Shrubs For Dummies
June 28, 2011
Last week I took a shrub-making class, lead by Jennifer Colliau of Small Hand Foods and Aaron Gregory of 15 Romolo.
(Blueberry-Raspberry-Thyme Shrub Ready for Vinegar)
The class was co-hosted by CUESA, Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture, who puts on the Ferry Building Farmer's Market, farm tours, and educational events and Urban Kitchen, a group that hosts affordable, single-purpose classes and workshops themed around the DIY Slow Food concept.
(Jennifer Colliau and Aaron Gregory)
Here is what I learned:
The word shrub comes from a Persian word for a syrup with citrus and fruit in it, which is also the base of the word sherbet. Originally, shrubs did not have vinegar in them, but as they spread around the world they began to incorporate it. Why? Because Persia had citrus fruit and other countries did not. Citrus provides the acidity that helps preserve these syrups, and so does vinegar, which can be made from non-citrus fruits. So vinegar was a citrus substitute.
That explains why we see some recipes for shrub syrups with and some without vinegar. Blueberries, for example, need the extra acid; pineapple does not. I had always wondered about that. Mystery solved.
Furthermore there is a separate type of shrub related to the switchel. According to Colliau, the switchel dates back to Roman times. It was water mixed with vinegar and perhaps sugar that was used to hydrate the slaves. Wikipedia seems to pick up the trail of the switchel as it enters nascent America, where it was used similarly for hydration rather than as a preservative syrup.
Making Shrubs, Fast and Easy
They made it incredibly easy for us to make our own shrubs in this class. They put out a bunch of berries, stone fruits, herbs, and spices. We filled mason jars with our selection of them. Then we poured hot vinegar to fill the jars.
Done. Next we wait a week, giving the jar a little shake each day. Then we add sugar and stick it in the fridge -ready to drink!
I made a blueberry-raspberry-thyme shrub and a strawberry-pepper-coriander shrub. I CAN'T WAIT TO DRINK THEM!
Vinegar tip: Colliau says don't use distilled white vinegar, use wine/champagne or fruit vinegars. Be wary of apple cider vinegar as the flavor can be overpowering.
Thanks for a great seminar guys. To San Franciscans: check out the activities calendar for more booze and food event with both CUESA and Urban Kitchen.
How much syrup do you actually get out of one of those quart jars? Looks like a lot of fruit but maybe not a ton of liquid...
Posted by: HearsaySF | June 28, 2011 at 09:01 AM
I can tell you on Thursday- that's when I dump the fruit and add the sugar.
Posted by: Camper English | June 28, 2011 at 10:32 AM
Over the last few weeks, I've been making shrubs using a no-heat method and a basic 1:1:1 weight proportion of fruit:sugar:vinegar. I've noticed (and it is obvious that this would be the case in hindsight) that some fruits are able to dissolve more sugar -- berries more so than cherries. You mentioned that certain fruits take more or less sugar, from which I inferred you had seen a lot of recipes for these shrubs. Could you point us to a source of more recipes and writings on shrubs?
By the way, the cherry shrub, after the week of steeping in vinegar, tastes amazing and has a great noyaux odor.
Posted by: Jacob S | June 28, 2011 at 02:49 PM
For these ones I am adding the sugar after the fruit/berries are removed.
Recipes: Here is one-
http://www.alcademics.com/2009/01/sharing-the-sherry-shrub.html
And here is another
http://www.imbibemagazine.com/Charentes-Shrub-Recipe
I don't know if you'll find a collection all together - they're scattered about the internet.
Posted by: Camper English | June 28, 2011 at 02:54 PM
Don't forget to look for "drinking vinegars," as they are also sometimes called. A close friend has had a local business making them for years:
http://sageandseafarms.com/?page_id=13
Posted by: Colonel Tiki | July 01, 2011 at 12:03 PM
The strawberry pepper shrub is a real nice call. Can't wait to hear your feelings of the final product. Any thoughts as to how you may employ these bad boys?
Posted by: Tim | July 02, 2011 at 05:18 PM
The strawberry peppercorn was particularly delicious- a subtle peppery finish.
To use them, you can just dilute with soda water. You can also just serve mixed with dry vermouth or fino sherry. And in cocktails, think of it as the acid/citrus agent in the drink.
Posted by: Camper English | July 03, 2011 at 08:00 PM
Oh and out of the 1 liter jars (4 cups) I got 2 cups of shrub liquid, to which I added 1.5 cups sugar. I forget what the total volume was after adding sugar but let's guess 2.5 cups.
Posted by: Camper English | July 03, 2011 at 08:01 PM