Shrub

Finally doin' it! We got a bottle of Tait Farm Shrub in our house a couple weeks ago and after reading the ingredients list (fruit, sugar, and vinegar) we were thinking, well, gosh, we have that! We are also nearly through our bottle from Tait so it was time to try.

First step: mix fruit and sugar, roughly equal amounts. (I am using our frozen fruits from last summer, can't be as good as fresh, but we are practically pickling it in the end anyway...)

Next step: put in the fridge for two days.

Final step: strain (I pressed the blueberry through a sieve and ran the raspberry and peach through a foley mill) and add apple cider vinegar, equal amount as the berries or the sugar. (Note, if you add 1 c fruit to 1 c sugar, and then 1 c vinegar, you do not get 3 c. Something closer to 2 c shrub, or 1 pint jar. My quantities were a little less.)

Mix 2 T with a glass of seltzer!

Ours turned out a little too vinegarry for my tastes. The raspberry is the best of the bunch. Although dark purple, the blueberry doesn't taste enough like blueberry - it probably should have gone through the foley mill  too.

For more about shrubs see:

http://mobile.drinks.seriouseats.com/2012/08/cocktail-101-complex-shurb-syrups-how-to-add-herbs-to-shrubs.html

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/programs/ark_product_detail/shrub/