How to make a Strawberry Shrub

Condensing the flavor of seasonal ripe fruit, then preserving it with vinegar is know as a shrub, and is an easy way to add flavor to cocktails well after the growing season is over. Today I’ll be showing you how to make a strawberry shrub, but you can use any high water content fruit you wish- plums, peaches, watermelon and pineapple all work great for shrubs! In order to maximize the flavor of our shrub, we will first be making a strong strawberry syrup using the cold method. Most people are more familiar with the hot method of making simple syrup (dissolving 1 part sugar in 1 part hot flavored water), because it’s faster, but the cold method draws out far more flavor and can be used more sparingly in cocktails.

Step 1:

Cut the tops off of clean, ripe strawberries and cut them into quarters (You’ll need 1 cup).

Step 2:

Add 1 cup of white granulated sugar and toss well. You want each strawberry quarter to be completely covered.

Cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for about 2 days, occasionally scraping the sugar off the bottom and tossing until all the sugar has dissolved and looks like this:

Step 3:

From here you can choose to strain out the strawberries and keep your strawberry syrup in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or you can continue to step 4 and turn it into a shrub which will last for about a year. If you’ve never tried either, I would suggest reserving a small amount of syrup so you can compare the two side by side.

Step 4:

Add 1 cup of vinegar stir well, cover again and let sit in the fridge for up to 5 days. I used Champagne vinegar for the strawberries, since they go so well together, but you can use any type you want!

Step 5:

You can choose to strain out the strawberries, or keep them in there for a few days to use as cocktail garnishes or as a delightful addition to summer salads!

What do you do with fresh fruit shrubs? Add a bit to a Clique Vodka and soda or ginger ale for a delicious summer cocktail, add a splash to a classic Lemondrop or Cosmopolitan, or try this amazing recipe from the #MixBook!: