Pining For Pine Needle Soda

It’s mid-Feburary in New England and while there is an ever-constant threat of nor’easters and blizzards, I can finally start to see the light at the end of the tunnel – spring! Daylight starts to grow and my body craves sunlight and vitamins. This is the perfect time for a fun, easy and delicious project that requires few ingredients, little effort and a small amount of patience.

Pine needle soda may sound unappealing to the non-forager, but we edible experts know there are amazing flavors trapped in these tiny, sharp greens. Citrusy notes of grapefruit, orange and lemon abound. Think Sprite or 7UP, but with a deeper depth of flavor. One cup of pine holds more than 5 times the amount of Vitamin C as a cup of orange juice.

Picking the Right Pine

All pine is edible, so any pine will work for this recipe, just make sure to avoid Yew (typically ornamental planting). I recommend using white pine, which is one of the most common trees in New England, and definitely the tastiest. Its easy to ID by just looking at the number of needles. White pine will always have 5 needles. I pluck the needles off low growing trees, as opposed to the ground because we will be relying on the pine to create a yeast for fermentation, which means minimal rinsing of the needles is key.

Ingredients

To make your all-natural soda, you only need 3 ingredients!

2 cups of pine needles (rinsed once)

2 cups of filtered water

4 tablespoons of either raw honey or white sugar (depending on how you want to ferment)

Pack ingredients into a mason jar, or a swing top glass bottle – burp/open and close the tops each day to promote fermentation.

Shake thoroughly

Steps

Place the jar/bottle in a window sill to allow for sunlight, which adds in Vitamin D, for 5 – 7 days. Much of the timing depends on how hot your house is and which season you make the soda. In the summer months, my sodas are ready after 5 days. In the winter, they take a bit closer to a full week. The carbonation amount is also a personal preference, so if you like your soda extra fizzy, leave it for an extra day or two.

Once it has reached prime bubbliness, simply strain out the needles, throw in some ice cubes and a slice or lemon or lime, and sip away. Or, add in some vodka and gin for a deliciously fizzy cocktail.

Other Wild Ingredients Perfect for Soda

Once you have the hang of pine needle soda, let the experimenting begin! There are an incredible variety of wild edible flowers, herbs, berries, twigs (think black birch tips or sassafras root), barks (roasted shagbark hickory bark is delicious in a wild soda) and garden/ornamental plantings that can be used to make truly unique and luscious soda mixes.

• Mugwort
• Gil-Over-Ground/Ale Hoof
• Sumac
• Beach Roses
• Yarrow
• Sassafras leaves and roots
• Spicebush
• Sweet fern
• Spruce & Fir Tips
• Lavender
• Lemonbalm
• Wild mints
• Black/sweet/river/yellow birch tips
• Roasted shagbark hickory bark
• Daylily flowers
• Hosta Flowers
• Lilac flowers
• Magnolia flowers
• Violets
• Dandelion
• Red bud flowers
• Elderflower
• Milkweed flower
• Chicory flowers
• Immature green pine cones

Get funky with your flavors! In the few years that I have been making soda, only one came out tasting poorly. I now make one wild soda every week throughout the entire year (winter included), with whatever wild or garden ingredients are at their prime.

Don’t be shy mixing either. Some of the most delicious sodas I have made involved 4-5 wild ingredients, creating a wholly unique flavor specific to the week, month and specific location I was in.