Fun With New Ingredients: Fir Tips

After Michael Bauer sang the praises of fava leaves on his blog last week, here comes Daniel Patterson with another strange new ingredient of the now: Fir tips.

In a piece in San Francisco, the Coi chef/owner described the briefly seasonal and unique green:

For several weeks each year, Douglas firs sprout tender new growth on the end of each branch. Called fir tips, they’re sweet from the sugar that the tree has been saving through the winter, and their evergreen aromatics are overlaid with a delicate, ethereal note of mandarin orange. It’s an incredible, evocative flavor.

But what to do with these strange things? Patterson suggests infusing liquor or vinegar, sauteing them to flavor olive oil, or using them in salads or baking like any other green herb.

Patterson does not, however, give any hints on how to make fir ice cream, currently on the menu at Coi.

Wild thing [San Francisco]

[Photo: Via juniperridge.com]

Fun With New Ingredients: Fir Tips