A decoction of the buds in milk or whey is a common household remedy for scurvy; and the young shoots or green cones form an essential ingredient in the spruce-beer drank with a similar object, or as an occasional beverage.
The small twigs, tied in bundles, are boiled for some time in water with broken biscuit or roasted grain; the resulting decoction is then poured into a cask with molasses or maple sugar and a little yeast, and left to ferment.
Cochineal owes its tinctorial power to the presence of a substance termed cochinealin or carminic acid, C17H18010, which may be prepared from the aqueous decoction of cochineal.
The nuts are again boiled, and the inspissated juice of the second decoction yields a weaker catechu of a brown or reddish colour.
The American "essence of spruce," occasionally used in England for making spruce-beer, is obtained by boiling the shoots and buds and concentrating the decoction.