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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!
pine needle soda
Feb. 2nd, 2023 09:32 amThe Nando story is all ready to go, but I have one outstanding question for him, so while I wait for that, here's something fun: pine needle soda! The ninja girl saw a Youtube video about lightly fermenting pine needles to make a tangy soda, and I was intrigued. She said her video didn't give proportions, so I found this blog post, which does.
Supposedly white pine needles are the most delicious, and white pines grow everywhere around here. I took a few needles from bunches and bunches of weedy little trees, never too much from any one tree.
I washed them and laid them out on a tray.
After I took them off the tray, their imprint was left on the wax paper! Interesting.
The recipe called for distilled water, but since I made chicha with just plain old tap water, I decided to do the same here. But then I accidentally poured in too much water. Oops. So then I added more sugar, hoping to give the poor little yeasties a little more food. Then I put the concoction in the sun:
On day three the drink tasted like mildly pine-flavored sugar water... a bit disappointing. So I decided to try again, getting the proportions right this time, and using distilled water. My brother-in-law had given us some homemade sloe gin, so I used the bottle left over from that.
Meanwhile, yesterday evening I tasted the original brew again. Ever so slightly fizzy! And this morning it tingles my tongue, so it's getting there. I'm excited to see how the correctly proportioned one does.
Supposedly white pine needles are the most delicious, and white pines grow everywhere around here. I took a few needles from bunches and bunches of weedy little trees, never too much from any one tree.
I washed them and laid them out on a tray.
After I took them off the tray, their imprint was left on the wax paper! Interesting.
The recipe called for distilled water, but since I made chicha with just plain old tap water, I decided to do the same here. But then I accidentally poured in too much water. Oops. So then I added more sugar, hoping to give the poor little yeasties a little more food. Then I put the concoction in the sun:
On day three the drink tasted like mildly pine-flavored sugar water... a bit disappointing. So I decided to try again, getting the proportions right this time, and using distilled water. My brother-in-law had given us some homemade sloe gin, so I used the bottle left over from that.
Meanwhile, yesterday evening I tasted the original brew again. Ever so slightly fizzy! And this morning it tingles my tongue, so it's getting there. I'm excited to see how the correctly proportioned one does.
pine-needle kintsugi
Oct. 15th, 2017 03:41 pmYou can see examples of kintsugi--repairing ceramics with gold, so the crack itself becomes a thing of beauty, and the object-with-cracks is celebrated and appreciated--various places online (here's one). This morning I saw pine needles doing kintsugi with cracks in the road, laying down in the crevices and repairing the road very beautifully:
pine needle coats
Nov. 20th, 2014 02:04 amHere is a picture of Bethie and her grandmother raking pine needles, in their pine needle coats.
Except I forgot the buttons! And I made the picture too small, so I couldn't get fine details, so I had to draw in Bethie's features, so she looks like a doll with a painted face -_- But I was able to give them both acorn-knit hats.
Except I forgot the buttons! And I made the picture too small, so I couldn't get fine details, so I had to draw in Bethie's features, so she looks like a doll with a painted face -_- But I was able to give them both acorn-knit hats.
pine needles
Nov. 18th, 2014 09:08 amAlongside the road and in the woods, the pine needles have dropped. Where the woods path goes through a stand of white pine, I met a grandmother and granddaughter raking up the fallen needles with small bamboo rakes. They were putting them in a long bag, like a cotton picker's sack. Remarkably, they were both wearing coats of exactly the same shade of copper-orange as the pine needles.
"Are you going to put the needles around blueberry bushes to make the soil more acid?" I asked. "Or are you making baskets? Or maybe you're planning a fragrant bonfire?"
"None of those: we're gathering these for felting," the grandmother said. "I didn't realize how much Bethie'd grown this past year--show the lady, Bethie."
Bethie stuck out an arm and I saw the skin on her bare wrist between the end of her coat sleeve and her hand.
"We're going to make you a bigger one, aren't we?"
Bethie nodded.
"Wow--I didn't know you could make felt out of pine needles," I said.
"Oh no? Well, you can, if you have the knack," the old woman said.
I looked more closely at her coat, and at Bethie's, and saw now that the rich, fuzzy orange fabric was decorated with geometric starbursts of pine needle embroidery--a marvel. The grandmother caught my admiring eye and smiled.
A red-tailed hawk screamed, and for some reason that put me in mind of time passing. Work called.
"Well, good luck with the gathering and the project," I said. "The coats are amazing."
"Thank you," the grandmother said, returning to raking. "You have a nice day now." Bethie waved goodbye, and I continued on the woods path. I looked back once, but they were lost from sight.
Photo: "Carpet of Needles, Delamere, Cheshire," by Ian Helsby on Flickr
"Are you going to put the needles around blueberry bushes to make the soil more acid?" I asked. "Or are you making baskets? Or maybe you're planning a fragrant bonfire?"
"None of those: we're gathering these for felting," the grandmother said. "I didn't realize how much Bethie'd grown this past year--show the lady, Bethie."
Bethie stuck out an arm and I saw the skin on her bare wrist between the end of her coat sleeve and her hand.
"We're going to make you a bigger one, aren't we?"
Bethie nodded.
"Wow--I didn't know you could make felt out of pine needles," I said.
"Oh no? Well, you can, if you have the knack," the old woman said.
I looked more closely at her coat, and at Bethie's, and saw now that the rich, fuzzy orange fabric was decorated with geometric starbursts of pine needle embroidery--a marvel. The grandmother caught my admiring eye and smiled.
A red-tailed hawk screamed, and for some reason that put me in mind of time passing. Work called.
"Well, good luck with the gathering and the project," I said. "The coats are amazing."
"Thank you," the grandmother said, returning to raking. "You have a nice day now." Bethie waved goodbye, and I continued on the woods path. I looked back once, but they were lost from sight.
Photo: "Carpet of Needles, Delamere, Cheshire," by Ian Helsby on Flickr
