Juniper Cordial

Hello dear readers! Can you believe it’s February already? We’ve received quite a bit of snow in the past 24 hours and it’s still snowing lightly. My son and I went out for a great snowshoe after lunch today. It’s so fun to strap on the snowshoes on the porch and stomp over to a local trail. The only tracks we saw were that of the deer. Of course, about half way through our snowshoe, my son started asking what we could bake and cook and whip up when we got home. He wanted brownies and cocoa. I was happy to make those for him, but I also had something else in mind. I have been pondering how amazing evergreens are lately. And I’ve been thinking about how much I love them and how much I love to see that bit of deep green in all the snow. One of my favorite evergreens is Juniper. I adore the blue berries and in herbal preparations, juniper has a lot going for it. It’s an anti-inflammatory, carminative (it’s warming), digestive, and can act as a great detoxifier. Juniper berries are also loaded with vitamin C. Energetically, juniper is a very warming plant, and it is especially good in the winter to warm up those kidneys. Sometimes I make a juniper tea to gargle for a sore throat. I think there’s something to be said for plants that can handle extreme weather and thrive in it. We have a lot to learn from them and I am thankful for their medicine.

I decided to get a juniper cordial going today. It’s a really simple recipe I’ve adapted from one of the herbal books on my shelves. Basically, a cordial is a sweetened herbal tincture. (I don’t know about you, but I can’t say the word “cordial” and not think about Anne of Green Gables…anyone else?)  This recipe is much like most other tincture preparations…herbs mixed with alcohol that will macerate for about 4 weeks. But after straining, we’ll add sweetener. The shelf life isn’t as long as that of a tincture that hasn’t been sweetened, but this one is so delicious that I think you’ll drink all of it before it would have a chance to spoil.