Wild Hoing

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 500 g spruce tips
• 100 g pine needles
• 50 g mint, wild
• 3 lavender flowers, plucked
• 3 tbsp, heaped sugar
• 2 liters of water

Instructions

Working time approx. 10 minutes; Rest time approx. 3 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 3 hours 40 minutes

simple, suitable for gifting

Note: Collect fresh spruce tips. Since you’ll need a lot, please collect them from different trees to avoid damaging them. Instead of wild mint, regular mint would work if none grows nearby. The honey would then have a different flavor, however. The same applies to fir. The recipe also works without pine needles if you can’t find any or aren’t familiar with them. Lavender isn’t a must. I’ve split the recipe over two days, but it could all be done in one day, too. It’s best to gather the ingredients in a basket and rinse them under lukewarm water to avoid accidentally cooking beetles and caterpillars. Then chop everything up and pour a liter of water over them in a pot. Cover the pot with a cloth and leave it outside for at least three hours to let the ingredients rest. During this time, they will fill with water. That was day 1 for me. Day 2 can be done, as described above, as soon as the water has been absorbed. Add more water to the pot so that the needles are just barely covered. Then place the pot on the stove and let it simmer with the lid on for about 10-20 minutes. As soon as the liquid takes on a light color and the needles visibly dry out, pour them through a sieve or remove them. Add the sugar to the collected liquid and keep it at a gentle temperature. After a while, the liquid will turn a light yellow. Place a small spoonful of honey on a small plate and let it cool to check the consistency when cold. Once the consistency and taste are right, pour the honey into the jars while it’s still hot. The honey can be used both hot and cold. Keep in mind, however, that it will still be very runny when warm. The above mixture is enough for about two jars of jam.