Juniper berries

Flavour and aroma

piney, gin-like, bitter-sweet, resinous. Piney, resinous, bittersweet.

Heat

No heat

Forms

whole, dried

How to use it

• crush · Dry grinding technique

  Crush lightly with the flat of a knife or in a mortar just before use: 4–8 berries per kg of meat for marinades, braises and brines.

• use raw

  Add whole to sauerkraut and pickling brines.

• grind · Dry grinding technique

  Grind with salt and pepper for a dry rub for venison, duck or pork; the berries are oily, so grind with the salt to stop them clogging.

• Venison, duck and pork dishes
• Sauerkraut and choucroute
• Marinades and brines
• Curing salmon and hams

Identifying good quality

Round, blue-black to purple berry cones, 6–9 mm, often with a dusty bloom and a three-pointed scar at the tip. They should be slightly soft and smell strongly of pine and gin when crushed; hard, shrivelled berries are old.

• Not to be confused with Allspice: Allspice berries are reddish-brown and smell of clove, not pine.

Origin and history

Origin: Throughout the cool and temperate Northern Hemisphere (Juniperus communis).. Grown and used: Wild-harvested in Central and Southern Europe (especially the Balkans and Italy); used in Northern and Central European cooking and in gin..

Juniper has been used in Northern and Central European cooking for centuries, mainly with game, pork and preserved cabbage. Gin takes its name from the Dutch jenever, a juniper-flavoured spirit. In Alsace and Germany juniper is a standard seasoning for sauerkraut (choucroute).

Well documented