This post is a little late (and short), but here none the less.
Shortly after Christmas I came across a post on Well Preserved titled Eating the Christmas Tree… Christmas Tree (Fir) Brined Pork Tenderloin and decided to try out that recipe with our tree needles. The preparation was really easy, and the end result was very delicious.
Ingredients for making a Christmas tree brined pork tenderloin
It turns out that there are lots of ways to cook with Christmas trees. The New York Times ran an article titled Evergreen, Ever Delicious which offered “inspired” recipes for spruce butter, oil, and vinegar. More adventurous recipes out there include these delicious looking roast potatoes, spruce duck, pine smoked mussels, and spruce tip shortbread cookies. The needles can also be innovatively used for toppings, such as a gremolata or a powder. And what better way to use the leftover Christmas tree then to make some holiday drinks, like beer as seen on Spruce on Tap, or gin, or tea. Taking the Christmas tree beyond decoration and bringing it to the plate, or mug, is very cool, and a neat reminder of the edible parts of nature that we might take for granted.
Check out the links below for other uses for spent Christmas trees.
Enjoying a beer (not a spruce beer) on coasters made from a spent Christmas tree trunk.
- Don’t Waste That Christmas Tree: Turn It Into Spruce Beer (npr.org)
- Farmer wants Christmas trees for goats (wwlp.com)
- Christmas trees used as fish habitat in Berlin (ecofriend.com)
- 10 Uses for Your Dead Christmas Tree (thisoldhouse.com)
- What To Do With Your Old Christmas Tree (hint: does NOT involve a garbage dumpster) (ecowomen.net)
- What to do with your old Christmas Tree (brooklynfeed.com)
- Recycled Christmas Trees Being Used to Rebuild Jersey Shore Sand Dunes? (earthyurban.com)
On a Quasi-Related Note 