Evergreen, Ever Delicious

In Denmark, as in the United States, the Christmas tree is a primary icon of the season, along with the falling snow and Father Christmas. On Juleaften, or Christmas Eve, around 9 or 10 p.m., most Danish families join hands, dance in a circle around the tree and sing carols — a communal yet intimate celebration of Christmas.

Then we exchange presents and everyone exclaims over his homemade cookies, marzipan and other sweets, along with dried fruits and nuts.

Despite all the sentiment we attach to our Christmas trees, we still get rid of them quickly once the holiday ends. Three or four days after Christmas, abandoned trees are discarded in the streets as if they were garbage.

Isn’t that a shame? Nature takes enormous time and effort to produce something that we use only briefly. Why don’t we make greater use of this living tree, as we make use of so many other kinds of plants on earth, by eating it? Is it because, having served as the focus of such an important family event, the tree comes to seem like part of the family? Maybe for us Westerners the Christmas tree becomes, if only briefly, like a beloved pet. And who would like to eat their dog or cat?

That is also a shame, because evergreens are delicious. At my restaurant we use their needles as a spice. You can cook with a branch of spruce or fir as you would a sprig of rosemary or thyme. Wouldn’t it be beautiful if families gathered after Christmas, festively removed the decorations and then cut off the tasty needles of the tree to flavor their food?

The needles can be dried and mixed into a powder that makes a light, citrus-y and very aromatic spice. Sprinkle that powder into cookie dough, add some to rice as you cook it, or even rub it on chicken before roasting. Dried needles can even be used to smoke meat, and then you can use the tree’s wood for kindling.

Small spruce branches can also be used to add flavor. The next time you steam spinach or other greens, throw one in at the very last minute to give a light aroma and a lemony feel to the dish. Or, after cooking steak in a pan, flavor the cooking butter with a fistful of spruce needles. I find that game meats respond especially well to these flavors — which is not surprising, when you consider how animals like to eat the tender, bright-green shoots in spring.

Spruce and fir are useful in many other dishes as well. Fresh fish, salted for a day and covered in fresh needles, absorbs the forest aroma and emerald color into its flesh. Needles work especially well in oils and vinegars, condiments that my staff and I lavish on fresh sweet peas every spring.

Each year more than 100 million trees are produced for Christmas worldwide. Considering that it takes 8 to 12 years to produce a decent-sized tree, it seems pointless simply to discard this bounty after only a few weeks of using it as ornamentation. I don’t mean to sermonize. I want only to point out that food is everywhere, that a tree is more than a symbol or a decoration: it is delicious food.

This year, let’s all butcher the tree. Below are three recipes that will let you make the most of it.

Spruce Butter

7 ounces butter

3 ½tablespoons pine needles

Sprig of lemon thyme.

1. Mix in a blender for eight minutes until soft and green.

2. Pass through a chinois sieve.

Spruce Oil

3 ½ ounces pine needles

3-4 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1 ¼ cups neutral oil.

1. Blanch needles for four minutes, then dry.

2. Mix all ingredients in a blender until they reach 160 degrees.

3. Pass through a chinois sieve.

Spruce Vinegar

3 ½ ounces pine needles

3 ½ ounces apple vinegar.

1. Briefly mix in blender.

2. Place in a sealed container overnight.

3. Pass through a chinois sieve.

René Redzepi, the chef and co-owner of the restaurant Noma and the author of Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine.

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