Juniper berries?
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You making gin?
I was wondering about that myself. They indeed smell wonderful!
The Juniper berries I got from the store, are 3/8" round balls and purplish brown.
Gin... mmm
The purple colour seems that they are more aged... I tried looking for the edible-ness of these ones, but I can find out....
Please do!
If they are juniper, then you might want to wait a year or two to harvest them. they take a while to mature. There were some near me that looked like those pictured but they never purpled up. Come to think of it, the leaf on your plans look wrong for Juniper... memory suggests I check before saying more....
good thing i checked... inconclusive but both flat and spiny forms appear under juniper... not sure why
good thing i checked... inconclusive but both flat and spiny forms appear under juniper... not sure why
Thanks for this... The smell is actually wonderful, but I'm going to wait and see if there's some when they turn dark blue.
I agree, the needles/leaves are scaly, not spiky, as in the StackPath article @camonick linked to.
We have some Juniper trees around here with the same scaly leaves and berries shown in the OP. I think those are ornamental Junipers. They smell wonderful, but doubt they're edible or safe to eat or extract from.
I tossed the just to be safe... I don't think they would have been ready anyway
I crush them and add them to my esb (recipe I got years ago from a brewery, mind-blowing) - the juniper flavor is only there to kinda tickle your taste receptors into saying hang on what's that? As such really help create a distinct character to the esb.
E.
... Oh and yes I've both bought them and have used the ones I find in a local bush, both worked.
E.
... Oh and yes I've both bought them and have used the ones I find in a local bush, both worked.
I just can't believe that nobody recognizes these particular berries. I was able so far to find 1 web listing of them, but they are stock photos or juniper berries. Lol
Nice berries, but not the same. The ones I picked had pointy parts
Another thought...
In Europe they ferment them into a drink they call Smreka. You can read more about that by searching for "smreka a simple fermentation recipe", or go to herbrally (dot) com. I don't remember the rules about posting links to other sites here so I didn't.
Living in the Central Arizona mountains, large Juniper trees are dominant here and I have a truly unlimited supply of berries. *My* plans are to harvest a crop this fall and ferment them with some added sugar to up the alcohol and finally ferment THAT into some Vinegar. I've been having a ball making artisan vinegars the past year or so.
In Europe they ferment them into a drink they call Smreka. You can read more about that by searching for "smreka a simple fermentation recipe", or go to herbrally (dot) com. I don't remember the rules about posting links to other sites here so I didn't.
Living in the Central Arizona mountains, large Juniper trees are dominant here and I have a truly unlimited supply of berries. *My* plans are to harvest a crop this fall and ferment them with some added sugar to up the alcohol and finally ferment THAT into some Vinegar. I've been having a ball making artisan vinegars the past year or so.
We have a stand of junipers around the corner and when I see them loaded with the dark purple berries I get super tempted to pick some. I googled about it a while back and IIRC, the specific juniper species used in gin is from the Mediterranean region. Not that they aren't probably grown here too but they might require a warmer climate to produce good berries. So I buy mine by the pound on Amazon.
I'm pretty sure those are arborvitae berries. (the leaf shape is the giveaway more than the berries, but the berries look like what I remember too) No idea how edible they are/aren't.
The article talks about the first year being flowers, could that be what you have picked?
I just checked my amazon orders page, my Hatton Hill Organics juniper berries are wild picked in Turkey. We like to use them in sous vide pork shoulder along with some citrus and black pepper. Light on the juniper to make carnitas, heavy on the juniper plus garlic makes amazing Gin Rillettes 
I have harvested juniper berries in my neighborhood and used to make beer (I was getting the yeast off them). Here's pics from that. 2nd pic is me making a yeast starter with the juniper berries in the flask.
I suspect "juniper" refers to a spectrum of plants. In my case, juniper is a low-lying shrub.
I suspect "juniper" refers to a spectrum of plants. In my case, juniper is a low-lying shrub.
Did you get anything good? I thought about trying that with my Turkish juniper berries. Collecting wild strains is fascinating, I've also wondered what I might get off of our linden trees, knowing they are widely revered in Germany and might well have been the source of some ancient styles...
It appears that the "true" juniper berry tree ( J. communis) never produces the "mature" leaf form, thus it only has needle shaped leaves
From wiki:
In some species (e.g. J. communis, J. squamata), all the foliage is of the juvenile needle-like type, with no scale leaves.
From wiki:
In some species (e.g. J. communis, J. squamata), all the foliage is of the juvenile needle-like type, with no scale leaves.
My guess too would be that you picked arborvitae berries. I haven't seen berries on the ones we have over here in Finland, but the leaf part looks like those and a google image search gives results like the ones you picked.
The juniper berries we use for gin, sahti and as a spice is indeed the Juniperus communis, the tree only has needles and the berries are dark colored when mature:
The juniper berries we use for gin, sahti and as a spice is indeed the Juniperus communis, the tree only has needles and the berries are dark colored when mature:
Arborvitae berries might be useful for making something like Absinthe. They contain thujone, which is the active ingredient in wormwood. Don't trust me though, I don't know what I'm talking about; do you own research before you eat them.
I was visiting a friend in Utah and he had tons of "juniper" plants growing on his land and all were full of berries. I picked a coffee can full and it lasted me a year or more and I brewed several batches with the berries shown in the OP. I'm still kicking and no one who drank those beers were ever sick, but may be luck so check it out.
When I googled "California juniper" this is what showed up:
This looks a lot like OP.
Here's wikipedia: Juniperus californica - Wikipedia
When I googled "California juniper" this is what showed up:
This looks a lot like OP.Here's wikipedia: Juniperus californica - Wikipedia
I just noticed an arborvitea tree in my neighbor's yard and I looked it over. The leaves and berries looks just like that. OTOH, there might be other juniper or cedar species that look the same.
The juniper trees in my area are Rocky Mountain junipers. I have quite a few of them on my property. The berries on these trees are on the smallish side (1/4-5/16”) but edible. From the Wikipedia—
Berries
The raw berries are edible and sweetest after the fall of their second year. Small quantities of berries are used to flavor stew, meat, and vegetable dishes such as sauerkraut and potato salad. Some tribes cooked, mashed, and dried Rocky Mountain juniper berriesinto cakes for winter use.
Berries
The raw berries are edible and sweetest after the fall of their second year. Small quantities of berries are used to flavor stew, meat, and vegetable dishes such as sauerkraut and potato salad. Some tribes cooked, mashed, and dried Rocky Mountain juniper berriesinto cakes for winter use.
^^^ Cam you need to get to brewing. You might also get some outstanding yeast off those things. LOL 
As it turns out, I'm bottling a Hefe tonight!^^^ Cam you need to get to brewing. You might also get some outstanding yeast off those things. LOL
What kind of yeast? I really don’t like sours, and I think that’s the only result of yeast harvesting.^^^ Cam you need to get to brewing. You might also get some outstanding yeast off those things. LOL
Also, HOW would I harvest yeast in a “sterile” manner?…. realizing that this would probably be an impossibility. If it’s possible to get a tasty wild yeast, then.. BONUS!
In all honesty, a 3-$4 pack of yeast isn’t an issue.. since I make small batches
I know there are ways to isolate individual colonies, but it is a process and maybe not worth the effort. I was just saying it looks like there may be some yeasty stuff in the white powder on the berries.
Funny, but my "Cam you need to get brewing" post was in response to @camonick comment LOL
Funny, but my "Cam you need to get brewing" post was in response to @camonick comment LOL
