Going through last year’s foraged goodies I came upon a bag of dehydrated spruce needles. Having already done fermented spruce tip syrup (which coincidentally turns into a delicious spruce/forest tasting liquor!) , I was wracking my brain to come up with another recipe.
So I decided on a couple of things. I would experiment with homemade spruce tip soda to scratch my recent homemade-soda itch (be careful- explosions to be expected!) AND I would try a spruce tip hydromel.
Hydromel- What a beautiful word. It comes from the Greek ύδωρ which means water, and μέλι which means honey. So that’s what it is- a water-honey mixture that ferments with the natural yeasts found on the leaves and which use the sugars from the honey instead of the sugars from, well, sugar.
This recipe couldn’t be easier, no need for boiling or sterilising anything as we need the yeasts from the needles to do their job-
- 2 handfulls of spruce needles
- 5 tablespoons of a dark rich forest honey
- half an orange
- water to cover
Add all ingredients in a jar and mix well. Leave in room temperature for 1,5 weeks. As the mixture ferments, the yeasts will eat the sugars resulting in a less sweet mixture than what you began with. When you are happy with the sweetness, carbonation and spruce taste, strain and place in fridge. Enjoy cool or as a mixer for alcohol!
❤
(Fer)mental Greens 