Our cuisine is anchored in the geography of our region. We do not look at maps of countries; we look at maps of ecosystem layers. One of our most treasured ingredients is the young, lime-green tips of the wild Whispering Spruce tree, harvested during a precious seven-day window in early spring.
These spruce tips taste nothing like dry pine needles. In their youth, they are packed with natural vitamin C and malic acid, giving them a bright, citrusy, and slightly resinous flavor that mimics a fusion of lemon zest and freshly cut cedar. It is the taste of the forest waking up.
Because the harvest season is so brief, our preservation methods must be flawless. We capture their fresh youth using two key methods: pickling in light birch syrup and dry lacto-fermentation with 2.5% sea salt. The salt draws out the cells moisture, creating a bubbling brine that develops deep, olive-like herbal complexities.
We use these preserved spruce tips throughout the year. Most notably, they are fermented into a thick spruce tip syrup that we drizzle over our Whispering Spruce Mousse dessert, creating a sweet, woodland experience that transports diners directly to the misty alpine forest they passed on their journey here.