Juniper Berry

Common juniper is a hardy evergreen shrub or small tree with sharp, needle-like leaves arranged in whorls of three. Although the fruit is called a berry, it is actually a seed cone in which fleshy scales fuse together around two to four hard seeds.

The cones take two to three years to ripen, turning from green to a dusky blue-black coated in a pale waxy bloom. They are about five to nine millimeters across. Dried berries are wrinkled and dark with a resinous, piney, slightly citrusy aroma and a bittersweet taste that is clean and a little peppery.

They are sold whole, crushed, ground, or as essential oil, and they are used dried in spice jars. Berries from other juniper species are sometimes sold but differ in flavor and safety.

Juniperus communis has one of the widest ranges of any woody plant, growing across the cooler parts of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia and North America, from sea level to mountain slopes. It thrives on poor, rocky or sandy soils and in open woods and heaths.

The English word juniper comes from Latin juniperus, whose roots are unclear. Gin takes its name from the Dutch jenever, which comes from the Old French genevre and ultimately from the same Latin word, and the French word genièvre and the German Wacholder are related names for the plant. The berry has been wrongly named, since botanists classify it as a modified cone.

Juniper has been used by humans for thousands of years. Remains of juniper berries have been found in ancient sites in Europe, and ancient Egyptian records refer to juniper products. Greeks and Romans used berries as a seasoning and medicine, and in medieval Europe they were burned to purify the air and used in food preservation.

The best-known development was the invention of juniper-flavored spirits in the Low Countries. By the seventeenth century, Dutch distillers made jenever, a spirit flavored with juniper that was first sold as a medicinal tonic. British soldiers and traders took it home, and it developed into gin, which became the foundation of many cocktails. Gin legally must be flavored with juniper in the European Union and many other places.

In northern European cooking, berries became a standard flavoring for game, pork, cabbage and sauerkraut, and they feature in Scandinavian, German and French dishes. Native American groups used the berries and branches of local junipers as food seasoning, medicine and incense, and juniper wood and smoke are used in traditional food smoking.

Cooks crush a few berries to flavor marinades, stews, game, pork, duck, sausages, sauerkraut and pickling brines. They are also used in spice rubs and in juniper-flavored sauces for rich meats, as the sharp resinous flavor cuts through fat.

The berries are the signature flavor of gin and some other spirits and bitters, and they can be used in flavored vinegars and syrups. In herbal tradition, berries have been used as a tea or tincture for digestion and as a diuretic, and the essential oil is used in aromatherapy and perfumery.

The wood is used for smoking foods, and the branches for incense.

Juniper berries contain volatile oils such as pinene, plus flavonoids and tannins. They have a long history as a traditional diuretic and digestive aid, and laboratory and animal studies have looked at antimicrobial, antioxidant and blood sugar effects, but good clinical evidence is lacking. Eaten as a spice in small amounts, they are widely considered safe for most healthy adults, while medicinal doses are not well studied and should be treated with caution.