This man picks and pickles spruce tips. Here's how

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They do not taste like trees.

Yet, that's exactly where these yummy morsels come from.

And, if you want to gather spruce tips while they are plum for picking, now's the time.

"Around this time of the year, the new sprouts of the spruce tree start to grow," said Luis Luna from his home in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.

"While they are still tender I pick one tip per branch," he added.

Luna has been picking spruce tips for a couple of years and he's hooked.

"Foraging is a way to connect with nature," he said.

Luna says he learned about thevalue of spruce tips from friends who are Indigenous.Luna is originally from Guatemala and says their ancestral beliefs resonated with him.

"I feel a great deal of respect to those who have learned to live from the land, and to forage and gather," he said.

Once he mastered how to pick them, he learned how to pickle spruce tips from a 93-year-old friend.

Here's how:

• Clean them with fresh water
• Try to preserve whatever is foraged right away
• Make brine with one litre of vinegar, three litres of water and one tablespoon of salt for every litre of liquid (four spoons total)
• Bring to a boil
• Pack the canning jars with the spruce tips and pour in the hot brine
• Put the lids on and put the jars in a canning bath for 11 minutes
• Let them cool

The end result is delicious and citrusy.

"You can smell the scent of spruce as you bite them ... but it is not strong," said Luna.

Luna says he likes to put them on salads and charcuterie boards.

Sometimes he just eats them out of the jar like olives.

"Nature is bountiful," said Luna.