Gin and Juniper
by Chris, 29 January, 2014, 3 comments
Juniper ‘berries’ are fragrant and provide the oils / chemicals that give gin a distinctive flavour. The ‘berries’ used in gin production are rarely from the U.K. Many come from Italy or Macedonia, where the hot summers allow the full development of these oils (contained within the seeds). A ‘berry’ takes some two years to come to maturity and ripen fully. The ‘berries’ are often harvested by beating the Juniper shrub with a stick so that the ripe ‘berries’ fall to the ground for collection.
The ‘berries’ are not, in fact, berries but cones. Juniper is a conifer (the other two native coniferous trees are Scots Pine and Yew). Whereas the cone of Scots Pine hardens and become a woody structure as it ages, the cone of Juniper has fleshy, ‘soft’ scales that merge together to give a berry like structure, which encloses the seeds. The ‘berries’ or cones are green when young but turn a purple black colour as they mature. Read more...
