Strawberry Rhubarb Shrub
With a sweet-tart fruity flavor, a Strawberry Rhubarb Shrub is a delicious alcohol free beverage or a trendy cocktail.
Today I’m updating an old recipe that has just come back into my life. In abundance.
You see about a year ago, I tested as pre-diabetic. And after some simple lifestyle changes, my new test results came back… worse!
Which means it’s time to get serious. No more beers around the campfire or sweet cocktails on the deck. Yup, it’s time for some tasty alternatives.
So, bring me–a shrubbery! Okay, not a bush like Monty Python’s King Arthur sought. I’ll just have a nice strawberry rhubarb shrub beverage. Delicious without alcohol (or with) and lower in carbs, it just might make my summer!
What is a Fruit Shrub?
The term “shrub” can be a little confusing since it’s used two ways. First, it can refer to the vinegar base (also called “drinking vinegar”) that flavors the final beverage. This consists of a mixture of fruit, sugar, and vinegar that rests about a week, then gets strained into a syrup that’s really flavorful.
Now to complicate matters, “shrub” can also refer to the final beverage. This is made by topping a couple tablespoons of the base with sparkling or plain water. Or if you’d like a cocktail version, you can add a shot of gin or vodka.
Of course if you’re looking to expand your mocktail repertoire, this drink has your back. It has a more complex flavor than juice topped with sparkling water and fewer calories than many commercial mixers (and it can even be made sweetener rather than sugar).
I especially love the classic Strawberry Rhubarb shrub combination in late spring and early summer!
Now for a more formal definition Wikipedia tells us that “the word shrub can also refer to a cocktail or soft drink that was popular during America’s colonial era, made by mixing a vinegared syrup with spirits, water, or carbonated water. The term can also be applied to the base, a sweetened vinegar-based syrup from which the cocktail is made.”
Why You’ll Love This!
Tasty. Strawberry and rhubarb is a delicious combination to start. Add a little nuance with some white wine vinegar and the flavor is over the top!
Refreshing. Top with plain or sparkling water for a refreshing summer beverage. Sparkling is my favorite!
Healthier. This is a good alternative to a cocktail.
What You’ll Need
Ingredient Notes
- Strawberries, rhubarb. These add fruity goodness and flavor.
- White wine vinegar. This adds flavor complexity and tartness. You can use another vinegar but beware of the flavor overpowering the fruit. I tried different combinations and the straight white wine vinegar was my favorite.
- Sugar. This balances the vinegar and adds sweetness. I have also tested it with an equal amount of allulose plus some stevia with excellent results (see “variations” below).
- Sparkling or plain water. For serving.
Special Tools
- No special tools required though a food processor can help chop the fruit.
Step by Step Directions
Chop the strawberries and rhubarb coarsely.
Combine the cut up fruit with the sugar. Let sit for 1 hour at room temperature.
Mash the fruit to break it up some, then let it sit for another hour. At this point, a lot of the juices should have been released.
Mash the fruit again. Let sit, covered, at room temperature, for 24 hours. Add the vinegar, stir, and let sit, covered and refrigerated for one week, stirring daily.
After a week, strain the fruit from the mixture and save the liquid in a sealed jar.
For serving, measure two tablespoons of syrup into a glass, then top with 8 ounces (or to taste) of plain or sparkling water.
How to Serve
This can be served in any type of glass that you’d like! Just adjust the amount for the glass size or fill in with extra ice.
I like to garnish with extra strawberries, herbs, lemon slices or anything pretty!
Variations and Special Diets
You can turn this into a strawberry rhubarb shrub cocktail, by adding a shot ( 1 ½ ounces) of vodka or gin to your beverage.
I tested this with sugar as well as with allulose plus stevia (since allulose by volume is less sweet than sugar). Both were delicious. The yield was just a little higher with the sugar and it seemed to draw out the moisture a bit better from the fruit, though perhaps the fruit was drier. And obviously the sweetener version will be lower in carbs and calories. You need to use a sweetener that measures like sugar so the fruit can macerate.
While I haven’t tried it, honey should work as well, though it may mask some of the more delicate fruit flavors.
Leftovers
The shrub base should keep refrigerated for a couple weeks or longer since the vinegar effectively “pickles” the fruit juice.
When you strain your fruit out of the syrup, you will be left with about 1/2 cup of fruit residue. Sadly, I found this a bit tart to go into yogurt, my usual solution. But if you’d like to avoid wasting it, try mixing it into a fruit salsa, or adding a little maple syrup to it and topping pancakes or waffles.
Or be scandalous and pop it in the compost.
Tips & FAQs
The classic ingredient ratio for a fruit shrub is 1 part fruit, 1 part sugar and 1 part vinegar. This makes it super easy to change the quantity, or swap in different fruits or vinegars.
If you try this and like it, check back (or to be safe subscribe) because I’m planning a lot of flavor experiments this summer and will be publishing the best ones!
Strawberry Rhubarb Shrub
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup chopped rhubarb
- 3/4 cup chopped strawberries
- 1 1/2 cups sugar or 1 1/2 cups allulose plus 20 drops stevia (or to taste)
- 1 1/2 cups white wine vinegar
- plain or sparkling water for serving
Instructions
- Chop the fruit coarsely.
- Combine the cut up fruit with the sugar. Let sit for 1 hour at room temperature.
- Mash the fruit to break it up some, then let it sit for another hour. At this point, a lot of the juices should have been released.
- Mash the fruit again. Let sit, covered, at room temperature, for 24 hours.
- Add the vinegar, stir, and let sit, covered and refrigerated for one week, stirring once daily.
- After a week, strain the fruit from the mixture and save the liquid in a sealed jar.
- For serving, measure two tablespoons of syrup into a glass, then top with ice and 8 ounces of plain or sparkling water.
Notes
Nutrition
Updated from original, published on Jun 30, 2014.
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Inger, this sounds absolutely delicious! Now all I need is the rhubarb which I have not seen here for years 🙂
I think this would work with extra strawberry instead of the rhubarb. I’ll let you know how my experimentation goes with different fruits!
Can we blend in the fruit, rather than strain?
You could certainly blend the fruit in as soon as the shrub is done and use it then. I don’t know if it would get moldy if kept longer with the rest of the shrub liquid. Interesting question.
When it sits for a week, can it be at room temperature, or should it be refrigerated? Thank you, this sounds delicious and I just bought strawbs and rhubarb to start this tomorrow.
Recipes vary on this, Laura, but it was used for preservation before refrigeration existed, back to the 15th century. I let it sit at “normal” room temperature but I’d probably move it to the refrigerator if it got very warm.
Hope you enjoy!
Oh my, I will certainly be trying this one!! I have been dabbling in kombucha and am excited to give this one a go, thank you!
This is a favorite of mine Angela. At this point I usually just blend it with club soda to serve. Now the winter is wrapping up I need to start some more!
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I recently made strawberry rhubarb muffins, it was my first time eating rhubarb! This looks great 🙂
What a lovely summery refreshing drink 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I knew a shrub was a bush, Inger but only because I love to “partake” shrubs while gleaning my plants and bushes of spent buds and leaves. Hey, something has to get you through dead-heading, lol…
I’m not to fond of rhubarb I’m afraid but, I have a feeling I could probably leave it out and double up on those gorgeous strawberries. I still havent found a good CSA around here. It amazes me because I’m surrounded by farms but all they grow is coorn and mostly feed corn at that!
Your shrub looks lovely. Thank you so much for sharing, Inger…Cheers!
P.S. Your cupcakes were a huge success at the picnic. Thank you so much for toting them and joining the picnic game once again, Inger. It was such fun. I can hardly wait until next year!!! (well, I need to catch my breath first:)
We actually recently bought some rhubarb. This looks like great use for it.
Interesting, I hadn’t heard of shrubs and now I’m intrigued!
Thanks for sharing, I’m going to try this in a cocktail. It looks so summery and perfect!