Eastern White Pine Foraging

PicturePinus Strobus Eastern White Pine
The World Clamors for Pine Needles ...
In 2021 alternative news sources misquoted one of the front line doctors, stating that pine needles are God's source for Suramin occurring naturally. Suramin is an ingredient in prescription drug Tamiflu. Whenever I heard this I cringed – as natural pine needles do not contain Suramin, as Suramin is a drug synthesized in a lab using plants that contain shikimic acid. Herbalists on Etsy used the buzz word "suramin" as did sellers on amazon. I was taken aback at either the deception or lack of knowledge.
Star Anise is most often used to make the drug Suramin, but Star Anise is a not so common, and an expensive resource. In ancient Chinese medicine Star Anise was used to fight “the plague”. The University of Maine began researching other sources for shikimic acid, and discovered white pine needles to be a resource that is readily available in the United States. (Please note that pine POLLEN does NOT contain shikimic acid, although it has its own claim in providing health benefits.)
 
With the revelation about pine needles making alternative news sites, people began racing out to buy pine needles, or forage, for tea. If you live in Wisconsin, as I do, the Eastern White Pine tree is our state’s conifer tree. I was surprised at how few of my friends did  not know how to recognize it.
 
Identification is an absolute in the rules of foraging. With the buzz about white pine, people kept sending me photos and screenshots in their search, however, the plant in the image was NOT even a pine! Pine needles are long, whereas spruce and fir are short needle conifers. White pine needles present in clusters of five needles.

I will state that conifers such as pine, spruce, fur, and juniper all have medicinal properties and you may want to research so as not to pass by a specimen yielding wonderful benefits.

Yew trees, however, are toxic, as is the Norfolk Pine that I used to have in my apartment as a houseplant. Be certain to know what you are harvesting and researching thoroughly. Some plants should not be consumed while pregnant as they can contribute to premature birth.
 
When purchasing a live Christmas tree, you can bet I am going to harvest the needles and make a tincture from it. Scotch pine had been my favorite tree with medium length, soft needles. A few years ago I purchased a white fur, after looking up its medicinal benefits. The white fur contains anti inflammatory and antiseptic properties. It is excellent for cold and flu season and respiratory distress. As well, it is reported to help bring relief to muscle aches and pains. We are blessed to have friends who raise the trees and do not use any chemicals.
 
If you are interested in “easy foraging” – get to know your local Christmas tree farmer. Offer to help prune their trees before the season, and I am willing to bet you can take home the bounty of your efforts to make tea, tincture, or whatever!

Better yet, get out in the woods. Breathe in the fresh air and do some "forest bathing" to reground and reset your body. Being out in nature really is the best medicine.
 Edibility And Making Tea
Native Americans would consume the inner bark of the white pine to avoid starvation during the winter. The needles, loaded with Vitamin C, are edible and commonly used for tea. As with all herbs – the needles should be steeped and never boiled, as high heat can greatly reduce the beneficial polyphenols of the plant. In this case, Vitamin C is sensitive to heat.
 
Making pine needle tea is simple! You need only a stainless steel, enamel or ceramic coated 4-quart pot, filtered water and fresh, not brown, pine needles.  If needed, you may cut the long pine needles into smaller lengths to fit into your pot. Simmer the needles on medium heat to a light rolling boil for 20 minutes. Then, cover the pot and remove from heat. Allow the liquid and needles to steep overnight.  The greenish-yellow liquid will contain terpenes as well as shikimic acid. Terpenes help remedy congestion as well as fight infection, and are also reported to assist with memory.  Pine needle tea has a bit of a citrus-like flavor.
I find pine needle tea pleasant, but others may wish to add a bit of raw honey. Personally, I add lemon balm tea to the pine needle tea – which contains many anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial properties as well.

The blessing of the shikimic acid molecule in pine needles is that it may prove incredibly useful for halting blood clots and defending people from respiratory infections. We use white pine tincture in a number of our specialty formulations.
 
The bark of the white pine as is reported beneficial in addressing benign prostate hypertrophy. Men – take note!

All parts of the white pine are non-toxic. Foragers often are quite pleased with a harvest of young, green cones in the spring. If there is a food shortage – remember, the White Pine is your friend!

Best Practices for extraction of shikimic acid –
According to this article in PubMed, a higher percentage of alcohol extraction results in a greater percentage of shikimic acid – 70% vs. 30%. “the best processing of the decompressing inner ebullition was as follows: when the concentration of alcohol was 70 percent with 18 minutes' desorption, the temperature of hot-extraction was 65 degrees C with 4 minutes' hot-extraction, solid-liquid ratio was 1:1.6 with 260 mL of hot-extraction, with a concentration of 30%.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21243780/

We use 80 proof distilled vodka to extract the benefits of the pine needle, at room temperature. You can review our method of tincture making here on this page. We offer three products that feature shikimic acid. The pine needle tinctures retail for $25for two ounces, and the COVX Immune specialty blend retails for $30 for a two ounce bottle.
White Pine Tree Identification
Who remembers the Euell Gibbons show…where a burly man explored the outdoors and taught us how to forage and find food in the wilderness? Euell Gibbons was a man before his time – I loved that show when I was growing up!

When I was a child my father would buy white pine seedlings on National Arbor Day for less than a dollar each. My brothers and I would plant the hillside across from our main farm buildings, as a wind break was desired. We had no idea they were living medicine! It was my job to haul 5 gallon pails of water to the hillside to water the saplings to ensure they had a good start. This was fine until I ran into a huge bullsnake one day, dropped my bucket and ran down that hillside while my father and brothers had a good laugh!
 
The Eastern white pine is abundant in the midwest and contains the poly phenol we are looking for to serve as an antidote for that darn splke pr0tein we are getting exposed to. It is not only in the syringe solution, but is tranmitting as well via nanobot technology.

Although the Masson pine may have the highest percentage of shikimic acid, at 6%, - my research reveals that both white pine, and red pine, contain shikimic acid as well.
 
For identification education images are provided below.  A YouTube video is also helpful – please visit to help you learn proper identification.
  • Eastern white pines are a tall species and grow 80 to 100 ft. (24 – 30 m) high.
  • Eastern white pine cones are long and slender, growing to 6” (16 cm) long.
  • The eastern white pine has soft needles that grow in clusters of 5.
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: 4 to 9
 
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