Isaac McHale, one of a collective of pioneering chefs known as the Young Turks, began working with evergreens several years ago and now serves pine needle salt with chicken fried in buttermilk at the Clove Club, his restaurant in Shoreditch, East London.

“Pine is less of a taste than an aroma,” he said. “We use pine, Douglas fir and spruce blend for the salt. All bring something.” Evergreens go best with fish and meat, particularly game, Mr McHale said. He first began by making venison sausages skewered with pine branches.

Those who extricate desiccated brown spikes from their living-room carpets should note that the needles are at their best when they are fresh from a branch high off the ground. “Choose a dry day, then strip them off into clumps and cut them down with scissors to 1cm-long pieces,” Mr McHale said.

Euan Peach, the sous- chef at Ynyshir Hall on the west coast of Wales, said that the hotel’s restaurant used pine in fish, desserts, meat and cocktails. “It has a very fresh flavour, lots of citrus notes to it,” he said. “It’s the forest, it’s earthy – there’s a lot going on in there.”

He added: “It’s being used more and more nowadays but it’s just finding the right things, because sometimes it can go wrong. It can go bitter very easily.”

Eat Weeds, the online foraging guide run by Robin Harford, of Sidmouth, Devon, advocates pine needle vinegar as an alternative to balsamic.