A cautionary tail of Juniper berries
You don’t think of Sainsburys as somewhere you would generally find poisonous berries, let alone nestled innocently in the spice rack. However, steer well clear of juniper, or if you are tempted use sparingly!.
When I went to university I couldn’t cook more than pasta and cheese sauce, and not very well at that. Over 5 years ago now, I’m still not a great cook like my little sister but I’m trying. Recently I have been testing out new herbs and spices, learning whats goes with what. I was in Sainsburys with Victoria, looking at the spice rack and searched for the random-ist thing I could find …
“Juniper berries” I exclaimed loudly, “that’s pretty strange”, from behind me an upper middle class lady remarked that she had been looking for them everywhere, she asked what recipe I was following, not really having an answer to this I deflected and asked her back, her venison sausages with juniper and red wine sauce sounded so lovely that I succumbed and bought some.
Last night I cooked Simon dinner, it was quite a nice meal of baked salmon marinated in ginger wine with juniper berries, served with mushrooms and tomatoes with green chili and garlic, pasta and a creme fresh sauce. Unfortunately, I put in too many berries.
Juniper was the only thing different in the meal, about two hours later I started feeling pretty rough. Standing up to do the laundry I almost past out and had to go to bed, where I lay weak with the worst stomach cramps I have ever had. Suffering from fevers and chills I just about managed to check online as to the side effects of juniper berries.
“Juniper stimulates contractions of the womb … Symptoms of juniper overdose include diarrhea, purplish urine, blood in the urine, kidney pain, intestinal pain, elevated blood pressure, and a quickened heartbeat. If these effects occur, consumers should stop taking juniper and call their doctor immediately.”
Thankfully I didn’t have all of these symptoms, needless to say though that I was not very well at all and only happy to stop taking the berries. Having playfully mocked my pain and the self inflicted-ness of the situation, Simon woke a couple hours later suffering the effects, then lay in bed cursing poetic justice.
I’m still not feeling 100% a day later. The berries had no forewarning of the possible danger, the ‘Schwartz’ bottle purely stated:
“Juniper berries have a bitter sweet, pine flavour with a peppery aftertaste”
Quite tasty but still, not worth the pain.
Oh no! Glad you are both OK…
Out of interest, how many did you use? I haven’t cooked with Juniper before either, will definitely watch out!
Meri - November 13th, 2006 at 12:12 pmbout a third of the little bottle! which worked out as about 3 tablespoons worth :/
natbat - November 14th, 2006 at 6:06 amElderberries the same if they’re unripe and uncooked, or have the stems still attached, although they cause generic cyanide poisoning. Ha: “only”!
Kate and I found out after we’d picked bundles of them, and after we’d, um, eaten half of our stash. So they must have been pretty mature!
… I don’t recommend going anywhere near them, though.
J-P - November 14th, 2006 at 8:40 amOh my word, that sounds scary, especially the bit about “contractions of the womb”…
I noticed them in the supermarket the other day and was sorely tempted to try them out. I’ll make a mental note to be careful with them when I do. I’m afraid I have a tendency to keep adding stuff whilst I’m cooking so things that take a while, like stew or chilli, end up pretty “powerful”…
Hope you’ve fully recovered now, anyway.
Yvonne - December 4th, 2006 at 1:42 pmGood grief, no wonder gin hits the spot. Nevertheless I am also a middle-aged/elderly (not very well dressed) lady looking for a source - in NZ. Developed a delicious summer jellied pork oranges & juniper berry dish whilst living in Australia for the last 10 years, and now can’t find the berries locally. For a dish large enough to feed six I would add only a level teaspoon of berries wrapped in a cloth (cheese variety) and slightly crushed. Remove after cooking as I find the (dried) berries themselves have a rather unpleasant texture - like eggshell in your softly coddled egg. Yeck. Its only the flavour you want and even parsley can be toxic if eaten to excess.
I see from some of the other sites on the web that the oil from the berries is proving efficacious in diabetes control, and one has to wonder if some of our ancient grannies knew about the womb contractions effect in dealing with certain women’s problems. Seems a bit drastic given your experience , but it might also explain 1960’s mythology (the pill was still hard to get at the time) if your period was late - drink a bottle of gin in a hot bath. Can’t think why more of us didn’t pass-out and drown.
Enjoyed your story. The meal sounded delicious.
Cheers
judy cleine - July 23rd, 2007 at 10:51 pmJudy
I am also looking for Juniper berries for a venison marinade in N.Z. Can you help please ?
Josephine Cleary - November 4th, 2007 at 8:44 pmThanks ,Josephine
Reading the entries, I am certainly glad that I have been doing a web search for juniper. Over many years I’ve learned that what is often called cedar trees in Texas are really Juniper trees. (I grew up in Texas) The little bluish-gray “seeds” that are in clumps on the Juniper trees/bushes are really tight clumps of leaves but that is what is used to make gin.
I love to cook new things and have often run across recipes that require juniper ’seeds’ and wondered if I could use the ones I see on the bushes or if there is some sort of processing done to make them safe.
This morning I read many, many pages on various sites and finally one of them said that they could just be picked off the bushes but that it could be uncomfortable, as they are nestled way under the prickly branches.
I had recently picked some from a bush in a friend’s yard and after reading that statement, I took one of them out and crushed it between my teeth. It did have a very distinct aroma of gin!
I have read some very interesting articles in my search, though. A number of plants and seeds have been used since Day One as contraceptives and to abort a pregnancy. The absolutely most reliable one used to be worth gold but its overuse caused it to disappear from the face of the earth … Silphium. In its place, Hippocrates recommended Asafoetida or Queen Anne’s lace. Pomegranate seeds have also been used, but I believe they were to be taken after the act.
All of the articles about using the juniper ’seeds’ and the above items as well, have recommended a miniscule amount. I believe one recipe called for only three of the little juniper ‘berries,’ so it’s no wonder that our friend above, suffered so from cramps.
All spices come from live plants, so I don’t see why picking them from any bushes you see wouldn’t be safe. After all, many people are still to be seen in the spring and early summer out picking the tender new leaves of dandelions. I tried that once and they were delicious, but it takes a long time to get enough for a meal or even a salad. I’ve seen bundles of dandelion greens in grocery stores and they are all the large, old leaves and would be awful to eat. So go out there and find your own!
Another interesting thing I read about juniper is that the stems, leaves and ‘berries’ can all be used to protect clothes from moths. I’m going to try that instead of moth balls. Then when I take my winter clothes from summer storage, I can shake them out and put them on and not have to air them out for a long time in the outdoors. Better than smelling like mothballs when you first wear them (even long periods of airing clothes is not always effective in removing the smell), people will just think that you’ve been to an earlier party!
Enjoy …
Marie - February 19th, 2008 at 7:26 pmMarie
Post Script —
Right after I sent my blog entry above, I saw another article about the berries and it is really informative, even as to buying them from certain countries rather than picking them ourselves. Good warning, too, about how many to use in dishes.
Here is the link –
http://www.apinchof.com/juniper1105.html
Good luck!
Marie - February 19th, 2008 at 7:31 pmMarie