There’s no summer beverage more refreshing than a puckering fruit shrub mixed with club soda over ice. There are many ways to make a shrub, but we prefer the cold-process method in which ripe berries and sugar macerate for a day until they turn into a flavorful syrup. Once you strain the fruit syrup into your jar, you can add all kinds of additional flavors to infuse your final shrub. A few to try: a 2"-piece of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced; a small bunch of basil or mint leaves, clapped to release aromas; a few sprigs of fresh rosemary or thyme; or a 3"-piece of lemongrass, tough outer layers removed, smashed. Mix the resulting fruity-sweet vinegar with club soda (and maybe tequila or gin, no one’s stopping you!) and you’ve got the makings of an instant party drink. You can drink the shrub right away, but it will taste even better after a week or so when the flavors have mellowed.
Ingredients
Makes about 20
shrub
12
1½
1
assembly
Special equipment
Preparation
Step 1
Gently mash berries in a medium bowl with a fork. Transfer to jar, add sugar, and stir to combine. Seal jar and let fruit mixture sit at room temperature, shaking a couple of times, until berries are very soft and falling apart and sugar is at least mostly dissolved, about 1 day (mixture should look very juicy).
Step 2
Strain fruit mixture through a fine-mesh sieve (line sieve with a layer of cheesecloth if you want to catch every bit of seed and fruit pulp) into a medium bowl; discard fruit. Scrape any undissolved sugar left in jar into bowl.
Step 3
Add vinegar to syrup and stir to combine. Taste shrub and add more sugar or vinegar to your liking—it should taste both sweet and sharp but not overpowering in either direction (keep in mind the flavors will meld as the shrub ages). Pour shrub into a clean jar; cover with lid and chill until flavors come together and mellow, at least 1 week.
Do ahead: Shrub can be made 6 months ahead. Keep chilled.
assembly
Step 4
For a refreshing nonalcoholic drink, pour 2 Tbsp. shrub into a glass filled with ice and top off with club soda; stir gently to combine. Garnish with berries and/or herbs if desired.
Leave a Review
Reviews (38)
Back to TopI used thawed frozen triple berry mix (raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries), and the recipe came out great. This definitely has to mellow in the fridge for one week, though; I tried it the day after I added the vinegar, and it was unpalatably astringent. But I trusted Chef Chaey's instructions and waited one week--oh, what a difference! I mixed one ounce of shrub with nine ounces of club soda and forced myself to stop at two glasses. Thank you for the delicious alcohol-free treat, Chef!
AnnMarie
Tampa, Florida
1/26/2024
I just want to thank Gillian for making me LOL with that comment. I hope you figured it out! Vinegar is like the main ingredient in a shrub, and the recipe clearly states when to add it. If you're not into that flavor (similar to kombucha) shrubs aren't for you.
Anonymous
5/25/2023
This strikes me as a very refreshing beverage to try this summer -- something new. However, just a note that I will be substituting seltzer water for the club soda, which contains quinine which I am allergic to. By the way, I had no trouble understanding the directions -- it's a recipe that requires taste-testing as you go along to decide how much exactly of certain ingredients you may want. Thanks for a recipe I look forward to and sharing with others at my local library's monthly lunch meeting of our cookbook club.
Anonymous
Durham, NC.
2/21/2023
Hey Gillian in PDX it's step 3.
Jane Doe
PDX
8/16/2022
?!?! Maybe I’m misreading, but I did read the recipe at least five times, and I do NOT see any instruction that says to “ADD vinegar”! One sentence refers to “the *resulting* fruity-sweet vinegar”, which means the *product* of your fruit and sugar mix, obviously — it does NOT in any way say to add Vinegar — where do these readers get their proportions?? It suggests adding ginger, basil, mint, rosemary, thyme or lemongrass — not vinegar. And, since vinegar has a very strong flavor, wouldn’t the directions say to add a *particular amount* of vinegar? Am I befuddled or are my fellow readers muddled? Anyone who says that their resulting shrub tastes like vinegar after they —apropos of nothing — dumped in actual preproduced, bottled vinegar (red wine, white wine, balsaminc or flavored), absolutely would get and would deserve a beverage that tasted just like vinegar! Does the word “vinegar”in a recipe just cause people to lose their minds and grab a vinegar bottle without reading what the sentence says concerning vinegar? Or am I missing something almost everyone else seems to know? What’s with the vinegar?!
Gillian
PDX
7/10/2022
A great, simple recipe! Followed the recipe exactly with strawberries and red wine vinegar. The perfect balance of sweet and tart for my taste. Will be keeping a batch of this in the fridge all summer! Also... DON'T DISCARD THE BERRIES! They would be delicious on yogurt, pancakes, ice cream, or blended up into some lemonade!
Autumn
Huntsville, AL
6/29/2022
FABULOUS DRINK! I love sweet-tart tastes in food and beverages and this hit the high mark for beverages! Already on my second batch of blackberry shrub. Love it with vodka and tonic too! I also saved and used the discards.
Anonymous
Franklin, TN
6/28/2022
Made it with Strawberries he first time and it was delicious, just made a second batch with Peaches and mint. I think it's going to be just as delicious. Drink it with sparkling water and its fab with rum. froze the discards and put them in my morning greek yogurt, double yum!!
Anonymous
Masshole displaced in VA.
7/19/2021
Made it , loved it! Mix it with Gin and soda water or just sparkling water!!
Linda Elkind
Chicago, Il
7/17/2021
Those who said that their shrub tasted like vinegar clearly did something wrong. I’ve been experimenting with different shrubs for the past year and I’ve never had that result
Carlo S
western MA
7/14/2021
For this recipe, after macerating your berries (or whatever you're using) with the sugar and straining, definitely measure how much of the resulting liquid you have and start with the addition of half as much vinegar and then increase to taste. I used red wine vinegar and used a little more than half the volume of my sweetened berry syrup. As a note: I would suggest a red or white wine vinegar, depending on the fruit -- apple cider vinegar is a very strong flavor and can overpower others, so make sure that's the flavor you want (and possibly cut it with other more neutral vinegar).
Erik F.
Houston, TX
7/6/2021
Tried it with raspberries, and to be honest, the only thing it tastes like is vinegar. Undrinkable. Maybe it will mellow as it sits, but as-is, I found it very disappointing.
Paul
Northridge, CA
6/30/2021
Love this recipe! It's fantastic. I made a batch of strawberry shrub, then adjusted the recipe for some farmers market peaches and made a batch of ginger/jalapeno/peach shrub. It's delicious with some plain Waterloo or La Croix. Quite refreshing! Just a thought for the recipe. With all of the food waste that occurs, why not include different suggestions for what to do with the fruit, other than discarding it? That could make a lovely topping for pancakes, ice cream, yogurt, etc.
HannahLufromTennessee
Spring Hill, Tennessee
6/21/2021
Delicious with soda water snd better with Gin!
Ali oops
Vancouver Canada
6/19/2021
I made some with mostly red wine vinegar, a splash of balsamic vinegar, and strawberries. Haven’t tried it in a drink yet, but it was absolutely delish splashed over good vanilla ice cream!
Grace S
San Diego, CA
6/17/2021