It’s that unfortunate time of the year when we all have to dispose of our beloved Christmas trees. This can be a rather grim ritual. What was once a beauteous, glistening spectacle of green conifer needles and glowing white and red baubles is commonly tossed out in the street with yesterday’s trash like some sort of poorly disposed corpse. Or, if you’re from Belgium, you may be literally devouring your tree in some sort of misguided effort to “recycle” it.
Yes, the Belgian government was recently forced to issue an odd PSA warning its citizens not to eat their old Christmas trees.
“Christmas trees are not intended to end up in the food chain,” Hélène Bonte, an agency spokeswoman, told the New York Times on Wednesday. She added: “There is a difference between using needles from pristine nature and needles from trees specifically grown for Christmas and to be decorated at home.”
The reason authorities were forced to make this declaration is that the government of Ghent, a city in the northern part of the country, recently suggested that its residents use the leftover needles from their trees to make “delicious spruce needle butter,” which can be eaten with toast and other baked goods. A webpage promoting the re-use of holiday resources encourages locals to pick the needles off their old trees and immerse them in boiling water. “As soon as the needles are dry, you can make delicious spruce needle butter for bread or toast,” the page reads, calling the process a “piece of cake” and a way to ensure that “your Christmas tree is not 100% waste.”
The problem with broiling your old Christmas tree needles is that many have been intensively sprayed with various pesticides. Also, some types of tree needles are inherently poisonous.
Ghent’s heart appears to have been in the right place, as they were obviously encouraging their residents not to waste the food and resources that went into celebrating the holidays. That said, not all forms of recycling were created equal.
The push to make people eat their own Christmas trees was dreamed up by the city’s climate team, which was looking for ways to promote sustainability and recycling. “The social media post about the culinary uses of Christmas tree needles fits within a broader context of reuse, recycling, and a circular economy,” the local government told the Times, in an email.
The Ghent webpage currently has a passage that reads: “Note: not all Christmas trees are edible,” before listing some of the potential health issues with scarfing down your former tree.