juniper berry
spice or herb / spice-juniper-berry
ジュニパーベリー
Juniper berry is the juniper berry, used to flavor gin. The only sensory source on bitterness is a roasting trial of a different species, and no source that measured the bitterness of the berries of the species used in gin has been found.
On this page (5 sections)
Reading the bitterness
Sources measuring the bitterness of juniper berry are thin, and the sensory result found concerns a different species. 6 people scored an herbal coffee brewed from roasted fruit of Juniperus drupacea, alongside a control coffee, on 16 items using a 10 cm scale. The authors state that bitterness increased with higher roasting temperature and longer time. The most preferred sample was the one roasted at 120 °C for 25 minutes, and the sample roasted at 200 °C for 55 minutes was rated low because it was burnt.
This result does not show the bitterness of the fruit of juniper (Juniperus communis), the species used in gin. The text has no figures or test for bitterness alone, and the scale measures preference rather than the intensity of bitterness (0 is least preferred, 10 is most preferred). The number of people is also small. The way the number of samples is written does not agree between the methods section and the roasting-conditions section. It is also a different preparation from the way gin uses dried berries, which are distilled.
For Juniperus communis, the introduction of a different paper places it in the group of astringent bitter plants (Amara astringentia), one of 4 groups of traditional bitter plants. This is a statement of classification, and neither the strength of the bitterness nor a threshold is given. The classification sentence does not specify a plant part, and the raw material of that paper's preparation is the shoot tips, so it is not grounds for a measurement of the bitterness of the fruit. As of now, no source that measured the bitterness of the fruit of the species used in gin has been found.
Sources for this overview
Checked for this overview: Used for the relationship between roasting and bitterness, and the conditions that were preferred, in paragraph 1 / Used for the different species, the absence of figures, and the mismatch in sample numbers in paragraph 2
Herbal Amara extract induces gastric fundus relaxation via inhibition of the M2 muscarinic receptor
Checked for this overview: Used for the classification into the group of astringent bitter plants, and its limits, in paragraph 3
Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits
Sensory (1)
Scope: 12 samples of Juniperus drupacea fruit roasted at 3 temperatures x 4 durations, and a control coffee. Scored by a panel of 6 on a 10 cm scale. This is not a result for J. communis (the species used in gin).
Note: The sensory results are shown in a figure (a spider chart) and 1 sentence of the discussion, and the text has no figures or test for bitterness alone. The rating scale is preference (0 least preferred to 10 most preferred). The burnt samples with high temperature and long time were rated low. The original source is not consistent on the number of samples (method 2.10 gives 12 samples including an unroasted one and each condition, while the roasting conditions in section 2.3 are 12 conditions of 3 temperatures x 4 durations).
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spice-juniper-berry —has_perceived_bitterness_affected_by→ (the claim sentence above)Culture (2)
Scope: A candidate at the level of general knowledge. Regional and naming differences have not been confirmed.
No source connected — this claim has not been verified yet. It is a general-knowledge placeholder, not a confirmed statement.
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spice-juniper-berry —is_used_as→ (the claim sentence above)Scope: A statement in the introduction of a paper describing the classification of the plants that make up an herbal bitter preparation (Amara Drops). References are standard works and sources 8-16.
Note: This is a statement of classification, not a measurement of bitterness. Neither the strength of the bitterness nor a threshold is given. The classification sentence does not specify a plant part, but the raw material of the preparation in the methods section is the shoot tips (Summitates), so it is not grounds for a measurement of the bitterness of the fruit.
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spice-juniper-berry —has_sensory_attribute→ (the claim sentence above)