Pine Needle Tea
Pine Needle Tea
Pine needle tea has been known since ancient times for its potent healing properties. This pale green beverage with a pleasant aroma and mildly sweet taste has lots of health benefits. It contains up to five times more vitamin C than lemon, rich in vitamin A, carotenoids, flavonoids and volatile oils. Pine needle tea can help:
• Boost immune system, fight illness, and infections;
• Improve health and appearance of skin;
• Increase vision strength and prevent development of cataracts;
• Kick our blood circulation and increase production of red blood cells.
Pine needles are free from gluten and are safe for people with wheat food allergy and celiac disease.
nutrition info:
calories: 31, proteins: _ g, carbs: _ g, fat: _ g, sugars: _ g
you'll need:
at home:
Mix sugar and citrus zest in a small zip-lock bag.
on the trail:
Cut off any brown ends and chop pine needles into small pieces to release the pine juices and essential oils.
Bring a cup of water to boil in a pot.
Remove from the heat and pour in needles, sugar and lemon zest, stir well.
Cover and let to steep for about 10 minutes.
Strain and enjoy.
I read not all pine needles are safe to make a tea with, and there also are trees out there that resembles a pine trees and called as such but in fact are not and are toxic to humans (like English Yew, Norfolk island pine, and the Yew pine).
All pine needles are edible. The trees you have mentioned are poisonous, however, they belongs to other families of trees. Actually, they are not a true pines