Spruce Tip Maple Syrup - Who has done this?

[BlueberryHill]

I want to try making it. Spruce tips are ready to be harvested now. I have some thoughts in mind and don't mind experimenting, but I'd rather not repeat mistakes others have made if I can help it. Don't want to waste good syrup! Can anyone offer any pointers? Maybe you tried this and it came out great? Or maybe you tried and failed. Any input would be greatly appreciated! Can't find any info online re: how people are doing this.

I have bulk syrup. Thought about taking a pail of syrup, heating it up and pouring the hot syrup over the spruce tips and let it age for a month or so. Then reheat, filter and bottle it.

How are you guys doing it? Thanks!!

[NhShaun]

I have done this process with vanilla beans and cinnamon but have never tried it with spruce tips. Interested in what other people may have to say about their experience.
The big question would be proportions, If you end up making a batch that is too potent you could dilute the flavor with regular syrup.

[BlueberryHill]

Thanks for your reply! I do Cinnamon and Vanilla already and I just drop the Cinnamon stick (or vanilla bean) into the bottle before filling with syrup. Do people just do the same with spruce tips? I would think that you don't want the actual spruce tips in the bottle when you sell it. I bought a spruce infused male syrup before and it tasted good but had no actual spruce parts in it. I would think that it could break apart and now when you pour it, you are getting little spruce needles all in your syrup.

If I need to heat the syrup up anyway, I was thinking of just boiling the spruce tips in there for a couple minutes, then filter and bottle. Hopefully that would impart enough flavor and it would be an easier process than having to have the spruce sit in there for (weeks?) to infuse and then you have to heat it up again to bottle it after you have filtered out the spruce tips.

[NhShaun]

I think you're right about the spruce tips breaking down and coming out of the bottle when pouring. I doubt anyone would be happy about that.
I have read that actually boiling the spruce tips will release tannins which may give a bad flavor. It will also kill off vitamin C which isn't really the flavor, But may be worth looking into the right way to process for both flavor and preserving health benefiting components. I would start small scale and do a few different pint batches with different proportions and heating temps. Also wouldn't hurt to try different lengths of aging the spruce tips as well. If no one contributes to this post at least you'll get your own project a step close to dialing in that perfect spruce tip flavor.

[BlueberryHill]

Yeah, I plan to experiment as you suggested. Was just hoping that someone on here would be able to save me some time or at least narrow down my experiment a bit. Thanks again!