Common juniper

The word 'gin' comes from the name of this plant. Its fruit is one of the main flavouring ingredients for this liquor. In 1550, a Dutch apothecary came up with 'genever', a blend of spirits and juniper berries, to treat backache and sore muscles. Distilled in England since the late 17th century, genever became known as gin. Today, it is flavoured either directly with fresh or dried berries or with an alcohol extract. Native peoples used the bark as a plaster on wounds and in basket-making. Both the inner bark and the fruit can be eaten as subsistence food or dried and ground into flour. Some people have roasted them to make a sort of coffee. A decoction of juniper branches or leaves was drunk as a astringent tea or herbal tea to relax muscles after childbirth. The dried berries have been used as condiment since Babylonian times (c. 1700-500 B.C.) and have a delicate, slightly resinous flavour that disappears when they are cooked. They may be used in cooking to flavour sauerkraut, cabbage, pickles, dried beans and other legumes. There are also used in stuffings for game or other meat to impart a game-like flavour. In France, a beer called genevrette was made at one time from barley and common juniper.