Juicing Pine Needles

[DopeRawAbundance]

I've had pine needle tea before but there comes a time in every mans life where he takes it to the next level.

I've read accounts of these being hard to juice using a juicer so I would recommend blending with a Vita-mix and using a nutmilk bag. Here's a start-to-finish picture fest of my experience.

The harvest (from my yard, jackpot!)

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/4697/dsc03882qb.jpg

Pine needles resting in spring water, they don't know whats coming (yeah I know my Vita-mix is dirty bite me)

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/5882/dsc03883n.jpg

BLEND0RZ!

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/2573/dsc03884kz.jpg

Pour the result through a nut milk bag (with a dish under it, please) and squeeze out the stubborn liquid.

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/1456/dsc03885m.jpg


Oh? You don't say? Only 4 images per post? Bite me?

[DopeRawAbundance]

Here's the resulting yield of magical forest elixir.

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/5407/dsc03886n.jpg

And the by-product, pine pulp. I highly advise you not to make cookies with this. Compost it. Or make a shirt or some'n.

http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/6655/dsc03887d.jpg

And here we are, the payoff. A beautiful glass of fresh pine needle juice. With pine trees on it.

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/5325/dsc03888dl.jpg

The juice has a nice pine taste to it (move over wheatgrass) with a strange mouthfeel to it, I would compare it to eating a milkweed but you've never did that either. You might notice that even after straining theres heavy particlage in there, this is ok (I think). Just stir it as it settles.

Thanks for tuning in to the latest episode of Juicing Pine Needles, stay tuned for the next episode of Juicing Pine Needles: is juicing pine needles juicing pine needles? We'll talk about this and more so keep your ears open, for now this is DopeRawAbundance, signing out.

[CathyA.]

Just curious. What are the benefits to this green goodness? I myself have never thought of pine needles as tempting.

[Aleesha Sattva]

you finally did it. now go clean your vita-mix!

[Aleesha Sattva]

Just curious. What are the benefits to this green goodness? I myself have never thought of pine needles as tempting.

well here's the benefits of the tea:

http://pineneedletea.com/index.php?p=1_9_Benefits

[RawKnitster]

That was a fun read! :D

How are you feeling? Haven't keeled over yet? Running to the bathroom frequently? :p

After reading a few of the benefits on Alissa's link, I'm ready to sign up.

[Mary Kay]

A couple summers ago I took a wild foraging class and was taught a nifty trick to know which pine needles were the desired ones. It is the white pine.

W H I T E
1 2 3 4 5 letters

They are in clusters of five needles.

Cool huh?

Thanks for sharing DopeRawAbundance!

Don't know about any other pine needles that are good/edible ones.

What kind did you use?

Mary Kay

[CathyA.]

well here's the benefits of the tea:

http://pineneedletea.com/index.php?p=1_9_Benefits

Interesting. I think I will try this out. Thanks for the link.

[Evie]

Interesting idea. I had never thought to do that before. I have usually lived in areas with lots of pine needles.

[Shine]

Tea I have made bunches of....born and raised in Maine, kinda comes with the terriroty, "Pine Tree State" and all. It was also a camping treat.

Juicing on the other hand....what an undertaking!!!! I don't know if I have the gumption (to use an old Mainer word) but I'll put it on my list of things to do.....

Thanks for posting your adventure!!!!

[T-Bird]

Your vitamix is in a serious state of "yuk!"


Interesting tutorial on the pine juicing, however.


Anything really dope to report?

[delmar]

I know that this is an old thread, but according to google this is the only article on the web about "how to" juice pine needles. I have only been juicing for about a month, but since it is winter my pine trees are the main thing i have a ready supply of, this time of year. I don't have a good blender so I took a little different approach than DopeRawAbundance did. I started by running them through the food processor dry. All that happened was it chased the needles around with the blade. Then I filled the food processor pretty full with needles. When it is full the needles can no longer get out of the way of the blade, so this grinds them up pretty well. After the needles were ground up I added water and let them soak a while. Then ran them through my Squeezo food mill. This yields a nice thick green juice. I't not real tasty straight, but not bad when you add a little carrot juice.

[michigan roman]

ive read alot of people say they love their squeezo , so wondering if you do also delmar

[delmar]

ive read alot of people say they love their squeezo , so wondering if you do also delmarIt works incredibly well in conjunction with a food processor, in that the pulp is really dry when you are done.
It also gives your arm an incredible work out! I have plans to build a hydraulic press juicer, but I think I can get by with the squeezo until spring when I have a lot more stuff to juice.

edit: My squeezo is the old style with the metal auger. I'm not sure how I would like the newer ones with plastic parts.