Juniper berries

A juniper berry is the female seed cone produced by the various species of junipers. It is not a true berry but a cone with unusually fleshy and merged scales called a galbulus, which gives it a berry-like appearance. The cones from a handful of species, especially Juniperus communis, are used as a spice, particularly in European cuisine, and also give gin its distinctive flavour. Juniper berries are among the only spices derived from conifers, along with spruce buds. Unlike the separated and woody scales of a typical pine cone, those in a juniper berry remain fleshy and merge into a unified covering surrounding the seeds. Juniper berries are sometimes regarded as arils, like the berry-like cones of yews. Juniperus communis berries vary from 4 millimetres to 12 millimetres (1⁄2 inch) in diameter; other species are mostly similar in size, though some are larger, notably J. drupacea ( 20–28 mm or 3⁄4–1+1⁄8 in). The berries are green when young and mature to purple-black over about 18 months in most species, including J. communis. Maturation occurs from as little as 8–10 months in some species up to over 24 months in J. drupacea. The mature, dark berries are usually (but not exclusively) used in cuisine, while gin is flavoured with fully grown, unripe berries. Juniper berries contain diverse phytochemicals, including an essential oil in about 2% volume, a flavonoid called juniperin, resins (about 10% of volume), proteins, and acetic, malic and formic acids. From extracts of the berries, fatty acids, terpenes, aromatic compounds, and hydrocarbons, such as pinene, sabinene, terpinen-4-ol, limonene, and myrcene, were isolated.

Source: Wikipedia