Juniper Berries

Juniper berries are the small, blue-purple fruit of Juniperus communis, an evergreen shrub, and despite the name they are seed cones rather than true berries. Crushed, they smell crisply of pine and resin with a citrus lift, and the taste is piney, peppery and slightly citrusy: the flavour most people recognise from gin.

They have been used in cooking and in herbal traditions across Europe, Asia and North America for centuries.

How to use it

Crush a few berries into marinades for game meats, lamb or pork, where the woodsy sharpness cuts through the richness. They sit well with cabbage, root vegetables and earthy sauces, and they are a fixture of Northern and Central European cooking, going into stews, gravies, homemade pickles and spiced desserts. They are also the defining botanical in gin and in juniper cocktails, and they steep into herbal tea. Use them whole for a mild background note, crushed for a clear pine hit, ground when you want the flavour carried through the whole dish.

Details

Also known as