Strawberry Shrub
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I know its officially summer when I start to see fresh picked berries at the farmers market. The star of the season for me are these beautiful, tiny Tristar Strawberries.
You’ll need the following equipment:
Ingredients:
Strawberries (In Season)
For their size, they pack the most intense strawberry flavor. I always want to bottle up that bright, sweet flavor so I can enjoy a bit of summer anytime of the year.
My favorite way to preserve them is by making a shrub. Shrubs are an ancient way of preserving fruit. Back before we had refrigerated trucks and fruit all year round, people would pick fruit at its peak and combine it with vinegar to preserve it. Shrubs were popular in colonial America until soda became the go to non-alcoholic beverage. Nowadays, shrubs have been rediscovered by bartenders and are used in place of syrup and citrus in cocktails.
There are 3 components to a shrub: Fruit or vegetables- but typically fruit, Sugar, and vinegar. I like to play around with the ratios on shrubs depending on how sweet or tart the fruit is.
The first step of shrub making is to macerate the fruit. You can either heat the fruit and sugar on the stovetop, or you can cold macerate. I prefer the latter as I find the final product has a cleaner taste, but it really depends on the fruit or vegetable you are using. If I were using something like tomatoes, I would heat the tomatoes on the stovetop because I prefer the flavor of cooked tomatoes.
This strawberry shrub is probably the best one I’ve made so far. Likely because I’m using the best quality in season fruit, but also because of the sugar and vinegar choices I’ve made.
I originally developed this shrub years ago for a cocktail called the Zucca Brasi which I will have a blog post on soon.
Since its a cocktail that uses a dark spirit, I macerated the strawberries in Demerara sugar, and used a malt vinegar that we actually made in house to acidify the shrub.
For this version I will be using store bought malt vinegar, but to jazz it up, I will also be infusing the vinegar with strawberry too.
It’s almost better to use berries that are almost too ripe when making shrubs. They have a much higher sugar content making them taste fruitier, and they also are juicier. Although it isn’t necessary, I like to roughly dice the strawberries to create more surface area for maceration.
When dicing the strawberries, be sure not to throw out the strawberry tops!
This recipe utilizes the whole strawberry, so just set the tops aside in a jar to infuse the vinegar.
For this recipe I am using around a pint of TriStar strawberries.
Once I’ve diced up the strawberries, I’m going to cover them in one cup of Demerara sugar. I like to add half the sugar, then stir around the strawberries to coat them, then add the remaining sugar and stir once again. Since these strawberries are so ripe, they have already started to release a lot of their juice. I let these macerate for a day or two in the refrigerator.
To the jar of strawberry tops, I will add a half cup of malt vinegar and let it sit out at room temperature to infuse overnight.
Once all the sugar has been dissolved, it’s time to extract that beautiful strawberry syrup. I use a conical strainer for this, if you are averse to the seeds, feel free to use a finer strainer or chinois.
Even I used dark sugar, the color is a really pretty deep red. These strawberries produced quite a bit of syrup- just over a cup and a half. You will want to save those strawberry solids to make strawberry jam of use them for dessert, like a strawberry shortcake.
To the strawberry syrup, I’m going to add the strawberry infused malt vinegar through the same strainer. Now just stir it to combine and voila! The strawberry shrub is ready to use!
Shrubs tend to mellow out after some time. If you find it to be too tart, just let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours.
This shrub has just the most intense strawberry flavor! It tastes like strawberry candy liquified, it’s so so so good!
It has a really nice color to it and a really and rich texture too. This would even be good on a dessert, or even as a salad dressing. I could just add this to some club soda for the most refreshing drink on a hot summer day-which is actually the way shrubs were intended to be drank.
Out of all the shrubs I’ve made, this one is the best. If you have an abundance of strawberries, you have to make this shrub. Come wintertime, you will be glad you bottled up some of this strawberry sunshine!
If you are a strawberry fan, this shrub is an absolute must! Tristar strawberries are truly the king of berries. They come together with Demerara sugar and malt vinegar to make the most intensely strawberry flavored shrub, which is perfect for cocktail, mocktails or anything that needs a little extra sweetness and zing.
Strawberry Shrub:
1 pint Tristar Strawberries (ripe- very ripe)
1 cup Demerara Sugar
1/2 cup Malt Vinegar
Strawberry Syrup Method:
Hull and dice strawberries and place them in a bowl.
Cover the strawberries with 1/2 the sugar and stir till strawberries are evenly coated. Add the rest of the sugar, stir again then cover and let macerate in the refrigerator for 1- 2 days until all the sugar has dissolved.
Strain off strawberry solids from the syrup.
Strawberry Vinegar Method:
Add the strawberry tops to a jar and cover with the malt vinegar. Let it sit at room temperature for 1 day, then strain the tops from the vinegar.
Combine the strawberry syrup and strawberry infused vinegar.
This shrub will last in the refrigerator for at least 6 months till a year. Keep in mind that the flavors will mellow with time.
