Tag: Pine sap

Native American peoples used the sweet-tasting sap of the sugar pine as both a food additive and medicine. This exudate, rich in the sugar alcohol pinitol, has historically been consumed, but modern foragers must understand the risks involved. Can you eat sugar pine sap safely and what precautions should you take?

According to forestry experts, the sticky substance found on pine trees is not sap, but resin, a protective fluid containing irritating terpenes. This fact leads to the crucial question: is raw pine sap safe to eat? For humans, the raw resin is definitively unsafe for internal consumption and can cause adverse reactions.