Hugh: The Latest Online Trend Has People Eating Their Christmas Trees

Well, 2023 is off to a weird start. Not that anyone thought we’d have a normal year at this point. A trend going viral on TikTok right now has people finding ways to eat their Christmas trees. Nobody is actually taking a bite out of the tree drying out in your living room, but tips on the supposed health benefits of pine needles has people figuring out ways to get more pine in their life. As long as you have a real tree, you can use parts of it in cooking. Some say parts of the tree can be repurposed for “ice cream, cookies, as a powder, or inside gin.” Julia Georgallis has even written a book titled How to Eat Your Christmas Tree. Some common suggestions are boiling water with cleaned branches for pine needle tea, adding pine needles to pickled vegetables or eggs, or cooking needles with sugar and water to make a syrup for sweet treats.

So what are these supposed health benefits that are driving people to work their Christmas trees into their diet? Well, pine needles are apparently good for coughs, sore muscles, and to help clear chest congestion. I’m not sure how much truth there is to it, but I’ve also seen pine needle tea credited with helping mental clarity, depression, obesity, high blood pressure, and even allergies. Are you going to give it a try?