Honey, ice cream and crunchy sticks: the Christmas tree tastes so good

Created: 01/14/2023, 10:30 am

By: Martin Becker

In her Bistro-Café “Aroma & Kraut” in Unterhaching, Babara Pafel conjures up all sorts of delicacies from the needles of fir, spruce and Douglas fir.

© Martin Becker

Eat your own Christmas tree?

That's fine!

Herb teacher Barbara Pafel from Unterhaching shows which delicious delicacies can also be conjured up for conifers. 

Unterhaching

– The last candles have burned out, straw stars and tinsel have been taken down – Christmas trees are cleared from churches and rooms by Candlemas (February 2) at the latest.

So away with the decorated conifer, a case for the recycling center?

No, if you do it cleverly, you eat up your Christmas tree, piece by piece, branch by branch.

Barbara Pafel (48), certified herbalist and owner of the "Aroma & Kraut" bistro-café in Unterhaching, reveals how it's done.

In addition to cappuccino and tarte flambée, she also offers workshops there, such as "Wild Winter Kitchen with Fir, Spruce & Co.".

The message: "You can eat most of the native conifers - they offer a variety of culinary qualities," says Barbara Pafel.

Use as a herb like rosemary

The certified wild herb educator knows that in the kitchen at home many people rely on spice mixtures from far-off countries.

The ingredients may still be in the living room or on the balcony: “An entire meal can be flavored with a single pine branch – you can use it as an herb, just like rosemary,” says Barbara Pafel.

The needles are ultimately "a hardened leaf" - and because of their secondary ingredients, especially the essential oils, "culinarily interesting".

Pine Needle Honey Ice Cream Recipe

One of the recipes that Barbara Pafel lays out in her "Aroma & Kraut" bistro is for "Spruce Needle Honey Ice Cream".

Ingredients:

.

a cup of spruce needles

.

200 milliliters of cream

.

two eggs

.

five tablespoons of forest honey

.

a tablespoon of rum (maximum 40 percent alcohol).

How to do it:

.

chop spruce needles very finely;

the older the needles are, the more important it is that they are really small.

.

Heat the cream slightly and add the spruce needles.

Leave overnight.

.

Beat the eggs and forest honey in a metal bowl over a water bath until foamy and then into a thick, very creamy mass.

.

Fold in the rum and allow to cool.

.

Briefly whip the spruce cream (it doesn't have to be stiff!) and stir in as well.

Freeze in the ice cream maker for about 20 minutes.

Portion and serve with pine needles and berries of choice.

Honey, ice cream, mustard, crunchy appetizers, fillings for game dishes, tea or bath additives: the list of uses for Christmas tree needles is long.

In addition to the classics such as Nordmann fir and blue spruce, the Douglas fir is now also one of the Christmas trees - Barbara Pafel is very enthusiastic about their soft needles: "They smell and taste strongly of grapefruit and tangerine.

That citrusy flavor is great.”

A cup of needles is often enough

As is so often the case, the motto applies: a lot doesn't necessarily help a lot.

A cup full of needles is usually enough, so one or two sprigs will suffice.

On the front of their bistro-café "Aroma & Kraut" in the Unterhachinger Fasanenpark shopping center there is still the Christmas wishing tree, "we eat it up a bit more every day".

In order to bring out the phytochemicals in the needles, you have to “injure the cell”, i.e. break the needles.

"Crack them beforehand, cut them, chop them up, knead them - only then are the substances released," is the expert's tip.

It is considered a delicacy in May to pinch off fresh shoots for fir tree top honey.

"But when hordes of people roam through the woods with pruning shears, it annoys the foresters," Barbara Tafel warns with a sense of proportion: "A hand bouquet from nature for personal use is fine, no more please."

It must be an organic tree

So if you want to process your Christmas tree leftovers in the cooking pot, you should note one thing: "It has to be an organic tree - because of the pesticides," says the herbalist.

Caution is advised, especially with Advent arrangements: "A branch of yew is often mixed in." But the yew is poisonous, not for consumption - Barbara Pafel also conveys these nuances in determining the needle in her workshops.

They are primarily designed as "help for self-help": "We make people want to broaden their culinary horizons.

Dare to try your own Christmas tree!”