Butterscotch Bark, a Failed Attempt at Foraging

No, my husband is not smooching a tree. The boys discovered this tree. It's a kind of pine, but I have to do some research as to what kind of pine it is. When you stick your nose up to the bark, it has a distinctive butterscotch scent. I'm not joking. Jake and I talked about making some butterscotch bark bitters.

The Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf and I went on a little foraging mission with Katie Blandin of Bar Cart Cocktail Co. last week. So, as we were hiking around Yosemite this past weekend, D kept pointing out edibles. "Mommy, we could make something with the pine tips...Mommy, look at the wild berries."

But I explained that we do not collect from National Parks. I told him we'd drive outside of the park and as soon as we saw the same things, we'd pull over and forage a few.

So, I'm sure you can imagine what happened: I followed rules about not collecting, we drove outside of the park, and...we couldn't find the tree anywhere. We pulled over at every pine stand for 10 miles and stuck our noses against trees to no avail.

Ugh. They were disappointed, but I told them it was the right thing to do.

**UPDATE** Just read this article on NPR: Rugged Trees with a Sweet Smell. Does anyone have a Ponderosa Pine they'd be willing to share some bark from?? Anyone?

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