verdict on the pine-needle soda: buenísmo!

[asakiyume]

The concoction really came into its own a couple of days after my post (which was on February 2)! I drank the last of it yesterday--good and tingly, soda-rific with bubbles and all, and a good fragrance and flavor of pine. I definitely intend to make it again!

Comments

[queenoftheskies]

Cool!

[asakiyume]

Yes--I just had to be patient and wait long enough.

[rachelmanija]

I may need to try this.

I shall call it PINE NEEBLES!

[asakiyume]

It is astonishingly easy. Water, sugar, pine needles, jar with a lid.

The hardest part (witness my early disappointment) is waiting long enough before drinking it.

LOL, I missed your update when I replied--I approve HEARTILY of the name.

[sovay]

I drank the last of it yesterday--good and tingly, soda-rific with bubbles and all, and a good fragrance and flavor of pine. I definitely intend to make it again!

That's so cool!

[asakiyume]

It was very fun! And it gave me something to write my Amazon guides about. I like sharing northern foraging tips, and they've been graciously enthusiastic in their response.

[anna_wing]

Congratulations! I remember reading about pine-needle soup in Tove Janssen's Moomin books, and being somewhat sceptical, but if pine-needle soda is possible, pine-needle tea should be too. And the internet says that it is, with appropriate warnings to avoid some pine lookalikes, like yew...

[asakiyume]

Exactly; otherwise you will poison yourself, and that would be sad.

Also, I don't know how the body would do with the actual pine needles themselves... I found myself thinking about murder mysteries where someone kills someone by feeding them chopped-up porcupine quills, which then destroy their digestive tract. I guess pine needles are softer than that--but not super soft? So using them as a flavor strikes me as safer than using them as a food in themselves. Although if people around the world have a history of eating them, then it must be safe--provided, as you say, you get edible pines and not an evergreen like yew.

[yamamanama]

Porcupine quills are keratin so I'm not sure what would actually happen if you ate chopped up qulls.

[asakiyume]

Yeah, come to think of it, I'm not sure where I got the notion that they were deadly...

[amaebi]

Ooooooh!

[asakiyume]

10 out of 10, would recommend :-)

[oracne]

It sounds so intriguing.

[asakiyume]

Very easy to try as well--"low barrier to entry," as they say in the business press ;-)

[raven]

Amazing! That sounds delicious.

[asakiyume]

It's fun when one of these natural treats actually does work as promised!

[wayfaringwordhack]

NICE!

[asakiyume]

Quite pleased!

[wayfaringwordhack]

It is always satisfying when a recipe can come back from "meh" status, especially one as cool as pine needle soda.:D

[asakiyume]

100 percent agree

[cafenowhere]

It's cheering that this experiment had such a happy result! Watch it become a meme as we all start including pine needle soda in our stories.

[asakiyume]

Ahahaha, I would love this. Actually, I have just finished a zero-level draft (I mean, it can't even be called a first draft yet, it's so drafty) which features white pines heavily and I was wondering if there was a subconscious connection! (No pine-needle soda, though)

[osprey_archer]

Thank you for this update! Glad it turned out well once it had a bit more time.

[asakiyume]

It's great when the solution to a problem is just to wait a bit longer!