Stone pine cone tincture/schnapps. (Pinus cembra/ Austrian stone pine/Swiss stone pine)

jowitt.europe
jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin
edited October 2020 in Herbal Medicine-Making

Stone pine cone tincture/schnapps. (Pinus cembra/ Austrian stone pine/Swiss stone pine)

One does not use herbs only when one is sick or ill... This time I write about something for health and for pleasure 😊 I enjoy my herbs! I enjoy my herbal teas and I do enjoy my herbal tinctures, especially after dinner or during dark, cold winter evenings... My favorite tincture is the pine cone tincture.

I use the cones of the Austrian stone pine. The cones for tincture shouldn't be ripe and they have a bluish, violet color. One does not need many: two larger or three smaller cones are enough for one liter of schnapps. I cut them into slices, put into a bottle, pour high-quality alcohol (40% grain schnapps or vodka), close the bottle, keep it at room temperature for 4-6 weeks, shake the bottle now and then for a better color and taste. I do enjoy watching the color turning from light purple into intense red. Then I strain the liquid through a thicker cloth and store it

for suitable moments to enjoy. Some women add a little bit of sugar to turn it into a sweet liquor to be enjoyed with female friends. Not me. I like pure pine cone tincture.

In my opinion this is a great digestive. It tastes very good, helps digestion, disinfects and helps to avoid respiratory colds ... and has a very good smell. 

The stone pine is a special plant: stone pine wood is used for furniture or panelling - scientists have already proved that people live longer in such an environment; stone pine nuts are an excellent food; stone pine oil - a wonderful medicine, stone pine wood shavings in a sleeping pillow calm down and help a quieter sleep.... One can use every single bit of a stone pine. 

If there are no stone pines around, one can try making tincture with not ripe cones of any pine. 

Comments

  • naomi.kohlmeier
    naomi.kohlmeier Posts: 380 ✭✭✭

    This fascinates me! I would love to start making tinctures and such and start learning about their health benefits! Can you recommend a starting place? I love the pictures of the pine cones. It's wonderful how plants have so many healing properties.

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    @naomi.kohlmeier I would start with nasturtium tincture. I did write a discussion text on how to make it and the benefits on July 28. I think it is a good starting point for making tinctures as nasturtium tincture for me is the first medicine by cold, flu, anything with respiratory tracks.

    I love tinctures 😊

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    @jolanta.wittib Wow! Never would have thought to make a tincture/liqueur from pine cones. But what a great idea! Can't wait to try this! I am going to use the Whitebark Pine. It grows at high elevations and has cones similar to the colour you describe here. Thank you for the inspiration, both for this and the nasturtium tincture.

    @naomi.kohlmeier Have you checked out TGN's Academy? In particular, the Making Herbal Medicine Course? Module 4 is all about making tinctures, vinegars and glycerites. Home Medicine 101 is another good one where you will learn to use your homemade medicines for a variety of ailments and injuries. Some other resources that you might try are LearningHerbs and the Herbal Academy. Both offer courses in a variety of herbal medicine subjects. LearningHerbs has frequent webinars.

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    @torey Stone pine grows high up. Here in the Alps from 1800 meters up.

    I googled for white bark pine and cones. They look very much the same. I think that the white bark pine tree is an American/Canadian equivalent of European stone pine. The nature is so exciting. And I find it so exciting that we, being from different continents can share similar experiences.

  • naomi.kohlmeier
    naomi.kohlmeier Posts: 380 ✭✭✭

    @torey and @jolanta.wittib thanks so much! I didn't think to try TGN's academy. I'm going to have to check into that. Shoot! I grew nasturtiums last year, but not this. I'll be growing it again next spring for sure.

  • Karen luihn
    Karen luihn Posts: 53 ✭✭✭

    This is great Information. I a, going to check out the TGN academy as well for details on herbal tinctures. I have been fascinated but Intimidated at the same time and would live to learn this. Thank you

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    @Karen luihn Don't be intimidated. Tinctures are pretty easy. Lots of help here on TGN if you have questions.

    @jolanta.wittib I agree. We can find different species of genus', almost anywhere we live. There is a Canadian production called Medicine Woman about a young indigenous medical doctor, Dr. Danielle Behn-Smith, who went on a world wide journey to visit other cultures and learn about medicinal traditions. She discovered that there are many plants that have similar uses around the world. It is well worth watching if you can find it to download. It might be available at google play or msn entertainment or one of the streaming options, but I don't know how to operate any of those programs so not quite sure how to watch anything.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    I came across this recipe for a syrup made with green pine cones. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rieR9DrLvYE

    This is the recipe if it doesn't go to the page that gives it.

    Combine 1 cup pine cones with 1 cup organic brown sugar, stir and cover. Leave to macerate for 4 weeks stirring occasionally. Note that this is Scot's Pine (Pinus sylvestris), there may be other pines that you can use but be certain of the identification and edibility of any species that you chose to consume.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    The cones are just ripening in this part of the world. They are solid and heavy and covered with sticky sap. When I was out in the mountains the other day, I found a group of sub-alpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), that were covered with so much cone sap that the tops of the trees looked as if someone had taken a can of snow spray to the tops of them.

    I was telling my neighbour about your liqueur @jowitt.europe and yesterday she came home with a bag of sub-alpine fir cones and a bag of spruce (probably hybrid spruce) cones and has set them into alcohol. She said the spruce cones started to turn pink right away. I am super excited to try both.

    I tasted the sap on the fir cones and it was quite sweet, so it wouldn't need any additional sweetener.

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    @torey mine cone liquor is already pretty dark. I never put more than 3-4 cones per liter alcohol, otherwise the sap is so strong it is almost impossible to drink. I never add any sweetener.

    the locals also do liquor out of larch spruce. I have never tried one.

    I am also very much interested how your friend’s liquor develops!

    this is mine in the photo. I will keep it for a month or two before straining.



  • annbeck62
    annbeck62 Posts: 1,028 ✭✭✭✭

    Interesting conversation. I've never really thought about turning a tincture into a cordial but why not. Great way to let your food (or alcohol) be your medicine :) I grow nasturtiums but haven't tried tincturing them. I will definitely give that one a try.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    I've had an early sample of my neighbour's liqueur yesterday. WOW!!!

    Its pretty potent as she made it in a very high percentage alcohol and added more cones that you did for that reason, as she expected to be adding water to lower the alcohol content.

    But what an excellent flavour! And a very deep purple colour, almost what you would expect from blackberries. Quite sweet to my taste and my neighbour's (we have very similar taste buds) but my husband and my neighbour's husband didn't care for it at all (they like sweet things, less medicinal tasting). I am excited to taste it in a few more weeks to see how the flavour develops and what it will be like when taken down to a more approachable alcohol content.

    You can certainly feel the effects on your lungs. A warmth seems to go into the lungs, not the overall sensation of warmth from the alcohol, more of a lung-specific feeling. This will be a nice addition to a hot lemon for those who like to add alcohol (instead of brandy or whisky) to their hot medicinal beverages.

    I also found a lingering taste in my mouth that was somehow familiar, as if I had tasted one of the components before in something else. My neighbour thought the same thing.

    Thank you so much @jowitt.europe for suggesting this. I can't wait to get pine cones to try. But they are maturing now so it will have to wait for next summer. I will be scoping out a location for whitebark pine this winter so I know where to go next year as soon as the cones are ready. I will be looking for a good location for spruce cones, too, so we can compare the different species. The spruce variety that my neighbour got and put into alcohol was so pitchy and resinous that it made your teeth stick together after tasting. Her husband tried it and spent the rest of the evening trying to get it out of his mouth. So I'll be looking for a different species of spruce. 🤣

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    @torey what a lovely experience. Thank you for sharing. And it is not only for pleasure as, as you say, really has an effect on lungs. A very good prevention for flu and Covid. Minė is almost ready to be gilled into nice bottles for cool Autumn.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    This isn't my pic, its one I borrowed from the internet. But its what sub-alpine fir cones (Abies lasiocarpa) look like.

    They stand upright on the branches as opposed to the hanging habit of many cones. All that sticky resin/sap! And the purple colour that really released into the alcohol.

  • MissPatricia
    MissPatricia Posts: 318 ✭✭✭

    This is another one that I want to try. Intriguing! So any pine cone can be used? All are safe?

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    @MissPatricia I don't think all cones would be appropriate for this.

    As I said, the Spruce species (Mostly Picea glauca & P. engelmanni crosses) we have here left a resinous stickiness in the mouth. I would think that other members of the Abies genus would work just as well as the species I used (A. lasiocarpa). So Abies grandis or A. amabalis, those are the Abies in BC. I don't think Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) cones would work, either. They are very green in colour so if they did work, you'd probably get a greenish yellow colour, not the red to purple that @jowitt.europe and I experienced. I'm not sure about the Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) we have in this area. I'll have to have a look at those next year. I think the Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) we have in this area would give a similar result to the Stone pine from Austria. I don't think I'd like the flavour of Hemlock (Tsuga species) very much.

    There are so many different genus and species within the Pinaceae family that you would probably have to investigate each one separately to determine if they would work in this application.

    Definitely don't use Norfolk Island pine which isn't a member of the Pinaceae family. Or Yews, which are a member of the Taxus genus in the Taxaceae family.

    Juniper berries are actually cones and they are the base flavour of gin. Other members of the Cupressaceae family may be usable but I have a suspicion that they might have a high thujone content. Some people have a cedar allergy so this tree family might not be a good one to use other than Juniper.