The berry-like cones. They take two years to mature.
In the botanical sense, cones are no fruits, as they do not develop from a
ovary (conifers do not enclose their seeds, but develop them open or naked
).
Therefore, designations like juniper berries
or juniper fruits
are
equally inaccurate, while pseudofruit
is acceptable.
Plant family
Cupressaceae (cypress family).
Sensory quality
Aromatic with a sweet accent,
similar to the South American pink pepper.
See also licorice for a discussion of sweet
spices.
Main constituents
Apart from up to 33% sugars and 10% resin, juniper berries owe their use in the
kitchen to an essential oil (0.2 to 2%, dependent on provenance). The
essential oil is mainly composed of monoterpenes: 80% α- and β-pinene,
thujene, sabinene, 5% terpinene-4-ol, α-terpineol, borneol and geraniol;
sesqiterpenes (α- and β-cadinene, caryophyllene) are found in traces.
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Unripe juniper berries
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Ripe juniper cones
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Origin
Several species of the genus Juniperus grow all over temperate
Europe and Asia.
Etymology
The classical Latin name of that plant, iuniperus, cannot
be explained satisfactorily; possibly, it is a Celtic loan. Other theories
assume it is a Latin compound: It could be a contraction of
iuveni-parus (too) young (early) bearing
,
which would refer to the abortive action of the related species Juniperus sabina.
Or it could contain iuncus rush, reed
, in reference
to the flexible branches of juniper usable for plaiting. Also,
connections to Iupiter (genetive case: Iovis)
have been proposed, which might hint at otherwise unknown cultic uses.
Names of juniper in several European languages, especially Romance
languages, derive from that name: Besides English juniper, we have
Dutch jeneverbes, Italian ginepro,
Spanish enebro (Old Spanish ginebro),
Provençal genèbre,
Romanian ienupăr and even
Hebrew juniper [ג’וניפר].
In English, the French loan juniper supplanted the
Old English name of that plant, cwicbēam life-tree
(modern quickbeam),
which was also used for rowan (mountain ash, Sorbus aucuparia).
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Juniper tree with ripe cones
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The German name Wacholder (of which Machandel
is a Northern variant) contains a stem which might be related
to wachsen grow
(cf. English wax increase
), but is
more probably derived from the Proto-Indo-European root WEG weave, web
(cf.
English veil, wick), since its branches have been used for
weaving. Incidentally, the same root also lies behind English wax as
in beewax.
The Germanic tree suffix d(e)r, as seen in Wacholder, appears in several other German plant names. At the
bottom lies Proto-Indo-European DERU with the basic meaning tree,
particularly oak
and the derived meaning strong, firm, reliable
.
This is a very prominent root, which hardly any Indo-European language is
free of: Gothic triu tree, wood
,
Sanskrit darvi [दर्वि] wooden
,
Farsi dar [دار] wood
,
Greek drys [δρῦς]
(Mycenaean drus [𐀉𐀬]) tree, oak
,
Old Irish daur oak
,
Russian derevo [дерево] tree
,
Latvian darva tar
, furthermore
Latin durus strong, robust
,
Lithuanian drūtas thick, strong
and
Old English trum strong, firm
.
Examples from Modern English include tree,
tray, tar, true and trust.
In some Middle Eastern languages, cinnamon
bears the name Chinese wood
, where the latter element is represented
by words of the DERU kin, e.g.,
Hindi dal chini [दालचीनी].
See cassia for a more detailed discussion. Another
spice plant name which might derive from that root is laurel
.
Selected Links
Indian Spices: Juniper (indianetzone.com)
Ilkas und Ullis Kochecke: Wacholder (rezkonv.de via archive.org)
Nature One Health: Juniper
Poisonous Plants of North Carolina: Juniper
