"Your food is your medicine and your medicine is your food" Paracelsus

A walk in the forest is always very relaxing for me. The silent paradise gives me rest and relaxation, it awakens every time anew in me joy of life and inspiration.

Pine, spruce and fir not only look good as trees, they also taste extremely good! What? Trees and food ?! Now Lucina has already gone crazy - yes maybe, but I have always told you I am very inquisitive, curious and of course willing to experiment. As I am interested in everything around me, I have heard from my neighbors that they will make a spruce honey from the young shoots. Hmm, that sounds interesting ... honey from trees? I had to know immediately what and how this is done. I was particularly pleased the fresh tasting of my neighbors, which was made after an old peasant recipe - and this tasted excellent. At the same time, however, I went through my head with which ingredients I could refine this honey - the liquid gold of the forest.

At home, I was in the Internet and later in books and journals informed about this topic and researched over three weeks. My desire to experiment was aroused - I, as meticulous detailist, however, had to know in advance how everything works, which active ingredients are inside and what they trigger when taking such a honey or syrup. So I've landed on innumerable helpful information of medicine and healing effects of trees, plants and forests in gemmotherapy - Gemma is the Latin word for bud. Gemmotherapy is a method of using remedies from fresh parts of plants such as buds, sprouts and root tips of trees and shrubs. This is how the experimentation with the buds, plants and flowers started - from which the recipe cheese-Wipferl-puff pastry-bags was born. Here I have directly used the fresh shoots of conifers - and they really taste very good - refreshing and slightly lemony.

And now here's the secret to a delicious, healthy and exceptional, liquid gold of the forest - my treetop lemon balm honey.

With which we enjoy our sense of taste with a wonderful forest experience. Meanwhile, I've tried countless recipes with this honey: he refines, for example, Pineapple Pimpinelle Smoothie, Fennel-Peach Tarte with Double Blue Cheese or the Duchess Rosa Lavela

It is difficult to give information. Just read the recipe and vary the quantities.       young firs and sprigs tree tops  1 piece bunch of lemon balm   water   normal sugar   gelling sugar 1:1   BIO lemon some twist off glases

Lucina´s tips: You have to rely a little on your own feeling while cooking. Sometimes it's faster, sometimes it takes longer.

 I did it that way:

First of all you need fresh Wipferl. To dress, to grab a wicker basket, and off you go in the woods.
You should also stop by the forester (or forest owner) and politely ask if you are allowed to harvest something.
Never are the Wipferl harvested from the crown of a tree! - that damages the tree and hinders growth.
Just pluck a few tree tops, a little bit here, allittle bit there. First ask the tree for permission and then, of course, thank him as well.
Trees are like our brothers and friends, so we should treat trees with respect.
Wipferl are the new bright green needles that have grown at the tops of the firs and spruces (via video) - this happened in spring (May-June).
To recognize the trees helps you a saying: "The spruce stings, not the fir".
There are actually young shoots of all conifers - you have to be careful only with
the EIBE - this is a poisonous conifer!

The fresh tips (I had about 1kg and therefore a very long walk behind me)
Wash at home in a colander under running water.Give them in a big pod.

Wash the lemon balm, chop it with the scissors and put it into the pot to the tree tops.
Pour with water, so that there is still about 1 cm of water over the saplings.
Halve the organic lemon (I needed two for my lot) and squeeze its juice into the pot. The juiced lemon with the shell also add.
Stir well and mix well. Complain with a plate and
Keep the pot in a cool place for 10 hours - preferably leave overnight.
Switch on the stovetop, simmer the pot gently for about 50 minutes with occasional stirring.
Gorgeous this fragrance, which spreads over the whole house -man also experiences an aromatherapy.
Remove the pot from the stove, cover and leave for another 10 hours (preferably overnight).As you can see now, the tips have already lost a lot of color.
Strain this milky brew clean (with a sieve or cloth) and print the mass lightly with hands. (Put this expressed mass aside, from this you can make spread and jam) Measure the resulting liquid. Take 1 kg of sugar per liter of liquid.
(I got 5 liters out of it - but I put a liter aside for my later jam "Mother of the Forest").
I mix 2 sugars: one half I take normal household sugar and the second half gelling sugar 1: 1
 but you can just use normal table sugar or brown raw sugar.
I use Gelierzucker 1: 1 because of the consistency, so that the honey is not too thin.Add sugar to the broth, stir well and bring to a boil - then simmer gently - at the lowest level, which is important to whom vitamins.
The boil-in may take a little longer depending on the amount - stir again and again, so that the sugar does not burn! Dabai also creates a foam on the surface, so-called "honey foam" which you can skim and eat - a true delicacy, since most of the flavors are included here.
Let some of the water evaporate. When the mass has become viscous and the honey is slowly blowing bubbles, he is finished - but depending on the amount, it can sometimes take 4 hours.
Fill the finished honey into clean twist-off glasses. I always turn it upside down for 5 minutes - then back again.
As a decoration, I have included in every jar a Wipferl in honey.
Store in a cool, dark place.


I have tried countless recipes with the honey. It tastes best on butter bread, on salad, on vanilla ice cream, in tea or in combination with soft cheese, yoghurt, muesli, fruit etc.

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