People Are Eating Their Christmas Trees, and You Can Too

Yes, you can eat your Christmas tree.

As families around the world are cleaning up after guests and throwing away torn gift wrapping, a lingering question remains: what should you do with the tree?

The imposing decoration is often dropped off to be recycled, burnt, or picked up at the curb by trash collectors. But there are many more useful ways to utilize your leftover evergreen. Some are even good for your health.

Pine needle tea is made from white pine needles chopped, added to boiling water, steeped, and strained. The drink can be enjoyed hot, iced, or blended with other herbal teas, notes registered dietitian nutritionist Kate Spurgin.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources reports that the tea is rich in antioxidants, vitamin A, and vitamin C, which can boost immunity and soothe colds.

WebMD also notes that certain molecules in pine needles can bind to a specific receptor in the body that plays an important role in regulating metabolism.

Pine NEedle tea from your Christmas tree can boost immunity

Tea isn’t the only way to utilize your leftover pine needles. They can also be used to flavor other dishes.

“The way that generally I cook with [Christmas trees] is to use the needles like an herb, in the same way that you might use rosemary,” said UK baker and cook Julia Georgallis, author of How to Eat Your Christmas Tree. “You use the rosemary to flavor a dish but you don’t necessarily eat the rosemary itself.”

Georgallis’ book includes over 30 recipies that utilize different parts of the Christmas tree, from drinks to ice cream to “Christmas tree ash”—which is exactly what it sounds like.

“That’s basically when you char the tree in your oven, so you blacken it and then blitz it down into a black powder, and that’s actually really flavorful. It’s very delicious — you just need a tiny bit of it — but it’s quite chef-y,” she explained in a recent interview with Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street.

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Part of Georgallis’ motivation in writing the book was conservation. More than 25-30 million Christmas trees are disposed of each year. While the author and chef knows 30 recipes aren’t going to save the world, she hopes her book can “start a conversation.”

“It’s absolutely huge what leaving one year’s worth of Christmas trees globally in the ground could do,” she explained.

“I think people understand the world a lot through food because it is something that everybody understands. People have spoken about the climate crisis in terms of veganism or eating animal… It’s just about starting a conversation and thinking about things in that way.”