the.com/juniper berry
A pine cone that gave up on being a cone and became gin instead.
means The small, dark, aromatic cone-like fruit of the juniper shrub, used as a spice and as the defining flavor in gin.
from Not a true berry at all — botanically it's a female seed cone with unusually fleshy, fused scales, which is why it looks berry-like instead of woody. The word 'juniper' traces back to Latin 'iuniperus,' of uncertain origin though possibly linked to Celtic roots meaning 'rough' or 'evergreen.' Its path into spirits is more certain: the Dutch word for juniper, 'jenever,' gave genever its name, which English drinkers clipped down to 'gin.'
- not actually berry
- it is a fused, fleshy pine cone
- ripening time
- takes up to three years to mature
- gin's backbone
- the only spice legally required in gin
- ancient use
- burned by Greeks to ward off plague