Pine needle syrup?

[atiz]

As I was driving today, I was listening to some NPR cooking show (they must have aired it around Christmas time originally). They gave a recipe for a salad made with pine needles boiled forever, using both the needles and the resulting syrup for the salad. Anyway, that didn't sound very enticing to me, at least as far as salads go, but I was thinking: would a very strong pine needle syrup's smell survive the lye in CP soap? Has anyone done something like it?

 

[szaza]

Haha I once heared about someone who would make Pine lemonade from old Christmas treas after Christmas, so your show is not the only one to use Pine needles for food
About your question.. if you really want a Pine scent you'll probably have more luck with an EO or FO, though Pine needle sirup would be a great experiment if you have a bunch of Pine needles laying around! Keep us updated if you decide to try it out

 

[SoaperForLife]

Indians used to subsist on pine needles when it was a bad winter. They also make a nice tea that when paired with mullein leaf, is good for sore throats. I am working on an herbal home study course from Rosemary Gladstar and one of the projects was to infuse an oil. Since it was winter, I used pine needles and some resin since that was all that I had access to. I used grape seed oil and low heat from our wood/coal boiler. The smell did carry over into the oil and when incorporated into a balm.

 

[Jill B Blasius]

@atiz I infused rosemary this fall. I had tons last summer and made several little herb packets for friends for Cmas. I ground the rosemary up in a coffee grinder so that the pieces were 1/8" and infused in a crockpot (https://www.soapqueen.com/?s=infusing+oils). Used in soap, still has scent to it 9 weeks later.

The same may work for pine?

 

[atiz]

@atiz I infused rosemary this fall. I had tons last summer and made several little herb packets for friends for Cmas. I ground the rosemary up in a coffee grinder so that the pieces were 1/8" and infused in a crockpot (https://www.soapqueen.com/?s=infusing+oils). Used in soap, still has scent to it 9 weeks later.

The same may work for pine?

Thanks, Jill, that sounds promising! Maybe I will try it. Have a bunch of pine needles out in the yard. (Rosemary sounds great too.)

 

[Hennyfer]

I'd love to know how it turns out if you decide to try it! I attempted something with balsam fir- infused my oil with the small branches and needles and also used a strong infusion as my lye water. The resulting soap really has no smell of balsam that I can detect, and I didn't feel it was worth the trouble. Would definitely recommend greater maceration/ boiling than I used. I do feel that the top notes of balsam, pine and other conifers are probably too volatile to capture that way, but maybe boiling will extract more resin and result in more scent? Please let us know