What are evergreens? What can you do with evergreens?

Have you heard the term "Evergreen"? It is widely used around this Northern areas since the vegetation in some zones is full of the evergreen kind of plants. What does it mean in practice?

Acording to Wikipedia: "In botany, an evergreen is a plant that has leaves in all four seasons, always green." 

The Latin Latin term is sempervirens , meaning literally, "always green".

The most common Northern evergreen is the family of Pinaceae. This Family has an immense versatility. The whole pinaceae plants are fully  rich in vitamin C. Natural vitamin C can be found easily in common plants. Synthetic vitamin C that you can get in the pharmacy is harsh with the body, since it is not natural and the body has to make a huge effort to process it. 

Cool recipe with evergreens: 

Via HerbGeek: http://www.herbgeek.com/2012/11/27/winter-medicine-evergreen-syrup/ by Michelle Czolba.

Energetically, evergreens are super appropriate to use as medicine throughout the winter. Although most of the trees have lost their leaves by now, evergreens remain green, showing us that nature lives all year long. Evergreens are also helpful with the particular ailments that abound during the cold and dark season. For the following recipe, I harvested from Norway spruce (Picea abies) and White pine (Pinus alba). Not the time of year for the tips so I used needles, twigs, cones. It turned out quite delightful with a predominantly sweet taste and evergreen-almost citrus undertones.

Evergreen Syrup Recipe:

Ingredients:

White pine needles, some twig ~2 oz weight (other pine species can be used)

Spruce needles, 2 cones ~2 oz weight (other spruce species can be used)

Filtered water to cover

Honey- half of the amount of decoction that remains (a 1:2 ratio honey:decoction)

Water added to evergreens

 

Put the plant material in a pot and cover with water. Bring this to a boil and then lower to simmer until the liquid is halved. Use a spoon as a measuring stick. You can also have a measuring cup handy to pour the liquid back and forth until it measures half of water added.

Evergreen syrup after decoction

 

Reducing the decoction to half of the original liquid takes almost ten hours. The liquid is then strained out, put back in the pot without the needles, and then the honey is added. The amount of honey to add is equal to half the amount of concentrate, so 8 ounces of concentrate would require 4 ounces of honey, or a 2:1 ratio. Warm and stir the mixture, and the syrup is done!

Evergreen syrup measured

 

Medicinal Uses for the Syrup

Tree medicine is very powerful when grounding is needed.  It fosters opening up to old wisdom, and letting oneself be cared for by the Earth. The evergreen forest is quiet, and feels limitless and mysterious. Evergreen syrup is good medicine for reflecting, meditating, and otherwise conjuring up introspective energy.

Decomposition of evergreen needles lowers the surrounding soil pH to provide a particularly acidic environment, a fact that I find interesting and relevant to its use as an antiseptic.

In Europe, pine products have been used as medicine since the Middle Ages, and their medicinal properties are pretty uniform across the Pinus genus. It acts as a stimulating antiseptic for respiratory infections and stuck mucus, and is useful for bronchitis, and at onset of colds and flus to stop infection. Pine is also used for coughs and asthma.

Spruce is useful to cut phlegm in the throat and lungs, and for opening air passages. It is high in vitamin C content, and can also be helpful for bladder conditions and in cases of leucorrhea.

Overall, Spruce and Pine syrup is great medicine to have on hand during the winter and early spring season. It can be used for acute illness, and as a winter tonic to provide a bit of sunshine in the form of a local source of vitamin C. Evergreen syrup is also really tasty, making it an easy medicine to work with as it can be added to hot water, porridge, pancakes, or taken straight.

References

The medicinal uses were compiled from the following sources:
The Earthwise Herbal, Part 2, Matthew Wood
Back to Eden, Jethro Kloss

Edible parts of Pine: 

• Cones: Gather the cones, remove seeds and shell before eating . You can eat them raw or roast them.
• Pine needles: In tea. Huge source of vitamin C
• Polen of Male pine cones can be used as flour substitute
• Inner bark: Boiled and Fried. To see how to get inner bark visit this awesome guide: http://www.tacticalintelligence.net/blog/how-to-eat-a-pine-tree.htm

CAUTION: Eating large amounts of pine can cause toxic reactions. All pine needles, regardless of the specific tree species they come from, contain lignols, resins and mycotoxins, which can produce toxic reactions in animals, such as livestock. But certain species of pine tree are known for having particularly toxic needles. More info: http://www.ehow.com/list_5976996_pine-trees-poisonous_.html

Frank Cook talking about evergreens as a source of food:




Make sure to identify your evergreen before eating. Stick to the common ones such as pine and spruce, consult a herbalist or a botanist if you want to experiment with other pineaceae family members, never try any plant you cannot identify. Harvest and treat plants with love and respect.

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