Juniper Berries

[Ken]

It's juniper berry season here in Massachusetts, and that means I've been out foraging, hoping to fill a quart-size zip-lock bag so I can make my annual duck breast pastrami.

I filled a bag last week along a highway on upper Cape Cod, and started to inspect, clean, and wash them one night last week.

The process is somewhat of a pain in the neck, but I finally got all of the stems and leaves and the rest off and placed the berries in a large bowl of cold water to soak for a while before I transferred them to a colander where I could spray them off and begin the drying process.

I've done this at least a dozen times in the past. This time, I was surprised to see hundreds of tiny bugs float to the surface of the water. The bugs had apparently made homes inside the berries, which showed no signs of infestation when I first examined and cleaned them off.

So I drained the water, put the berries in the colander, sprayed them with water for several minutes, and returned them to the bowl which I had refilled with clean water. Again, an army of dead bugs came floating to the surface.

I tossed the berries. I'm NOT going to flavor a few pounds of expensive duck breasts with ground up bugs.

Has anyone else ever encountered this with juniper berries?

[Rick]

I have never seen Juniper berries. Are they edible or just a flavoring?

[Ken]

I have never seen Juniper berries. Are they edible or just a flavoring?

I only use them as a flavoring. They're edible, but the taste is far too strong to eat them as they are, or even to make jam or something similar with. Juniper berries are used to flavor pastramis and many varieties of gin. Ever notice the blue tinge that pastrami takes on, or the similarity in taste that pastrami has to gin?



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[Ken]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniper_berry


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[Rick]

or the similarity in taste that pastrami has to gin

I'm sure grandpa could have answered that. I don't do alcohol so I can't ..... but trust me, he could have. He was a gin man.

Cool. The way you were talking it sounded like it might be a seasoning.

[hunter63]

We have plenty around here, grouse seem to really eat them up.....find a tree you will find the birds.

Can't say if I ever tried one, nor soaked them....so can't say if they got bugs of not.
Found this interesting as I wasn't aware that they were something useful.

As far a duck breasts, you are correct...expensive....boat, dog, camper to stay in, shotguns expensive shells, all sorts of cool camo, calls, blinds, ...maybe about $1000 bucks a pound?

Thanks for posting....I might pick a few and give them the soak treatment and see what happens.

[Ken]

Hunter, I use Emeril's recipe for the pastrami, but I add A LOT more juniper berries for a stronger pastrami flavor.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/e...ipe/index.html

[hunter63]

Thanks, marked it.

[crashdive123]

Could be juniper berry mites (Trisetacus quadrisetus).

[hunter63]

Could be juniper berry mites (Trisetacus quadrisetus).

So....It might be mites?.........LOL, sorry

[Ken]

Could be juniper berry mites (Trisetacus quadrisetus).

Yep. I believe you are correct. Thanks!

"We also saw the work of the tiny mite that occurs in Juniper berries and can have a strong negative effect on their fertility. It's called Trisetacus quadrisetus and you can tell they are in the berry by the openings. I picked one to see if I could see them inside under the microscope but they are very small apparently and I may well struggle to see them at x 40. I'll perhaps wait till I'm less tired..."

http://analternativenaturalhistoryof...1_archive.html

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[RandyRhoads]

I have a bunch of Juniper berries around. I didn't know they were something I might want to collect. What do you do, just collect, clean and put in the fridge? I really want some now that I have some shine to flavor up

[Ken]

Lots of juniper berry venison recipes:

http://www.yummly.com/recipes/venison-juniper-berries

Tea time?

http://voices.yahoo.com/juniper-berr...e-3804060.html

Medicinal uses...

http://www.localharvest.org/blog/250...uniper_berries

http://www.anniesremedy.com/herb_detail30.php

http://www.herbal-supplement-resourc...iper-herb.html

[Ken]

I have a bunch of Juniper berries around. I didn't know they were something I might want to collect. What do you do, just collect, clean and put in the fridge? I really want some now that I have some shine to flavor up

I collect, clean, soak to release any "dirt" and spray with water to wash them off, allow them to air dry, and place them in a jar in the fridge. I've also oven-dried and bottled them in a spice jar. They keep well in the fridge for at least 3 months.

[randyt]

juniper berries also have a form of wild yeast which can be used for bread and beer.

[RandyRhoads]

Air dry as in dry the water wash off? Or dry as in dehydrate?

[Ken]

As in spread them out on paper towels on the kitchen counter and allow them to dry well. I suspect that they'd get moldy fairly fast if they were even damp when bottled.

[Ken]

juniper berries also have a form of wild yeast which can be used for bread and beer.

That's interesting. I recently read about using an apple mash in place of yeast for bread dough.

[randyt]

Karen Hood talks about it in one of her cave cooking dvds. Never tried it but cooking is not one of my strong points.

[hunter63]

Most berries have a natural yeast, blue berries, wild grapes, and even wild grape leaves......natural way for collection is to out warm potato or flour water and it will settle and start growing.

http://ruralspin.com/2012/01/22/coll...dough-starter/