Wild Juniper Berries

Every late summer we take a walk with the dogs to our favorite wild Juniper patches and collect a few of the ripened dark blue berries.to dry and store them for the upcoming season of moose stews and hot soups.

Juniper is such a hardy, tough evergreen bush that thrives in the northern climate.

We also use Juniper berries to add to our evergreen salts and to infuse them in oils for soaps and other herbal skin care offerings.

Juniper goes well with wild meats such as moose, reindeer, wild boar and others, and combines well with root vegetables of all kinds, especially potatoes, turnips and red beets.

As a herb it mildly aids digestion, just like many other spices used in the kitchen, originally for the very purpose of helping digest the meal.

We gather all the wild plants and berries mindfully, taking only little bit from each patch, leaving more than we have taken, for others who may need them more than us, for their survival.

If you like to know where your ingredients come from and how were they treated before they landed on your table, then the wild juniper from the woods and meadows of the Vattudalen valley may be the spice just for you.