"Did you ever eat a pine tree? Some parts are edible." That's what world-famous wild foods forager Euell Gibbons used to say. This video is about how to gather what I think is the tastiest part of pine trees -- the pine pollen!

Pine trees put out an incredible amount of pine pollen in the spring. When it looks like yellow ash or scum is floating on the ponds and lakes, that's the time to get to harvesting pine pollen.

Any real pine tree is edible and tasty. A real pine tree has a scientific name that starts with the word "Pinus". Real pine trees have some sort of sheath at the base of their needles. And all the pines, except one, have 2-6 needles bunched together in that sheath. Here at Haphazard Homestead, we have the 3-needled Ponderosa Pine, the 5-needled Sugar Pine, and the 5-needled Eastern White Pine.

To get the pine pollen, we're looking for pine cones, but not the big woody pine cones. Those are the female cones that have the pine tree seeds. We are looking for the male cones that have the pollen.

It's easy to tell when the male pollen cones are ready to harvest. I give them a tap and look for the pollen to puff out. Then I just twist the little cones and they pop right off. Pine trees have lots and lots of male cones and pollen, so taking some doesn't hurt anything.

Not every little pollen cone will be at the same maturity. If some haven't opened up very much, I just lay them on a tray in a warm spot out of the wind. These cones are fully opened and almost done for the season. But there's still pollen left in them.

To separate the pollen from the cones, I think the easiest way is to put the cones in a jar or large paper sack and shake that pollen out! Shaking makes little brown bits of the cones come off, so these need to be sifted out, even though a few don't hurt anything in using the pollen.

If you want to play gold miner and pan for the golden pollen, go right ahead - but I think it's easier to just use a finer sifter. The best that I have found is the tiny mesh of these contraptions for making tea.

The pollen is tiny, as fine as dust. It sticks to everything. So I have a dedicated paintbrush that I use to sweep up the last of that valuable golden dust.

Every pollen is a little different and some stays fresh better than others. The pollen tends to get bitter or even rancid as it ages. A good way to keep pollen in good condition beyond a few weeks is to freeze it.

Pollen is great mixed with flour in all kinds of baking. I used all mine this year making batch after batch of pine pollen and spruce tree cookies -- they were so good! You can check out my video on those cookies.

Well, I hope you get a chance to enjoy some pine pollen come springtime. I hope things are going well at your place. I'd love to hear your thoughts on using pine pollen.

Pine trees: Genus Pinus, Pine family (Pinaceae)

My video on how to make pine pollen and spruce tree cookies:    • How to Make Spruce Tree and Pine Poll...  

My playlist on foraging for wild foods:    • Foraging Wild Edibles: Real Food for ...  

My channel: Haphazard Homestead:    / @haphazardhomestead  

Music:
"River Valley Breakdown" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Photo: Pine pollen on lake: photo Brian Stansberry, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Used under CC-BY-3.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...