Bacon doesn’t grow on trees. Right? Well maybe it does. I was reading a blog post on Survival Sherpa about uses for pine. It was a list of 13 things you can do with a pine tree. I got to the seventh one and my jaw hit the floor. Pine Bark Bacon. Wait what? Bacon from trees! Have I died and gone to heaven? How have I missed this fact? I knew that the pine tree has many edible parts. I enjoy drinking pine needle tea. I rely on it to keep me from getting colds every year. I also knew the inner bark was edible. I did not know about pine bark bacon though.
I knew the moment I read about pine bark bacon I would be eating it. Soon. Today Dave and I from Dual Homestead were debarking a pine tree. Using brush axes as bark spuds. No safety Sally’s I don’t want to hear about it. They did a great job as bark spuds. The whole time though I wanted a draw knife. Or my trusty Buck Hoodlum. With all the bark removed I peeled some of the inner bark off to bring home I came in the door kicked my boots off and starter frying the pine bark bacon. I was so excited to get to it.
Pine Bark Bacon
I didn’t bother to read how to make pine bark bacon. I knew it frying the inner bark of a pine tree. I over thought it at first. I wanted to brine it in salt and liquid smoke. Instead I decided to cut a bacon sized stip and fry in some bacon fat. While cutting it I noticed it looked like bacon. Kinda. I was hungry.
I fried it till it was golden brown on both sides. Then I took it out and placed it on a paper towel. I sprinkled it with some kosher salt while it was cooling down.
Taste
Sadly this is not as glorious as bacon. It is however damn tasty. It got crunchy. It was not stringy and tough. Instead it was salty and sweet. It had a mild pine flavor. Not pine sol flavor. It was actually very good. I expected this a horrible experiment. I mean I was eating tree bark. No it was not the weirdest thing I have ever eaten. Although considered a survival food, I could eat this regularly.
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Seriously, I have to know…. is it worth the effort to load up on a bunch? If so, how do you store bark? Dry it? Freezing would probably work….probably couldnt pressure can it with good results…
And how does it compare to another bacon wannabe – turkey bacon???
On a similar thread, I recently tried “coconut bacon” Don’t bother. Its not coconut enough to be called good, and not bacon enough either….its seems to have fallen smack dab in the middle of two things I love….and falling short of both.
I wonder is Australian pine would work for bacon…we have a LOT of them here, and they are invasive….if so, I could add it to my selective invasives list with lionfish, invasives that I’d like to eat out of existence locally.
Peace, Bro!
db
I think it’s best fresh. If you were going to store it i would salt pack it. Um it’s tasty for sure. Worth trying for sure
Is there any nutritional value in the pine bark, or just something to satiate you to keep a clear head until you can find proper food?
I believe it is carbs and fiber. So some food value.
I am wondering if it is worth the effort as well since it’s nutrition is negligible. Anyone have an idea on how to find out the numbers on this to see if it’s worth the hassle?
this is one of those things i have been meaning to try. my house is literally surrounded by pine trees.they grow like weeds here.
For me it was two birds one stone. I was debarking the tree anyway.
Well. if you just dried it it would last forever.
bring and liquid smoke for a day or two before use would refresh it.
But really it’s not going to do anything for you..
trees are cellulose. Humans can’t digest cellulose. So yes there is starch, carbs and calories in it. We just can’t break them down to digest them..
So other then as a tasty treat with your packet of oatmeal, and a bit from the bacon fat you fried it in all you are getting is a bit of fibre and something tasty to chew on..
Don’t try it as any sort of food replacement..
If they ever figure out a way to get us to be able to digest cellulose.. I don’t know if that would solve world hunger, or deforest the planet in weeks.