Throwbacks making a comeback, even cocktails
This 300-year-old shrub, a non-alcoholic elixir, is all about the fruit Manning Canning is a Toronto preserve company that makes several shrubs from local produce.
This summer, get ready to drink like it’s 1699!
Since craft cocktail culture trades in reviving classic recipes, it’s no longer terribly surprising to see a throwback drink making a comeback. Most of the drinks we hear about, though, are boozy concoctions from the Victorian, Prohibition or mid-century eras. Shrubs, on the other hand, go back to colonial times and are non-alcoholic since the base for these fruit elixirs is vinegar.
In a way, shrubs are fruit pickles, but in syrup form. Back in the day, before year-round produce, people made the most of seasonal fruit (especially berries) by preserving their flavour with sugar and vinegar. Unlike most fruit preserves, however, with shrubs the solid fruit is strained.
“Drinking-Vinegar” might not sound particularly appetizing but, in small doses, it’s actually delicious — especially to people with an acidic palate.
Bartenders often use shrubs in cocktails instead of citrus, since they add a sweet-tart dimension to a drink. The vinegar and sugar balance each other out nicely.
But wait, there’s more. Shrubs liven up still or soda water, and can be used in marinades, salad dressings and desserts. And since it’s prime time for seasonal Ontario produce, now is the perfect time to get started on shrubs with local apricots, berries, watermelon, tomatoes, celery, ginger or even hot peppers.
It’s probably easiest to work up to savoury shrubs and start off with a berry shrub like this one, adapted from Michael Dietsch’s “Shrubs: An Old-Fashioned Drink for Modern Times,” published four years ago and still the definitive authority on shrubs.
BlackberryRaspberry Shrub
3/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup red wine vinegar 1 cup fresh Ontario blackberries 1 cup fresh Ontario raspberries
Combine berries and sugar in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for a day. Strain through a mesh strainer to remove solids. Mix berry syrup with vinegar. Bottle and store in the refrigerator for a week and then start using. The Blackberry-Raspberry Shrub has a lot of applications but, to me, the most obvious is to use a half-ounce of it in a gin and soda or gin-tonic.
Not all shrub recipes follow this exact formula, which is “cold shrubbing.” Many, if not most recipes online use heat instead, which is faster. Essentially, you slowly heat up fruit with water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved, the same way you would with a simple syrup. (The ratio commonly prescribed for “hot shrubbing” is different: one part fruit, one part sugar and one part water.) Cool, mix in with vinegar and bottle.
After experimenting with hundreds of shrub recipes, Dietsch determined that cold shrubs tasted brighter and fresher. Not all shrub recipes use red wine vinegar, either. Many call for apple cider vinegar or balsamic. I personally like playing around with rice vinegar.
If you want to get really into shrubs this summer, Dietsch’s book is invaluable since it has specific recipes for sweet, sour and savoury shrubs, as well as 30 or so recipes for cocktails (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) so that you can drink like a colonial.
An even faster way to get shrubs is to buy them. A range of flavours can be found at The Crafty Bartender or the Cocktail Emporium, or directly from one of two GTA companies that make them, False Ox or Manning Canning.