Spruce honey

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 1 kg spruce tips
• 2 ½ liters of water
• 1 lemon(s)
• 1 ½ kg sugar

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Rest time approx. 12 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 3 hours; Total time approx. 16 hours

Clean the collected spruce tips and place them in a large pot with cold water. It’s best to place a plate or porcelain bowl on top of the tips to weigh them down. Let it steep in a cool place overnight. After at least 12 hours, bring the tips to a boil in the water and simmer for about 1 hour. The water will turn a nice milky color. Then strain the tips. A cheesecloth is ideal for this (I don’t like this, so I first strained everything coarsely, then ran it through a fine sieve). Measure the collected liquid and pour it into a large pot. I ended up with 1.5 liters of liquid, so I added 1.5 kg of sugar. It’s important to add the same amount of sugar. Squeeze the lemon and add the juice as well. Then let everything simmer thoroughly, stirring frequently to prevent the mixture from burning (this can take about 2 hours). Once the mixture has a chestnut-colored, syrup-like consistency, test for settling. To do this, simply drop some of the mixture onto a cold plate. When the drop forms thick threads, the spruce honey is ready and can be filled into jars. I like spruce honey best on a sandwich or in tea during cold season (a real “cough miracle”).