Fruit shrubs (AKA drinking vinegars) are a great way to reduce or eliminate your soda habit and make sure your fruit scraps don't go to waste.
It is the end of strawberry season here in New Hampshire, and I picked 15lbs of berries this week. Those were cut and frozen yesterday. Today, I used the trimmed strawberry tops and overripe fruit to start strawberry shrub. This recipe can be repeated with any fruit that you have on hand, and the amount of fruit can be reduced to half the amount of vinegar (e.g., 2 cups fruit to 1 quart vinegar). I have a lot of strawberry tops and not much fridge space left, so this recipe makes a super-concentrated shrub!
INGREDIENTS
2 quarts strawberry tops
1 quart apple cider vinegar
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Save the tops that you cut off of your strawberries and add them to a clean half gallon jar.
2. Pour 1 quart of apple cider vinegar over the fruit.
3. Cover with a non-metallic lid and store in fridge for 2-6 weeks.
4. Strain fruit and store shrub in fridge indefinitely. Shrub stored at room temperature will continue to ferment into fruit vinegar, which is not as tasty in drinks.
TO USE
Mix 1 Tablespoon shrub in 8oz of water or seltzer. Add alcohol and up to 1 Tablespoon of sweetener, if desired.
