does anyone know when to harvest juniper berries and how to prepare them for use. I have 40 acres of trees and some berries are as big as marbles. I know some of the medicinal uses for them

-- Rick wyckoff (wittey@aol.com), August 30, 1999

Answers

Can't help with the processing! What??? Are you going to make gin??

-- Nick (nikoda@pdqnet.com), August 31, 1999.

I got this from one of my herb books:Uses-As well as giving gin its flavor,juniper berries are used to flavor other spirits and beer. crushed berries are added to marinades for game and stuffings for poultry. An infusion of the berries is thought to have diuretic properties and to be good for cystitis. It also soothes aching muscles. Juniper berries should not be taken during pregnancy or by people with kidney problems.You also can use them as d

-- Rick wyckoff (wittey@aol.com), August 31, 1999.

Hi!

I'll respond to your question about Juniper Berries. We live in the hill country of Texas where LOTS of Juniper grows - even though most people in this area call it Cedar. Every year people come down with "Cedar Fever" and the allergy Doctors make a fortune. What we do instead of going to see the allergist is we dry the berries and I use them to season our food all year long. When the Juniper begins to bloom and everyone gets miserable we have no response to the pollen as we have built up an immunity to it.

We find that the Juniper often has two different kinds of berries on it. I do not pretend to understand this but I will tell how I do it. When you have the fat plump berries you described I gently squeeze the main pit or seed from the berry and lay it on screens to dry. Pop a few fresh ones in your mouth at this stage and you will find that they are sweet with a heavy reminder of Gin.

The other berry that we find is the size of a peppercorn and hard. Those I just spread out to dry as is. When I want to use those I put them in a pepper mill and grind as you would peppercorns.

The flavor of the Juniper berry goes well with any game meat, beef etc. Our favorite thing to put it in is anything with tomato! Makes out of this world sloppy joes!!! Spaghetti sauce - you get the idea. In soups and stews I often put them in a little bag like you would for easy removal of bay leaves and such. That way you wouldn't have to grind the fat juicy ones you have dried. We like the flavor enough that if we end up with a little chunk we enjoy it.

My Nubian goats love all parts of the Juniper tree and often blow in your face - gin smell. No it does not effect the flavor of the milk in the Nubian. I can't say in another type of milk goat.

Hope I helped, Prisca

-- Prisca Wooster (kerryw@hctc.net), August 31, 1999.

As noted earlier,junniper berries are quite useful in cooking.If you check German,French Canadian,northern European cookbooks,you'll find recipes.Junniper berries are what gives Westphalian ham it's delightful taste.

-- Karl Bechler (kbechler@frontiernet.net), November 21, 1999.