56 .n xii'ER. 



To Juniper-berries,* the well-known spirit called Hollands,! owes 

 its peculiar flavour : " Bruised and macerated in water, they yield, 

 by fermentation, a pleasant and wholesome drink, which is much 

 used, under the name of genevrette, by the country-people in 

 many parts of France. "X They are also employed as a condiment 

 in Germany, especially for imparting their flavour to sauer-kraut ; 

 infused in alcohol, they form an excellent ratafia, and they enter 

 into several liqueurs and confections. Scheffer and Mundius assert, 

 that the Laplanders make a decoction of these berries, which they 

 drink as tea or coffee. This Linnaeus§ contradicts ; but, he adds, 

 in several provinces of Sweden, the peasantry prepare a very 

 agreeable fermented liquor with the berries, which, however, they 

 drink cold, and never hot, like tea or coffee. The oil distilled 

 from the berries, mixed with oil of nuts, makes an excellent 

 varnish for paintings, wood work, and for preserving iron from 

 rust. 



The recent tops have a fragrant odour, and a balsamic, bitterish 

 taste. The berries have an aromatic odour, and a warm, pungent, 

 sweetish taste, which, if they are long chewed, or previously well 

 bruised, is followed by a considerable bitterness.il Both water and 

 alcohol extract their active properties : distilled with water, they 

 yield a yellowish essential oil, subacrid, warm, and very pungent, 

 smelling powerfully of the fruit itself. The quantity of volatile 



* It is also called Geneva, a corruption of genevrier, the French name 

 for Juniper. The superior flavour of foreign Hollands is said to be owing 

 to the Juniper-berries being distilled with the malt, instead of the dis- 

 tilled oil being added subsequently. English gin ought to be prepared 

 in the same manner ; but oil of turpentine is usually substituted. 



f The greater quantity of the berries are brought from Holland, Ger- 

 many, and Italy. The Italian berries are less shrivelled, and have a 

 more beautiful bloom on them, but are less rich in volatile oil than the 

 others. 



X Flore Medicale, torn. iv. p. 42. 



§ Flora Lapponica, ed. J. E. Smith, p. 312. 



|| Lewis's Mat. Med- p. 323. He adds, " The sweetness appears to reside 

 in the juice, or soft pulpy part of the berry; the bitterness in the seeds ; 

 and the aromatic flavour in oily vesicles spread throughout the substance 

 both of the pulp and of the seeds, and distinguishable even by the eye. 

 Hence, when the berries are pounded, so as thoroughly to bruise the 

 seeds, a much greater bitterness is produced in the water or alcohol, 

 which serves as a menstruum." 



