Juniper Berries - Are all created equal?

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GilaMinumBeer

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I have a creeping Juniper. Juniper Horizontalis and have read up on the use of Juniper berries but can only find general references regarding Juniper berries. That is I have yet to find anything specific to Creeping Juniper berries.

I have even tried the Rogue offering. While I won't say it's a great ingredient it does raise the curiosity of whether or not the berries my Juniper makes are useable or not.

Anyone have any knowledge about Creeping Juniper and whether or not the berries are useable?
 
Juniperus horizontalis has been cultivated primarily for landscape uses. None of my books say anything about the berries being edible, but seeing as how its primary use is that of an ornamental groundcover I'd say its probably not the best juniper to use for berry harvesting.

edit: Looking at a few more books in our library (i'm bored at work today) it says that the berries can be roasted and made in to a coffee-like beverage. The leaves can be made in to a tea. Having said that, I'd venture to say that most cultivars that have been nursery grown will not have as great of edible characteristics as the ones you would find growing in the wild. I'm thinking that they are not native to Oklahoma and any you would find growing will have been nursery grown or escaped cultivation.
 

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