we have a couple of red cedar trees around us, which are not cedar at all, but juniper. i always see the green and dark morphs of these “berries” (actually cones), and think about black pepper. i guess i sort of assumed they were related until tonight, when i confirmed that black pepper grows on a vine in india, and doesn’t look anything like the prickly branches of juniper/red cedar. that’s fine. as long as they keep making gin from them, juniper berries can come from wherever they want.

juniper berries

east river road, minneapolis, minnesota