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Juniper berries are sometimes regarded as arils, [3] like the berry-like cones of yews. Juniperus communis berries vary from 4 millimetres ( 1 ⁄ 8 inch) to 12 millimetres ( 1 ⁄ 2 inch) in diameter; other species are mostly similar in size, though some are larger, notably J. drupacea ( 20–28 mm or 3 ⁄ 4 – 1 + 1 ⁄ 8 in).
The fruit are berry-like cones known as juniper berries. They are initially green, ripening in 18 months to purple-black with a blue waxy coating; they are spherical, 4–12 mm ( 5 ⁄ 32 – 15 ⁄ 32 in) diameter, and usually have three (occasionally six) fleshy fused scales, each scale with a single seed.
A small quantity of ripe berries can be eaten as an emergency food or as a sage-like seasoning for meat. The dried berries can be roasted and ground into a coffee substitute. [10] Utah juniper is an aromatic plant. Essential oil extracted from the trunk and limb is prominent in α-pinene, δ-3-carene, and cis-thujopsene.
Juniper berries are a spice used in a wide variety of culinary dishes and are best known for the primary flavoring in gin (and responsible for gin's name, which is a shortening of the Dutch word for juniper, jenever). A juniper-based spirit is made by fermenting juniper berries and water to create a "wine" that is then distilled.
Juniperus monosperma, the New Mexico juniper or one-seed juniper, is a species of juniper native to western North America, in the United States in Arizona, New Mexico, southern Colorado, western Oklahoma , and western Texas, and in Mexico in the extreme north of Chihuahua. It grows at 970–2300 m altitude.
Juniperus grandis is a medium-sized tree, growing to 12–26 metres (39–85 feet) tall. It has a stout trunk with red-brown bark, growing up to 3 m (10 ft) in diameter. [1]
A juniper berry is the female seed cone produced by the various species of junipers. It is not a true berry but a cone with unusually fleshy and merged scales, which give it a berry-like appearance. The cones from a handful of species, especially Juniperus communis , are used as a spice , particularly in European cuisine , and also give gin its ...
Juniper berries are used as a seasoning in cooking or in alcoholic beverages, [6] particularly to flavor gin. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] Juniper berries have also been used in traditional medicine for different conditions, although there is no high-quality clinical evidence that it has any effect. [ 8 ]