Mugolio Syrup - made from sugar and pine cones

One day I woke up and decided to make this classic pine cone syrup. A 1:1 ratio of sugar to clean, washed and dried pine cones (about 1 cup each) is fermented in a sanitized jar for about a month. During the process, the jar must be "burped" a few times to let out the fermentation gasses. Finally, the mixture is dumped into a saucepan and brought to a boil. I only let it boil a few seconds, then remove the cones (they go into a compost bin). After that, another brief boil, then a medium simmer to dissolve any sugar crystals, and it cooks for up to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, the foam is skimmed off the top. Once it looks mostly clear, the liquid is strained and cooled. The result is almost like maple syrup, but believe it or not, it isn't extra sweet-tasting. It has a mild flavor, more of an aromatic "a-ha" that develops on the palate when you taste it. Mugolio is nice over ice cream or can be done used in salad dressings or other applications where you don't ingest a lot of it at once. This is a wild food, of course, and too much of an offbeat thing can give some people digestive issues. So it will be used sparingly and lovingly! Next time, I will use Douglas fir cones instead of the sort of white pine I used here. I understand Doug fir makes really amazing syrup. Well, there you have it, my first attempt. Tasty and fun! Thanks for stopping by.
#diy #pinecones #mugolio #syrup #wildfood #wildfoods #cooking