Okay, here’s an interesting thought; Eating pine bark. Yup, you heard me right. I stumbled across an article today at Survival Topics entitled Edible Pine Bark and had to read further. While we regularly prune, fertilize and cut down many trees at CLC Tree Services, it is not every day that we EAT the fruits of our labours. Making reference to the nutrition, methods of preparation and history of eating pine bark, made for an interesting read though and I thought I would share a bit of that today.
So what did I learn? Pine bark is a source of food, as well as that essential vitamin C that can locally be more scarce during the winter months in Northern climes. That fact made it a favourite addition to the diet for the Adirondacks, a Native American tribe that’s very name means “bark eater”. While many new immigrants were dying of scurvy, salvation surrounded them in the form of the Eastern White Pine. Unfortunately for them, the knowledge from local tribes was not always available or listened to. It is amazing what we can learn when we are open to it though.
Like today! I found directions for preparation, frying, roasting and even boiling pine bark. You can even cook and eat them like you would a potato chip. Perhaps the next time a pine tree gets felled, instead of putting the whole thing in the chipper, I will have to save a chunk to try some new recipes. It is supposedly nutritious and delicious, so why not? So skip the orange juice for today and think pine bark instead! Yum!
Pine Bark Chip*