Tasty Cherry Shrub Beverage
With a sweet-tart fruity flavor and a hint of vanilla, a Cherry Shrub makes a delicious alcohol-free beverage or a tasty cocktail mixer.
Necessity was the mother of invention today. You see, I was planning to make Cherry Turnovers for my blogging group’s National Cherry Day celebration (see below for more tasty cherry treats). I even had a half gallon of cherries pitted and frozen from last year’s harvest.
Well sadly when I went to the freezer to pull them out, I found it had stopped working. It was working the day before but now the temperature read 32 and all that was left was a mound of limp fruit lying in a puddle of juice.
Which means that instead of pastries we’re having drinks today! Cherry Shrubs to be precise. I figure that, since I’ve been making my Strawberry Rhubarb Shrub almost weekly, it’s time to move on anyway!
What is a Fruit Shrub?
A shrub, also called “drinking vinegar” is a mixture of fruit, sugar, and vinegar that was used historically to preserve fruit juice. It dates from the time before there was a spare refrigerator in every garage (or, ahem, not anymore in some garages,).
The shrub/drinking vinegar is used to make a beverage, which is also called a shrub. This is done by mixing the sweet, vinegar-preserved juice with plain or fizzy water. And it’s delicious!
Then, if that’s not fun enough, it can also be turned into a tasty shrub cocktail by adding alcohol to the drink. Just in case someone could use a drink after their freezer dies.
Why You’ll Love This!
Tasty and Natural. Cherry with a hint of vanilla is a classic flavor combination. I used a nice red wine vinegar in this which provides flavor complexity in addition to preservation. And it’s way more natural than a soft drink.
Refreshing. It’s easy to make a refreshing summer beverage if you start with the tasty shrub base.
Healthier. A basic shrub beverage makes a good alternative to a cocktail. Or a fine mixer too!
What You’ll Need
Ingredient Notes
- Cherries. These add the fruity goodness and cherry flavor. You can use fresh or frozen.
- Vanilla bean or vanilla extract. Adds a hint of vanilla flavor.
- Red wine vinegar. This adds flavor complexity and tartness. See my thoughts on vinegar below.
- Sugar. This draws the juice from the berries, balances the vinegar and adds sweetness. You can also use a sweetener like allulose or erythritol.
- Sparkling or plain water. This tops the drinking vinegar for serving.
Special Tools
- No special tools required though a food processor can help chop the fruit.
Step by Step Directions
Chop the fruit coarsely. Combine the cut up fruit with the sugar or sweetener. Slice a vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the fruit mixture, then add the pod too (or add the extract). 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, making sure to stir it daily.
After a week, strain the fruit and vanilla bean from the mixture and save the liquid in a sealed jar.
To serve, measure two tablespoons of syrup into a glass, then top with 8 ounces (or to taste) of plain or sparkling water.
On the Choice of Vinegar
I read somewhere that when making a shrub, the darker the fruit, the darker you can go with a vinegar. So this time, I used a red wine vinegar instead of white wine vinegar.
But my personal thought is this—pick a vinegar that has a bright, pleasant flavor but is not too complex. Both the white and red wine vinegars have been lovely. However, after testing with balsamic and apple cider vinegars, I found those flavors more likely to muddle the fruit flavor. Not that it was bad, just not as nice.
And if you decide you want more complexity later (for variety or a cocktail), add a dash of bitters. Then you can have the best of both worlds!
Or play around with a combo and decide what you like best. No shrub police here!
How to Serve
To serve a shrub, simply take an ounce or two and top with ice and (optionally fizzy) water.
Serve your drink in any type of glass that you’d like! Just adjust the shrub base and water amounts for the glass size (you can do this since it’s not alcoholic). Or fill up with extra ice.
Now one of the things I like best about making beverages is having fun with garnishes. Today I just used mint and a fresh cherry. But rosemary would be gorgeous around the holidays!
And if you want to serve this as a Cherry Shrub Cocktail, I have a recommendation I loved. Take about 2 ounces of the shrub base, 1 ½ ounces Cointreau, a dash of bitters and top with ice and sparkling water. It’s amazing!
Variations and Special Diets
This can be made effectively with allulose or erythritol for a sugar free beverage. You may need to increase the amount of the sweetener by 25% or add some stevia, since they are less sweet.
While I haven’t tried it, people do make shrubs using honey. While there might be flavor conflicts with a more delicate fruit, I think the more intense cherries could work well.
Leftovers
The shrub base should keep refrigerated for weeks to months, since the vinegar effectively “pickles” the fruit juice.
When you strain your fruit out of the syrup, you will be left with some very tart fruit pulp. I’ve been composting it since I find it too sour for already tart yogurt. But for this batch I did something different. I froze “shrub fruit cubes” which I’ll be adding to smoothies, which can handle a small hit of vinegar just fine.
Tips & FAQs
The classic ingredient ratio for a fruit shrub is 1 part fruit, 1 part sugar and 1 part vinegar. Just in case you want to experiment. Let me know if you do!
In true confessions, I think I like the Strawberry Rhubarb Shrub better than this Cherry Shrub as an alcohol free beverage. But that said, I’m starting to get bored, my rhubarb is done, and this was amazing as the cocktail described under How to Serve! So I think it’s going into permanent rotation.
In case you’re using fresh cherries, I have info on how to pit cherries in my Cherry Scone post.
Finally now that I have two shrubs under my belt, I’m even more excited to try more. Check back (or subscribe) to hear about my future experiments!
Celebrating National Cherry Day!
- Magical Ingredients: Black Forest Baked Oats
- Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Cherry Chocolate Cookies
- Hezzi-D’s Recipe Box: Cherry Coffee Cake
- Sneha’s Recipe: Homemade Cherry Pie Filling
- A Day in the Life on the Farm: Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Cherry Salsa
- The Spiffy Cookie: Mini Cherry Lime Greek Yogurt Cheesecakes
And this year we got the first (small) harvest of cherries on our cherry tree!
Cherry Shrub
Ingredients
- 2 cups cherries
- 2 cups sugar or sweetener like allulose
- 1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups red wine vinegar
- Plain or fizzy water for serving
Instructions
- Chop the fruit coarsely.
- Combine the cut up fruit with the sugar or sweetener. Slice a vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the fruit mixture, then add the pod too (or add the extract). 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, making sure to stir it daily.
- After a week, strain the fruit and vanilla bean from the mixture and save the liquid in a sealed jar.
- To serve, measure 2-4 tablespoons of syrup into a glass, then top with 8 ounces (or to taste) of plain or sparkling water.
This sounds so refreshing for our hot (and I mean HOT) summer days in the desert. Thanks, Inger!
Ah yes, stay hydrated David!
This is screaming SUMMER to me. Bright and cheerful!
The best of summer!
Made with cherries, this drink is a fabulous one for the summer!
Your Cherry Shrub Cocktail sounds like a delicious pre dinner cocktail or for when you discover a non functioning freezer.
I love a good shrub and cherry flavor sounds amazing!
I’m so sorry about your cherries! This shrub does look refreshing (I’ve never had one)!
It’s my go to summer beverage right now (made without sugar)!