As a Mormon, I don’t drink alcohol. And as a foodie, the only time that bothers me is when I want to pair a wonderful drink with a wonderful meal and have to choose between a soda or water. For years, every time I eat at a fancy restaurant, I ask the server to recommend something non-alcoholic that isn’t soda and every time they bring me lemonade. It’s hardly the worst problem in the world, but I always think that somebody needs to get on this problem already. Mormons aren’t the only grown-ups that don’t drink and would be interested in some carefully thought out concoction that enhances their meal.
I think I may have solved it. As happens so often on the internet, I ran into the same idea in a few different places and knew it was time to work on it. Tasting Vinegars or “shrubs” have a history that goes back to colonial times and a need for food preservation. Now modern bartenders are experimenting with them in complicated drinks, but I think they’re even better for the home canner. The sugar and vinegar in the mix makes it easily safe for canning, and then I can just keep an open bottle in the fridge for mixing as I need.
I started with blackberries since that’s what I had on hand, but you can use any fruit at all for this process.
Blackberry Shrub
1 part fruit
1 part sugar
1 part vinegar
The recipe is extremely simple. However much fruit you can get your hands on, chop up and squish and completely macerate. The more ripe your fruit is the better. If you can get some that is just a breath away from being moldy, that’s perfect. Just make sure you don’t include any mold when you squish it all up. Get the same amount of sugar as you have fruit and pour it right on top. You can give it a little toss, but don’t let the sugar just get stuck to the bottom of the bowl. Now stick it in your fridge for three days and leave it alone. Sugar is hydroscopic, so it will soak up all the water in that fruit, creating a juicy mess. After three days, strain the fruit through a fine mesh sieve, mashing the fruit to get out as much juice as possible.
In a large saucepan, add the juicy sugary syrup and turn on the heat. Add vinegar in roughly the same amount as you had fruit, but you can adjust that a little to taste. Any vinegar will do the trick, but I tend to favor apple cider vinegar. It’s got better flavor than white vinegar, and is a whole lot cheaper than anything else. Boil until it starts to foam, then scrape that off and discard.
Then it’s done. If you want to can it, add to hot jars and process for ten minutes. Otherwise put it in your fridge and use as you please. Different fruit flavors will work with different mixers. Blackberry shrub and ginger ale was a match made in heaven, but cantaloupe shrub and ginger ale was a miss. Cantaloupe shrub and mineral water, however, was exceptional. That mix and matching is what makes it so much fun.
Oddly enough this has been on my mind recently as well (perhaps it's the record high temperatures!) I gave up drinking soda on a regular basis, preferring instead to save it for special occasions, and on those occasions I drink "fancy" soda-Stewarts fruit sodas, IBC cream soda, that sort of thing, the "premium" ones sold at the end of the aisle.
But restaurants continue to be a problem. I'm not wild about lemonade in restaurants, finding them overly sweet and not thirst quencing at all. So my choice is usually ice water, ice water with lemon, or iced tea. And again-restaurant iced tea often has that metallic "off" taste that comes from tea making apparatus not cleaned often enough or well enough.
Maybe I just have a really particular palate? I'm sure that's a possibility, but still, one would think that places that cater to gastronomical pleasure would be able to concoct drinks that add to the dining experience without booze.
In any case-I may have to try the shrub, raspberries are on sale for ridiculously cheap this week!
Martha Stewart had a segment on shrub a few years ago and I meant to try it but never got around to it. I have to admit that drinking vinegar sounds a little strange, but it's intriguing. And apple cider vinegar is supposed to be good for you, so that's a bonus.
OMG, why don't people understand that sometimes? "Do you have anything other than alcohol on this menu? I can't have alcohol." It's not due to any religious affiliation, it's that I am ALLERGIC TO ALCOHOL. I. Can't. Have it. I get dead drunk off two tablespoons and my head feels like it's going to explode out of my skull. Not to mention the rashes, here? I'll take grape juice! I love grape juice! Chocolate milk, milk, water, anything! Just not alcohol! Fortunately, I haven't yet found a menu that's just alcohol, but I can't go to the bars that are just 21+ due to it (even though I am, yes, 23.) Oie.
Chocolate milk is a wonderful thing people. Seriously. So is sparkling grape juice. Looks like alcohol without being alcohol. *nods*
So I just processed my first batch of peach shrub, I had some delicious sweet peaches and I just couldn't eat them all before they were going to turn, so this recipe was perfect timing. I fear I added too much vinegar though, even though I didn't use the same 1 part as the fruit/sugar. What can I do? I don't want to toss this batch, it's gorgeous, just a bit too strong!
Try adding more sugar until you get the balance the way you like it. It will be quite vinegary still, but you could try mixing it with Sprite when you drink it.
I will definitely try it with sprite, great idea!