Shrub (the drink, not the plant)

mrsmig

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A couple months ago, my friend Tom introduced me to shrub - a non-alcoholic syrup that in its simplest form, is concocted with fruit, vinegar and sugar. In colonial America, the shrub was popular as a way to both use up overripe fruit and preserve it. It was usually served mixed with cool water, but Tom's peach shrub was presented in seltzer over ice. It was refreshingly puckery and not too sweet, and I was hooked. It's a great way to get more fruit in your diet, and to introduce yourself to the benefits of drinking vinegar. (Tom also assured me that if you add booze to the mix, you'll have a great cocktail.)

I went home and immediately made my first shrub, utilizing his simple recipe: one cup of fruit macerated in one cup of sugar, to which you add a cup of apple cider vinegar, cover and let it sit in the fridge for a day or three. Strain through a sieve, pressing to get all the juices. Discard the leftover solids. Fill a glass with ice, add a couple tablespoons of the shrub, and top with seltzer. I used blackberries since that's what I had on hand, and the results were delicious.

I've been experimenting with shrub recipes all summer - after the blackberry experiment, I wanted to try infusing herbs into the mix, and found a recipe for a peach-and-basil shrub that was out of this world. Because I've been doing the Noom program (12 pounds lost!), and because my garden has me overwhelmed with cucumbers at the moment, I decided to try a savory shrub recipe - one that uses cukes instead of fruit, and adds a teaspoon of kosher salt to the mix. I also subbed out the sugar for half the amount of stevia. The result was revelatory - and nearly calorie-free!

I discovered that the cuke shrub recipe came from Shrubs: An Old-Fashioned Drink for Modern Times, by Michael Dietsch. It's a delightful read and I highly recommend it. Dietsch experiments with different kinds of vinegars, all manner of fruits and vegetables with all kinds of herb infusions, and recommendations for various alcohols to go with each, if you're so inclined. Since I had a few tomatoes lying around on the windowsill - a bit overripe, but not enough to make tomato sauce with - yesterday I assembled his tomato-and-celery shrub recipe and let it percolate overnight. I just decanted it into a pretty bottle and am waiting until lunchtime to try it out, although the little taste I had while pressing out the solids was delicious. (It would pair beautifully with vodka or gin.) He has a recipe for an apple-cardamom shrub that I'm eager to try next.
 
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kikazaru

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Thanks for posting, that sounds like something I'd love to do. I do enjoy a culinary project that takes days to make (sour dough, fruit cake, sauerkraut) makes me feel like a mad scientist.
 

mrsmig

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Thanks! The tomato-celery shrub was such a success that I made it again, adding a bit of fresh basil to the mix. Delish! The apple-cardamom results were interesting. The cardamom is VERY present, while the apples just sort of sat in the background. I'm wondering if I needed to let it macerate longer, or if another variety of apple would help. It's aged pretty well, though, and kind of cries to be paired with a good vodka.

I also made a raspberry-thyme shrub that just came out...meh. It may have been the quality of the berries - they weren't very sweet - and any thyme flavor was lost in the mix.

I'm now eyeballing a carrot-ginger recipe.