Sweet and Spicy Strawberry Shrub
One of eight children, my grandma grew up in Michigan during the Depression. She told me her family sometimes scavenged for produce, taking items that the grocery store couldn’t sell, cutting off the moldy or less desirable parts, and eating the good stuff. This made an impression on me, and I still find it nearly impossible to throw food away, even now with our backyard composting efforts. When I learned about shrubs—infused vinegar syrups used in beverages—I was excited to realize they could be made with any fruit I wished I’d eaten sooner, fruit scraps from other projects, or perfectly fine fruit, too. When we pick strawberries, we invariably end up with some slightly smashed berries that scream, “use me now,” and those go in the shrub.This fruit-forward shrub syrup method starts with macerating the fruit with sugar and then adding vinegar. Give it time, and you won’t be sorry.
Ingredients
- 1 pint strawberries, hulled and cut into 4 to 6 pieces depending on the size of your berries
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons black peppercorns, lightly crushed or coarsely ground
- 1 cup champagne vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
- Club soda
- 1 ounce tequila or vodka or bourbon (optional)
Instructions
- Combine strawberries with sugar and peppercorns in a quart jar or tightly sealed glass container. Shake well to combine.
- Chill for at least 2 hours or up to 1 day in the fridge.
- Then add vinegar to the jar, shake to combine, and chill in the fridge for another 2 days.
- Strain out the solids using tight-weave cheesecloth or a fine mesh sieve and pour syrup into a clean glass bottle for storage.
- Let the syrup sit for a week in the fridge to so flavors can mature.
- No alcohol? No problem. We love shrubs sans spirits as a fancy drink when we have people over for cocktails. To make mocktails, add 2 to 3 tablespoons shrub syrup to 8 ounces club soda.
- For a more spirited drink, stir together 1 ounce tequila or vodka and 2 tablespoons shrub syrup, pour over ice and top off with club soda. Garnish with a fresh or repurposed pickled berry.
Notes
Recipe modified from Michael Dietsch’s in his excellent book Shrubs: An Old-Fashioned Drink for Modern Times
The vinegar and sugar-infused strawberries— effectively pickled strawberries—are delicious. Gently rinse the pepper off the strawberry solids and enjoy either muddled in your beverages, as a garnish, or added to a dish that might benefit from a chutney.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JAY SANTANGELO