Late spring coaxes tenderness from needled trees: This is the time to look up to find the soft tips of edible fir, spruce, and hemlock forming at the end of every branch on each of these aromatic evergreens. The tips are vividly, freshly green, and unmistakably distinct from the tough, mature needles of the previous year. They are a succulent addition to your seasonal culinary adventures.
Here’s how to use them.
Photography by Marie Viljoen.
But first: Did anyone recoil when they read “hemlock”? Just in case: The edible hemlock you may nibble for dinner in springtime is the common name of trees known botanically as Tsuga species, whereas the poisonous hemlock that conjures a skull-and-crossbones is a herbaceous plant, Conium maculatum. Physically, there is little chance of confusing the two.
Apart from being conifers, what fir, spruce, and hemlock also have in common is that their new growth in late spring is delicious. Their tender tips are sapid in a way unique to each tree, but they all have an element of citrus zest in their fragrance and flavor spectrum.
The softest new needles can be chewed up with pleasure, while the more developed tips lend themselves better to infusing and fermenting.
While edible conifer tips can be used interchangeably, here’s how to tell the difference between spruce, fir, and hemlock:
Spruce (Picea genus) and fir (Abies and Pseudotsuga) are the trees most easily confused with one another, because their short needles are attached individually to their branches (unlike pine needles, which grow in groups called packets).
Spruce needles are attached to tiny, woody projections. When the needles fall, spruce branches feel rough. Spruce needles are square in cross-section, and can be rolled between your fingers (I always murmur, “Spruce roll” to myself as I feel them). They are also very sharply pointed; grabbing a handful of mature spruce needles will hurt. Finally, looking at the tree as a whole, spruce cones point downwards.
- Spruce rough
- Spruce roll
- Spruce cones down
Fir needles, on the other hand, are flat, and cannot be rolled – they also feel softer. Fir branches don’t have projections to hold needles and their bark feels smoother. Fir cones point upwards.
- Fir smooth
- Fir flat
- Fir cones up
Hemlock (Tsuga) needles are arranged on a single plane, not spirally, like spruce and fir. So hemlock branches have a feathery and flatter appearance. Their fragrant needles are flat (they cannot roll), and their small cones are pendant.
