Shrub - Jo’s way
A shrub is a delectable combination of fruit, herbs, vinegar and sugar, which forms a concentrate with which you can do many tasty things.
The word shrub comes from the Arabic word, meaning to drink and for me, it is a deeply satisfying and creative way of making a delicious drink. It keeps in the fridge and we can just plop some in a glass and add water to it or, on a Friday night, augment non-alcoholic botanical drinks, such as Seedlip or Sipsmith with it or, indeed, add it to an alcoholic cocktail.
The fruit and the sugar source supply ample substrate for microbial fermentation and the apple cider vinegar (rich in nutrients, itself) supplies a healthy backslop of microbes, aids in preservation and adds a surprisingly pleasing and refreshing tang. Having said that, I make kombucha vinegar too and I often use that as my shrub vinegar of choice. You can choose what sugar source you use. I tend to use maple syrup, but when I made this recipe, some linden honey caught my fancy, so I used a combination of maple syrup and linden honey.
Shrubs aren’t one trick ponies; they are a way of preserving fruit so that you can continue consuming those exquisite Summer fruits out of season. They not only make fabulous drinks, but also taste good mixed into a batch of vinaigrette, as a glaze on meats and as a juicy addition to a marinade. They can also make tasty lolly pops.
I am after complexity and shrubs deliver. They contain a mind-boggling array of phytochemicals as well as live microbes. Their taste is complex; sweet yet tangy, fruit tones mixed with the herbs I decided to add. And there is an infinite number of fruit and herb combinations to explore.
You can use cooked fruit or raw fruit. Recipes and methods abound in cook books and online. The experimentation process is pleasurable and rewarding. And like its cousin, the switchel, it is an incredibly easy “concentrate” to make. And a joy to consume. Try it?
Shrub recipe
Ingredients
Blackberries
Blueberries
Black currants
Red currants
1kg in totalHandful of fresh lemon balm (or other herb of choice)
500ml raw apple cider vinegar
300ml maple syrup
100ml raw linden honey
Equipment
Kilner bottles
Washed in hot water or that has been through the dishwasherA mixing bowl
A sieve or muslin
Weighing scales
Method
Lightly mash up the fruit.
Cut up the lemon balm.
Combine all the ingredients together, mixing well.
Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave it at room temperature overnight to ferment. You can leave it longer for more tang and complexity.
Strain the mix through a muslin or a fine mesh sieve, pressing out as much of the thick liquid as you can. Hopefully leaving behind the seeds.
The taste should be an eye-widening combination of both sweet and sharp.
Decant into your clean bottles, but don’t overfill. Leave a little room for ferment gases.
Leave to continue to mature for a week or so somewhere out of direct sunlight and then refrigerate. The longer it ferments, the sharper the taste and the more likely it will become slightly alcoholic. I pop mine in the fridge after a few days.
Consume your shrub in all manner of ways.
