Shrubs and Switchels are good to drink plain or as a base for a mixed drink.
Shrubs and switchels are old-timey drinks that were made with sugar and drinking vinegar (usually apple cider vinegar). They were another way to have something safe to drink when the water was questionable, so both were popular in early America.
The difference between shrubs and switchels are usually the type of sugar used and whether fruit is added.
- Shrubs have chopped or pressed fruit as the base and then add vinegar, then sugar or honey.
- Switchels do not have fruit, and the sweetener was often molasses or maple syrup.
These recipes are adapted from: Homebrewed Vinegar: How to Ferment 60 Delicious Varieties, Including Carrot-Ginger, Beet, Brown Banana, Pineapple, Corncob, Honey, and Apple Cider Vinegar by Kirsten K. Shockey:
(affiliate link)
Drinking Vinegar
All of these recipes use drinking vinegar, which is usually apple cider vinegar. I find store-bought vinegar to be very strong, so I make my own. See my Apple Cider Vinegar recipe and the basic vinegar making process in my post on Thriver.News:
Making Your Own Vinegar – Thriver.News
For these recipes I use a mild vinegar like Asparagus Vinegar or Sweet Beet Vinegar. This is the recipe for Asparagus Vinegar:
Making Your Own Asparagus Vinegar – Thriver.News
Sweet Beet Vinegar can be made using the same recipe/process, just replace the asparagus with yellow beets. Pear cider is also very good.
Shrub Recipe:
Ingredients:
The book above has a ratio of 2 cups fresh fruit, 1 cup sugar or other sweetener, and 2 cups cider vinegar. If you are not used to drinking vinegar, you may start with a lower amount of vinegar. Personally, I just experiment. This is the recipe that I used:
- 1 cup Blueberries
- 2 cups filtered, unchlorinated water
- 1/2 cup maple syrup. If using honey, create a simple syrup by slightly heating the honey in a pan with filtered, unchlorinated water until melted enough to blend, and then mixing with a spoon.
- If using a mild vinegar like asparagus vinegar or sweet beet vinegar, you use less sweetener. For store bought apple cider vinegar or stronger vinegar you use more sweetener.
- 1/2 cup mild drinking vinegar – like sweet beet vinegar or asparagus vinegar (see recipe above)
Step 1: Crush or blend the fruit.
I put the blueberries in a Nutribullet with the water.
Drain the liquid through a fine mesh strainer/sieve to get out the seeds and pulp. You can also put in a cheesecloth or a nut milk bag and strain it
Step 2: Add the maple syrup or simple syrup
Step 3: Add the vinegar and stir. You now have the base for the shrub. This can be stored in the refrigerator.
Step 4: This is where it gets fun! Add one part of your shrub to three parts filtered water, seltzer water, club soda, or as a base for a mixed drink.
The key to this is to experiment and adapt it to your tastes (and your tolerance for vinegar).
Switchel Recipe
Switchel doesn’t have any fruit. A switchel usually has an equal amount of vinegar and sweetener. It also adds other ingredients that “bite” like ginger and/or cayenne pepper.
Ingredients and steps: Same as above, except omit the fruit syrup.
Create a simple syrup with honey (see above) or add maple syrup. Add the vinegar.
Mix with water, seltzer, or alcohol (vodka, etc).
When I made this today (see pic), I added grated ginger and cayenne pepper to get that snap and burn.
This is where it gets really interesting, because it is only limited by your imagination, both in your switchel ingredients, but also what you want to mix it with.
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