I love a good shrub. They are so fun to make and so satisfying to drink on a hot day. I usually wait until the end of strawberry season to use up the battered and broken strawberries for this easy-to-make drink.
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh berries
- 1 cups sugar
- 1-2 cup vinegar
See notes on sugar, vinegar, fruit ratios.
Steps
- Prep the berries: Cut the leafy part of the berry off. It’s okay to use bruised berries, just be sure they aren’t moldy. Wash them. Put in the bottom of a mason jar.
- Add 1 cup of sugar (some people use more. I’ve seen as much as a 1:1 ratio of berries and sugar).
- Let it sit on the countertop for 1-2 days until it gets syrupy. I understand this may give you the heeby jeebies. You can also put it in the refrigerator if it makes you feel better.
- Add 1-2 cups of vinegar on top of this and shake it up. The liquid needs to cover the berries. Since this forms the base of the drink, I usually lean towards using more so I get more of the end product.
- Put the lid on and shake it up really well. The drink benefits from bruising the fruit, so not be gentle. It’s okay to let the fruit bounce around along the edges. Put in the fridge for 2-3 days.
- Filter the fruit out with a cheesecloth. You don’t need as fancy of a contraption as I’m using in this picture. Just understand the end goal is a fruitless liquid like the jars you see here. You can store the jars in the refrigerator for quite at least a month and I know people who have kept in there for more than a month. We tend to use ours up before the month is over.
- Add it to sparkling water, sprite, or use it to flavor kombucha.
Notes
- The sugar/vinegar ratio here is pretty much up to individual preference. I would start with a 2:1:2 ratio of fruit, sugar, and vinegar. If you need it to be a little sweeter, use more sugar and fruit. If you can handle a little more tartness, use more vinegar.
- You can make this recipe without sugar, but then you’re just making fruit-flavored vinegar. It’s not against the law, but your kids probably won’t enjoy it as much.
- Using different types of vinegar can shake things up. I like to use a 3:1 ratio of apple cider vinegar and white wine vinegar.
- I like to add basil to my strawberries while it’s sitting in the fridge for three days. Some of my friends like to add ginger. Lime zest. Lemon zest. All of this sounds good to me. I’m pretty sure this is impossible to mess up, so any fruit would be good. There’s not a lot of hard and fast rules here.
- Note, some people strain the fruit before they add the vinegar. That seems kind of difficult to me.
