Made my first batch of pine honey. Tastes like I remember

[heatherlynnky]

One of the things that I remember from when I was little was pine honey. My Oma ( I had many since I adopted them since mine were all dead) took me walking and would pinch off the tips of new pine growths. Not the whole thing but just part of it. Anywho when she had enough we would head back. Then into water they went. Add sugar. Boil and the whole house smells of pine. In the end you get a really dark thick syrup that is great for coughs and chest colds. Fantastic for sore throat. Anywho first batch made tonight. I will be making several more. Has anyone else every heard of this or made this. I would be interested in the variety of ways others make this. The Oma we all learned this from lived in the alps in Austria and it was done on a wood stove. I did it on the regular cook stove just fine. Hers seemed to take longer to get syrupy though.

 

[txcanoegirl]

Sounds intriguing. I looked up pine on my local forager's site, and although no mention was made of pine honey, pine needle tea is mentioned. A caution: Pine contains phytoestrogens, which can cause miscarriages, so pregnant women should avoid. Pine pollen apparently gives "ooomph" to men, so if you want to increase the friskiness in your man, give him some. http://www.foragingtexas.com/2006/04/loblolly-pine.html

 

[ORChick]

Your post prompted me to look in my several German herb books to see what I could find about pine. A couple made mention of using the needles in teas, but only one mentioned pine honey, made the way you describe. Believed to be useful in the treatment of bronchitis.

 

[heatherlynnky]

I have 2 more batches on the stove. At this point we should have about 45 ounces of it by the time I go to bed. I will pick again tomorrow. My sister has really severe lung issues and does her best to stay well. She wants a good bit to hopefully help her when she does get brochitis. Everytime she ends up with pneumonia. I have found where i can make cough candy with this also. Still working out the details but we shall see how it goes.

 

[ORChick]

Do you have access to horehound? That is also useful in chest issues.

 

[heatherlynnky]

I don't but maybe I should check into it. Tonight I took the lump that came out of the pot when we made this second batch and reboiled it with more water. Then strained it again. Added fresh lemon and more sugar and just boiled the fire out of it. When I could drop it into ice water and it turn into a hard ball I poured it on a cookie sheet. We shall see if I have something to suck on in church after that I guess. With bad allergies and sinus issues my throat stays sore. It would be great to have the pine honey in a bit more convenient form. Next I need to try to find a way to make them into lozenges. We shall see if it works first.

 

[hqueen13]

Sounds really cool! Can you take photos and give more detail of the process? It sounds simple enough, but I'd love more information.
Thanks!

 

[cheepo]

what kind of pine are you using...can any pine be used...??? sounds very intreging

 

[Marianne]

Ya, I was wondering that, too. I have some Austrian Pines.

 

[heatherlynnky]

I don't exactly know. We have some that mom "freed" from Austria many many years before I was born and then there is some spruce that came from there also. We make the honey with both. I could not tell you a type. From what I have read almost all are safe for humans. I think maybe there was one that maybe was not so good.