delicious! These tender pine shoots, found at the end of the Spruce tree branches, can be harvested and used in various recipes including pasta. One way to prepare them is to make Spruce Tips Pesto.

    spruce tips pesto pasta in a white plate

    Sometimes, when you are in a secluded location you can be in the middle of cooking when you realize that you're missing a key ingredient. It's those times that I find myself using what's on hand instead.

    So recently, when I wanted to make pesto for a seafood pasta dish, I realized I didn't have basil. I certainly did not want to make the thirty-minute drive into town to get some. It was then that I remembered a friend who recently mentioned having tried Spruce Tips Pesto.

    Since I'm literally surrounded by them, I decided to alter my pesto recipe by substituting Spruce Tips for the basil. It was a huge hit with my husband, Scott, so I hope you like it too!

    It turns out that they are also loaded with nutrition, including vitamin C and carotenoids, so get out there and pick some today!

    Jump to:
    • 🧐 Why This Recipe Works
    • 🌱How to Make Spruce Tips Pesto
    • 🤷🏻‍♀️Recipe FAQs
    • 👩🏼‍🍳Pro Tips
    • 🍵 Related Posts
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments

    🧐 Why This Recipe Works

    • Spruce tips are delicious and full of nutrition. Utilizing them in your recipes only makes sense!
    • If you live in the country, spruce tips are most likely all around you.
    • Spruce tips can be picked in the spring and frozen to use throughout the year.

    🌱How to Make Spruce Tips Pesto

    STEP 1: Add one cup of washed spruce tips into a food processor. Top with garlic, walnuts (or pine nuts), salt, pepper, nutmeg, and crushed red pepper, if using. 

    spruce tips in a measuring cup
    Food processor with spruce tips and garlic cloves

    STEP 2: Process the ingredients until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

    pesto in food processor

    STEP 3: While the machine is running, drizzle the oil into the food processor.

    pesto in food processor

    STEP 4: Sprinkle parmesan cheese and lemon zest. Give it one last whirl.

    spruce tips pesto in a white bowl

    STEP 5: Stir the mixture in with your favorite pasta dish, or as a substitute for pizza sauce.

    pesto pasta with shrimp in a white bowl

    🤷🏻‍♀️Recipe FAQs

    How do you pick spruce tips?


    • The best-tasting spruce tips come from Blue Spruce trees, so if you have access to them, consider yourself lucky!
    • The best time to harvest the tips is in early spring when they are young and tender. However, we're into June and there's still plenty to pick, at least here in Montana.
    • Avoid picking too many tips from the same tree, especially from young trees.
    • Pick the brighter, newer growth, which will be at the end of the branches.
    • When picking, you are essentially pruning the tree. Therefore, be sure to pick from areas that are towards the bottom of the tree, or from interior branches. Picking from the top will stunt the growth of the tree.

    What do Spruce Tips taste like?

    The best way to describe the flavor of spruce tips is piney and citrusy. The initial taste is citrusy, which is followed by the taste of resin. Because of their strong flavor, a little goes a long way!

    Soaking the tips in water helps remove some of their resiny taste. This helps the flavor mellow out a bit as well.

    spruce tips soaking in water

    Where can you find spruce tips?

    If you don't have access to spruce trees in your area, you can actually buy them online. Another option is to use Pine Tips or Fir Tips. Most conifer tips are edible, however, yew tree tips are considered poisonous.

    What can you do with Spruce Tips?

    Spruce Tips can be used in all kinds of recipes including pickles, spruce needle tea, jelly, and soda. Here are some other ideas:
    • Syrup
    • Spruce Tip Salt
    • Spruce Tip Sugar
    • Spruce Tip Shortbread Cookies
    • Spruce tips are sometimes added to alcohol to make Spruce Beer, wine, and mead!
    • Spruce Tip Ice Cream & Sorbets

    👩🏼‍🍳Pro Tips

    • Toss fresh, uncooked tips into a salad with other greens.
    • Steep dried tips in hot water to make tea. Spruce is loaded with vitamin C, and rich in potassium and magnesium, so the tea can be soothing for a sore throat. Adding a cinnamon stick, honey, and a squeeze of lemon juice has even more health benefits.
    • Adding the tips to cold water will impart a mild flavor, similar to adding citrus or cucumber slices to your water.
    • Use the tips in place of rosemary in recipes.
    • The tips can also be used in various savory dishes.

    You may want to check out this informative article that explains how to identify a Spruce because not all evergreen trees are edible.

    spruce tree
    spruce tips
    top view of small spruce
    White spruce growing on our property

    For more information about how spruce tips were used in the past, you may enjoy reading the following post: Sprucelets: An Original Adirondack Medicine.

    🍵 Related Posts

    • Purslane Dip (Purslane Recipes You Have to Try)
    • Survival Food (food substitutions and other ideas)
    • How to Make Rose Hip Syrup
    • Pine Needle Tea Benefits & Recipe

    Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.

    Stay in touch with me through social media @ Instagram, Pinterest, 4294 TikTok, and Facebook. Don't forget to tag me when you try one of my recipes!

    📖 Recipe

    spruce tips pesto pasta

    Spruce Tips Pesto

    A delicous, citrusy pesto made with the new growth of spruce trees.
    5 from 6 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Condiments
    Cuisine: American
    Prep Time: 15 minutes
    Total Time: 15 minutes
    Servings: 2 servings
    Calories: 488kcal
    Author: Hilda Sterner

    Equipment

    • food processor

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup fresh spruce tips
    • 2 cloves garlic
    • 2 tablespoon walnuts or pine nuts
    • ¼ cup olive oil
    • 2 tablespoon avocado oil (or use more olive oil)
    • ¼ teaspoon salt
    • ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
    • ⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
    • ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
    • ¼ cup parmesan cheese
    • 1 teaspoon lemon zest

    Instructions

    • Add one cup of washed spruce tips into a food processor. Add garlic, walnuts (or pinenuts), salt, pepper, nutmeg, and crushed red pepper, if using.
    • Process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
    • While the machine is running, drizzle in the oil.
    • Add parmesan cheese and lemon zest. Give it one last whirl.
    • Mix in with your favorite pasta dish, or as a substitute for pizza sauce.

    Notes

    The nutrition info was calculated using basil pesto. Although I tried, I could not find specific nutritional formation on spruce tips.
    • Toss fresh, uncooked tips into a salad with other greens.
    • Steep dried tips in hot water to make tea. Spruce is loaded with vitamin C, and rich in potassium and magnesium, so the tea can be soothing for a sore throat. Adding a cinnamon stick, honey, and a squeeze of lemon juice has even more health benefits.
    • Adding the tips to cold water will impart a mild flavor, similar to adding citrus or cucumber slices to your water.
    • Use the tips in the place of rosemary in recipes.
    • The tips can also be used in various savory dishes.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1serving | Calories: 488kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 50g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Fiber: 4g
    Tried this Recipe? Please leave A Star Rating!Mention @HildasKitchenBlog or tag #HildasKitchenBlog!

    More Sauce Recipes

    • Creamy Cilantro Lime Sauce
    • How To Can Salsa
    • Cherry Tomato Confit
    • Super Easy Lemon Garlic Aioli Sauce

    Sharing is caring!

    1728 shares
    • Share288
    • Yummly
    • Tweet

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




       

      This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    1. Dennis Miller says

      June 01, 2020 at 6:34 pm

      5 stars
      So good and no spruce taste. Makes a great pasta condiment!

      Reply
      • HildaSterner says

        June 01, 2020 at 6:51 pm

        Are you thee Dennis Miller? 😉 But seriously, thanks for the review, I really appreciate it!

        Reply
    2. Kelly Methey says

      June 10, 2019 at 9:34 am

      I find this very interesting. I would never in a million years thought to make pesto with a tree. I am intrigued and my horizons are being broadened by your unusual recipes. I think I will have to try this and report back!

      Reply
      • HildaSterner says

        June 10, 2019 at 2:31 pm

        Yes, I felt the same way when I heard that Spruce tips were edible. I'm picking some to take back to San Diego with me so I can test out more recipes! Gettem' while they're good!

        Reply

    Primary Sidebar

    profile photo-Hilda

    Hi, I'm Hilda! I'm the creator of Hilda's Kitchen Blog, author of Mom's Authentic Assyrian Recipes, and a recipe contributor to Brian Baumgartner's Seriously Good Chili Cookbook (AKA Kevin Malone, from The Office).

    Are you looking for a little inspiration in the kitchen? Let me show you how to use unique ingredients to make tasty meals for your family! more about me →

    Get My Cookbook!

    cook book on a wooden board

    Healthy Salads

    • Zesty Quinoa Salad with Pomegranate Dressing
    • Tabouli (Tabbouleh) Salad Recipe
    • Green Goddess Salad Recipe
    • Oil and Vinegar Coleslaw
    • Roasted Beetroot Salad With Walnuts And Feta
    • Lebanese Fattoush Salad

    Check Out My Etsy Shop!

    montana healing salves logo

    Game Day Appetizers

    • Smoked Salmon Dip Recipe
    • Traeger Smoked Potatoes (with oven instructions)
    • How To Make An Easy Charcuterie Board
    • Smoked Cream Cheese (2 Ways)
    • Keto Jalapeno Poppers with Bacon
    • Chicken Chips: A Keto Chicken Thigh Recipe

    Featured On

    featured on

    Subscribe to Get my Latest Recipes!

    Privacy Policy

    Stay Connected

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

    Footer

    ^ back to top

    About

    • About Me
    • My Etsy Shop

    Policies

    • Privacy Policy
    • Accessibility Policy
    • Photo & Content Sharing Policy

    LET'S CONNECT!

    • Contact Page
    • Work with Me

    As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small percentage from qualifying Amazon purchases.

    Copyright © 2023 • Hildas Kitchen Blog • All rights reserved