Ever heard of shrub? If you’re already a fan of kombucha and kefir, it’s a must!
A shrub is not merely a syrup! It’s the secret ingredient for making the best cocktails, flavouring your favourite kombuchas, spicing up your desserts, creating fizzy fermented drinks, or even drinking with water…
Easy to make and easy to use, this delicious and extremely fruity syrup can be made in just a few steps as shown here!
What Is Shrub?
A shrub is a maceration of fruit in sweet vinegar. Its name comes from the Arabic word shiraab (which means drink), but this drink can be found all over the world.
Making your own shrub is also one of the best ways to preserve berries. No other preservation method preserves their flavours so well!
Raspberries, strawberries, apricots, blueberries… You can use all your favourite fruit flavours to make your shrub! And even though it’s always better to use freshly harvested fruit, you can also use frozen fruit to enjoy this technique all year long.
Want to go further? Make your own homemade vinegar for this recipe!
How Is Shrub Enjoyed?
Its tangy taste will please young and old alike and is suitable for all occasions:
- To make cocktails (or mocktails)
- In desserts (for coulis or even cakes)
- To flavour kombucha or kefir
- With fizzy water to create an original lemonade
- On ice cream
- Simply with flat water!
It’s perfect for the holidays and any time of the year.
Homemade Blueberry Shrub Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Scale
- 1 Saucepan
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups cane sugar
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar (or kombucha vinegar)
- 2.2 lbs fresh or frozen blueberries
- Spices or aromatics (optional)
Steps
- In a saucepan, mix the sugar and vinegar at a low temperature. The sugar should be completely dissolved.
- After rinsing the berries well, place them in a jar.
- When at room temperature, pour the sugar/vinegar mixture over the fruit.
- Close the jar and shake gently so that the fruit is perfectly coated.
- Allow it to sit for a month at room temperature.
- Strain the shrub and set aside the fruit (for use in desserts).
- Your shrub is ready to be enjoyed!
Storage
Store at room temperature for one year.
For more subtle flavour combinations, you can add spices or herbs such as rosemary, star anise, nutmeg, or vanilla…
If your shrub is fizzy when bottled, store it in a cool place afterwards to reduce the pressure. Consume quickly, as it contains wild yeast that produce CO2. The pressure will increase with time, even in the fridge.
Making a Fizzy Fermented Drink
To taste your shrub, you can dilute it with plain water and enjoy it as is. But if you want some extra bubbles in your life, add some yeast seeds and let your shrub ferment for 2 to 4 days at room temperature and then in the fridge!
Use our sima recipe as inspiration for the process.
For quantities, we recommend diluting 125ml of shrub for 750ml of water, but if you have a sweet tooth, feel free to test your own dosages!
Easy, quick, fizzy, and above all perfectly thirst-quenching for hot summer days!
