What is juniper?
Juniper: Small blue berries (really cones) of an evergreen shrub. By law, gin has to taste mainly of juniper.
- Category
- Botanical & raw ingredient
- Taste
- Pine, resin, a little citrus and pepper.
- Similar to
- rosemary, pine
- Also called
- juniper berries, juniper berry
The story
Juniper was a medicine long before it was a flavor: Dutch genever began as a juniper tonic in the 1500s and 1600s. English soldiers brought the taste home, and gin was born.