Have You Considered Eating Your Christmas Tree?

You need to get that dried-out tree out of your living room before it bursts into flames! Why not make a meal of it?

If you dragged a real Christmas tree into your living room this holiday season, here’s a fun, weird, eco-friendly option for your post-holiday cleanup: you can eat it.

How to Eat Your Christmas Tree

A food writer in the UK named Julia Georgallis published a book with the straightforward, no-nonsense title, “How to Eat Your Christmas Tree.” The artisan baker and cook claims you can use nearly the entire thing to whip up some surprisingly classy recipes.

Don’t Just Grab a Fork and Knife

Of course, this isn’t a “just toss a log in your blender” situation. Before you dive face-first into a bowl of pine needles, there are a few culinary pro tips.

Most of her tips involve using your tree to season your meal. For example, the needles can be treated like rosemary or bay leaves, adding an earthy flavor to roasts, sauces, or even cocktails. (Apparently, crushed needles make a great flavor boost for gin or vinegar.) They also pack a decent punch of vitamin C.

Not All Xmas Trees Are Edible

You’ll want to make sure your tree hasn’t been treated with chemicals, pesticides, or fake snow. So if yours came from a big-box lot with a barcode tag and neon netting, you may want to skip the dining experiment and stick with curbside pickup.

Still, it’s a compelling idea: finding a second life for something that usually just sits in a landfill or gets mulched.

And if nothing else, it’s the kind of quirky fact that makes you sound like a weirdo at parties—“I finally got rid of my Christmas tree yesterday. It was delicious.”