Juniper - Excellent profits, no investment or digging required

Picking juniper berries in the villages near Nova Varos has already become a tradition, but also a way for the locals to earn money. The initial price of this forest fruit per kilogram was 300, and now it has reached RSD 450. During the harvest, in autumn, the locals from the mountains of Murtenica and Zlatar devote most of their time to juniper, a coniferous tree that bears blue berries, and it grows in abundance in this region.

The residents of Nova Varos have been engaged in this business for many years, so they have mastered the method and technique of picking, and as they say, they have found the simplest method.

- Many people are interested and wonder how we pick juniper, how we don't get pricked by its bristles, and how do the berries fall from the branches? The answer is clear, like everything, knowledge is required. Each picker has his own picking method, but using a plastic container and rubber or leather gloves has proven to be the best - the pickers explain and add that when picking, the container is placed against the juniper tree, and the gloves gently remove the ripe fruits (berries).

- After that, the harvested amount is winnowed, in order to clean it from needles and dust. Only then are the fruits ready for the market - the pickers explain.

The work, they say, is not difficult, but the most important thing is the will to work, routine is acquired over time, and there is never enough goods. The juniper crop varies from year to year, with the largest crop occurring every third year. Sometimes a year happens when there is no stork even for medicine.

Gin made from mountain juniper

The quantities of these magical berries, harvested by Serbian mountaineers, are partly used in the pharmaceutical industry. They are also used to produce the exotic gin, popular all over the world.

Murtenica

Zlatar

juniper

juniper berries

conifers

gin