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Spruce Tips - field notes for foraging and inspiration

6/28/2017

When sun rays crown thy pine clad hills
and summer spreads her joy.

So goes the opening line to Sir Cavendish Boyle’s Ode to Newfoundland. Not long ago it was our national anthem and today it’s still sung at official events with no hint of irony. But this opening verse, which evokes the joy Newfoundlanders experience at the end of a brutal winter, does hide a small botanical blunder. The thing is, there’s not really a whole lot of pine in Newfoundland. Sir Cavendish would not have been remiss to check a book on horticulture before setting this line into verse for all eternity, because fir and spruce are by far the more common trees in Newfoundland. If I should be bold enough to suggest a new tree for the opening line of our beloved Ode, it would be the spruce, whose wonderful green tips are the surest sign of summer spreading her joy across this land.

My favourite way to enjoy spruce tips: in water!

This post is about the spruce tip. Click "Read More" to find out what it is, when to pick it, and to get some inspiration for what to do with it in your kitchen.

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Food Travel Stories - from four unlikely European cities

6/4/2017

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On a recent trip to Europe I ate in four unlikely cities:

Longyearbyen, Norway
Budapest, Hungary
Helsinki, Finland
Gothenburg, Sweden

I spent five weeks traveling in total, and aside from a few days in my mom’s kitchen in Finland, I was, for the duration of my travels, without a stove. Being so far away from my knife set and my tri-ply pots and pans, I was forced to look outside the kitchen for good food and good stories. Here are a few of those stories. Enjoy!

Café storefront at Katajanokka, Helsinki, Finland

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I'm Erik, the Burnt Chef. I'm a Finnish-born Newfoundlander living in Norway. I have a passion for cooking and a deep fascination for the culinary history of the North. Simplicity guides my cooking. Time, place, and history guide my storytelling. This is my personal blog about food.

burnt chef

Spruce Tips - field notes for foraging and inspiration

Food Travel Stories - from four unlikely European cities

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