Pine needle tea benefits

Our today’s topic is pine needle tea benefits. There are many types of beverages that we consume on a daily basis. Some of them are really healthy and great for our health, on the other hand, there are so many beverages that consist of a large number of unnecessary calories that are not good for our health. Pine needle tea is one of the beverages that are really healthy for our health.

Today we will dig deeper into this by exploring more about pine needle tea. Pine needle tea is rich in extract and with the help of carotenoids, it helps in vision improvement. It is commonly used as a medicine too, like a cough. It also helps in relieving respiratory problems and congestion. And just like this, we will be discussing pine needle tea in every aspect. There will be discussions about its benefits, its side effects (If any), Its usage, and how to make it? What is the recipe, Is it really worth it as per medication usage? let’s research it together.

What is pine needle tea?

Pine needle tea is a type of drink; that is consumed worldwide, particularly in these countries:

• Japan
• China
• Russia
• Korea

This tea is used commonly in these countries in harsh winter months as a fantastic source of nutrients when there are no fresh fruits and vegetables available. It’s a part of several traditional medicinal practices because of its year-long availability.

This tea was brewed centuries ago by the Iroquois and then they offered it to malnourished European explorers. They started using this in the early period of the 1500s. There’s this one of the most famous examples of its early use is when Frenchman Jacques Cartier’s dying crew got saved by the Iroquois with pine needle tea in 1543.

Piney is the word that is most commonly used by people for pine needle tea – In a similar way pine needles smell. There are many people who find its taste pleasant to their taste buds. Your palate shouldn’t be overwhelmed.

There are so many people who don’t know that nature is the greatest source of life-saving vitamins that are entirely unexpected – like the needles of a pine tree. This tea has been used for centuries by people around the world in particular countries. Pine needle tea has been brewed around the world to create a nurturing tea for centuries. This beverage is a really tasty and nutritious drink that can be harvested and created by anyone in any season they want. And most importantly, it’s an excellent source of essential nutrient Vitamin C.

What are the ingredients of pine needle tea?

The only thing you need to make pine needle tea is a source of pine needles which are edibles. There are a lot of varieties of pine, some of them are edible and some of them are not. So, make sure you have done enough research before consuming these pine needles. There are a lot of pine needle tea benefits.

There are so many pine varieties that are safe edible and safe to consume, including:

• Himalayan cedar – Cedrus deodara
• Japanese red pine – Pinus densiflora
• Eastern white pine – Pinus strobus
• Spruces
• Firs

You need to avoid those pine lookalikes that are not edible because they can be extremely dangerous. Keep this in mind, specifically you should avoid yew trees. Yew trees are one of the most dangerous pine trees.
Again, as mentioned above, you need to be very clear before consuming or collecting these pine needles or you can contact/consult online tree identification guide services or a local cooperative extension expert for help to identify which pine is edible evergreens and which is not.

You should never consume or use any plant unless you have done proper research about it. And you can identify if it’s safe or not. Cause there are a lot of plants out there that can harm you and can be proven very dangerous for anyone. There are a lot of plants that are extremely venomous which can harm you in various ways like skin allergies and some of them can be even deadly dangerous.

Read also: foods-to-avoid-with-triplicity

Nutrients in pine needles

Pine needles are mainly rich in Vitamin C. This is the main beneficial nutrient extracted from these pine needles, so it’s a great source of Vitamin C if you consume this pine needle tea. All Edible species of pine needles are rich in this beneficial nutrient Vitamin C. Vitamin C is the main beneficial nutrient that helps our body to form connective tissues and bones.

Pine needles are also rich in several molecules that can change in quantity and presence depending on the species. Specialists are still on research to identify new compounds in the pine needles. There are some of the bioactive compounds found so far; include:

Amino acids – For example: Proline and Arginine, which are used to create proteins in our body.

Flavonoids – Also known as particularly proanthocyanidins, they are associated with many health benefits.
Compounds that are flavor related – Including isoamyl alcohol and alpha-pinene.

Pine needle tea benefits

There are a lot of Pine needle tea benefits out there. Few plants based scientific studies have researched on Pine needle tea about its effect on human participants. The main focus of this study has been to identify the molecules in pine needles and distribute their properties in animal experiments and test-tube experiments.

According to this whole survey, the main use of pine needle tea is a cure for scurvy named disease. This disease is caused by the lack of Vitamin C. Generally, we consume Vitamin C from vegetables and fruits in our daily diet. These are some of the symptoms of this disease that include:

• Disease in gums
• Wounds don’t heal easily.
• Fatigue and weakness
• Broken and weak bones in children

Nowadays, Scurvy is not that common as there are several dietary sources for Vitamin C Available out there.

But still, there are chances to develop scurvy if you don’t consume enough food – If you are following an extremely strict diet or if you are in a war zone. There are certain medical conditions like Celiac disease and Crohn’s disease, that can also make it difficult to absorb several nutrients and can be the reason to diagnose with this disease called Scurvy. Being careless with your diet can also lead to scurvy.

Fortunately, as per the survey reports shows that one of the important pine needle benefits is that it can cure this medical problem or disease called Scurvy, even in the most severe conditions. This can also protect people who are about to develop this disease.

There are other potential benefits too which are associated with the molecules of pine needle tea. But that’s not been proven or Verified in any survey of human subjects. Some of those possible benefits include:

Anticancer properties: Animals, in the research with the cell lines, has found positive effects on a cancer cell, But again these effects have not been proven in human subjects yet.

Antimicrobial effects: There is this one study that focused on “Cedrus Deodara”, they found antimicrobial activity in laboratory-based experiments on the water-soluble extracts.

Antioxidant properties: There are some laboratory-based experiments that have demonstrated; that out of several chemicals there are some of the chemicals which is found in pine needles can protect your body against free radicals that are harmful to your cells.

Heart protection: This is connected with the presence of proanthocyanidins, which can be only found in ” Pinus Densiflora “.

Anti-aging effects: A server found that there are some of the compounds in pine needles that affect your metabolism by binding to a particular receptor. This receptor also has an anti-aging effect.

Immune system modulation: This is connected with the proanthocyanidins, in a plant-based study it was found in ” Pinus Densiflora “.

How can we make pine needle tea

You can make your own pine needle tea very easily, as it’s really fun and easy to make. Your pine needles can also be fed year-round easily.

The first thing you have to do is find a species of pine tree which are edible and safe to consume. Then the next thing you have to do is harvest the pine needles as many as you want for your batch of tea. Your tea will be stronger as many needles you use. And if there are any leftover pine needles you can save them for later and use them after drying them out. As long as you keep them good, the dried needles are also effective for making teas.

Now let’s get into the making of the tea, first, you have to take a pot that is convenient for making tea. Then put a good amount of water in the pot as per your choice; Turn on the gas stove and put that pot on the stove, let the heat do its work until it starts to boil but not too much. If you want, then you can let it boil for more time, but this will destroy some of the nutrients that you will get from needles by extracting. Let’s just simply add the needles, now let them simmer for about 10 minutes.

There will be a strong smell of pine that you will detect from the brew when it’s done. Now it’s ready to serve. Take a strainer and strain the water into mugs, straining will remove the unnecessary needles from the tea. Let it cool for a little bit of time until it’s cool enough to sip, it will burn your taste buds if you don’t let it cool for enough time. people have different tastes according to their taste buds; Pine needle tea’s natural taste is bitter, some people like it bitter and some like to add sweetness to it. Adding honey is a good option for a bit of sweetness.

This process is really simple as there are no extra adding, so it’s quite easy to make. Even children can help to prepare it as the process is just so simple. It’s a fun educational opportunity to forage for Pine needle tea. It will help your child to learn the value of renewable resources in the natural world by getting your child outside while learning these.

Other information

Why should you drink pine needle tea? This question comes first in a person’s mind when they hear about pine needle tea. So, let’s get straight to the answer, What are the pine needle tea benefits? Pine needle tea is a healing property, it’s an herbal tea if we talk in detail. We will talk about Pine needle tea benefits and why it’s essential to have this information in this article.

Pine needle tea is made by simply boiling the pine needles in hot water and then letting it simmer for a while. However, this tea can also be made from other conifer tree needles, some of the examples can be hemlock or balsam fir. This brew has a very good scent and flavor, that feels very pleasant in our nostrils. This tea is similar to green tea, but it is more natural and subtle than green tea.

People have different opinions about its taste, some people think it is bitter, and on the other hand, some people think it tastes like orange juice; it varies according to the pine tree they have used for making their pine needle tea. there are some common types of pine that people use generally on a daily basis including ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), or white pine (Pinus albicaulis).

There are other species that people use commonly, which make delicious tea as well including Manchurian red pine (Pinus massoniana), Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla), Australian pine (casuarina equisetifolia), and shikimic acid yew tree (Taxus baccata). There’s this part called pine bark, which is safe to consume; it can also be used in substitution of vanilla or cinnamon extract in all the recipes. Before or after being cut down, the older trees shed their needles; the inner bark is usually harvested from them.

You should only use the new growth tips of the needles (the green part) if you are using a young pine tree that has not yet produced cones or buds. Mature needles don’t contain that much Vitamin C compared to younger ones. The older needles lose some of the potency over time, but they are still very beneficial.

When using the older pine needle trees, you should only pick the inner parts of the needles where they are connected through the stem. There are some needles that can be poisonous if ingested including: Withered-looking or brown needles. You should not use these pine needles from your collection, avoid picking them.

You can buy this pine needle tea in the dried form at health food stores or online. Usually, people gather the needles with their hands when they are most potent during winter. There are many Minerals and Vitamins that our body needs on a daily basis and pine needles contain several Minerals and Vitamins, that’s why it’s really good for your health.

Pine needles also help our body fight off free radicals and also help eliminate toxins from our body with the help of phytonutrients. pine needle tea plays a great role in traditional medicine as a healing tonic. Pine needles have been used by Native Americans for several medical conditions like flu, colds, and sore throat; other than that, there are lots of pine needle tea benefits.

One of the pine needle benefits is, it’s really rich in antioxidants such as beta-carotene and Vitamin C. They contain Manganese and Shikimic acid which are anti-inflammatory compounds, which help in protecting our body from free radicals which cause cell damage and Oxidative stress. Winter months are the best time to enjoy pine needle tea. Pine needle tea is also an herbal tea, and it has many health benefits. Which gives our body the ability to fight cancer cells and is also helpful in improving our blood circulation.

Many people don’t know but Pine needle tea also helps our body in digestion. There’s this molecule called Tannins which is found in pine needles and may help as a cure for several digestive problems including dysentery, gastritis (stomach inflammation), and diarrhea. Tannins can also help to prevent our body from bacterial infections in the gastrointestinal tract with the help of their antiseptic properties. You can add some of the lemon drops to your cup of hot pine needle tea to add some flavor (if you want).

We haven’t talked about this point in our article, but Pine needle tea is an excellent source of Vitamin A in nature. It contains 1500 IU (150%) of Vitamin A in one cup of pine needles, and it’s much higher than many other healthy drinks out there. Vitamin is one of the many nutrients that our needs the most as it is very good for sharp vision, immune system, and healthy skin.

Conclusion

Pine needle tea is a type of herbal tea that is commonly used in Japan, Russia, Korea, and China. there are lots of pine needle tea benefits, and it’s really easy to make too. It is very helpful in promoting bone health and helps in fighting infections such as flu or colds while boosting White blood cell activity in our body. it’s also good for preventing inflammation and regulating hormone levels in our body.

Pine needles are very helpful in fighting several infections and in boosting our immune system, which helps our body clear up stubborn acne or any other skin issues.

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