Image: Photography By Celeste
Wild-Crafting Juniper Berries
For educational and informational purposes only.
Not for diagnosing, treating, curing, mitigating or preventing any disease. Seek advice from a licensed, qualified health-care professional.
Juniper Berry Habitat
Juniper is a 4-6 foot shrub found in North America. The shrub makes a berry each year. They favor forests and meadows with high limestone. Juniper berries are packed with flavor and medicinal value but watch out, these bad boys are prickly when harvesting so wear gloves!
Early in the season the berry is small and green but harvest begins around August to September when the berries ripen to a blue-purple color with a whitish hue. You must pick the berry when they are ripe for green berries will not ripen in the windowsill. It is advisable to wear gloves when picking juniper berries because picking them is allot like wrestling a porcupine. The shrub’s needles are prickly indeed! You also might want to set aside at least an hour per picking. In one hours time you will pick about 1/4 of a cup and that is if you know they tricks of the trade. Needless to say, it is slow going but well worth the effort!
The berries have a tangy smell. They have a resinous and bitter tangy-sweet taste.
Juniper berries have been used since before the first century A.D. Some of the first uses of the berries were used to make alcoholic beverages such as gin.
Preserving
To preserve a juniper berry all that is needed is a warm and dry room. You can use a dehydrator or slightly warmed oven but it really isn’t necessary. I usually allow my berries to dry in the windowsill until they have the shriveled look of a raisin. I then pick out any debris or needles and put them in a glass jar to store for next season. My goal is to pick at least as many berries as I use that year, sometimes a bit more just in case I can’t pick my full quota another year.
Medicinal
Juniper berries are an excellent diuretic (gets rid of excess body fluid), aids digestion, gaseous conditions, and diseases of the kidneys and bladder. Oil of juniper is often used in natural veterinary care for exposed wounds and prevention of fly irritation. If one suffers from gout the modest juniper berry will eliminate excess uric acid from the body.
Juniper berries are a marvelous expectorant and bronchial antiseptic because contrary to many plants a large part of the berry essence is eliminated through the lung airways.
A juniper essence in alcohol can be massaged externally onto rheumatic aches for relief.
Crushed berries have been used in medicinal folklore for a treatment for diabetes. 10 ground berries in water for 15 days. Repeat after 1 month.
An infusion can be made with 30 grams of crushed and macerated berries (they are tough) to 1 liter of boiling water. Drink one cup, three times daily. A high dose of juniper is not recommended on a continual basis.
Do not use juniper berries if you have nephritis, a kidney condition, are pregnant, or in high doses.
Food
Juniper berries are a delightful food accent that is healthy, aids digestion, and stimulates the appetite for the infirmed. They have a full and rich flavor.
Canned Cole Slaw Recipe
1 medium head cabbage
1 large carrot
1 green pepper
1 small onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
2 tablespoons juniper berries
SYRUP:
1 cup vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 cups sugar (we used ¾ cup for better results)
Shred together vegetables. Add the salt. Let stand 1 hour. Drainwater from vegetables.
Boil syrup ingredients together for 1 minute, cool. Add syrup to vegetables and caraway, mustard, celery seeds and juniper berries.
Pack into quart jars and process in a boiling water bath for 30 minutes (at 5000 ft), or put into freezer containers and freeze. Leftovers may be frozen. This slaw may be drained before use and mayonnaise added, or used as is.
You can use 6-one pound bags of coleslaw mix with carrots. Add one large red bell pepper, diced, and one medium sweet onion, diced. Triple the syrup, but double may have been enough. Got 9 pints, but I make quarts so I make allot of coleslaw. It is wonderful in the winter when fresh vegetables are scarce.
Sources:
PDR for Herbal Medicine (hardcopy)
A Modern Herbal, Mrs. M. Grieve (hardcopy)
Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants, George Pamplona-Roger, M.D. (hardcopy)
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