herb
Foraging Juniper
Use the ripe blue berries as a spice (that gin aroma). A few go a long way; some species are better than others.
What to do with it
- Crush a few berries into braises & brines
- Flavor a spice rub
- Steep sparingly into tea
Ways to keep it
- Dry the berries as a spice
- Juniper salt or infused spirit (infuse)
- Juniper vinegar
About Juniper
Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus Juniperus ( joo-NIP-ər-əs) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south as tropical Africa, as far north as the Arctic, and parts of Asia and Central America. The highest-known juniper forest occurs at an altitude of 4,900 metres (16,100 ft) in southeastern Tibet and the northern Himalayas, creating one of the highest tree lines on earth.
From Wikipedia.
Tree and plant locations come from Falling Fruit, a volunteer-run map of the urban harvest, used under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. This project is non-commercial. Locations are crowd-sourced and provided as-is — always confirm a plant's identity and that you're welcome to pick before foraging.
Photos and descriptions from Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons. Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors. Not affiliated with Falling Fruit, Wikimedia, or OpenStreetMap.