Juniper

Juniper berries are not really berries. They are small cones, and crushing them under a knife or in your palm is what wakes them up. Bite one and the smell tells you everything: resinous, piney, a little sweet underneath. That smell is why cooks crush the berries before adding them to sauerkraut or a game marinade — crush a few, breathe in, and you'll understand why.

Choose them by smell before you choose them by look. Roll a dried juniper berry between your fingers. A good one still smells sharp, clean, coniferous, almost like a forest. If there's no smell, don't bother — whatever made it worth using has already gone. Look for berries that are blue-black; a pale, powdery bloom on the skin is normal, not a flaw, so don't pass those over.

Some people say whole berries in a dish do nothing. No! Whole berries do give flavor, slowly, over a long braise, a brine, or weeks in a ferment. They just take their time about it. That misconception leads to a real mistake: people rush a quick dish, throw in whole berries expecting a fast lift, and wonder why the pot tastes flat. If you're short on time, crush them. If you have time, let the whole berries work at their own pace.