Shrub

[Paula]

This recipe is from Serious Eats, and debuted at the IMX Blue Bell
Summer Party 2011!

This recipe makes about 20 to 24 ounces of shrub syrup, enough to make
anywhere from 10 to 20 drinks, depending on how much syrup you use per
drink. Store it for up to a year in your fridge. The acid and sugar
will preserve the syrup and keep it tasting bright and fresh.

The remaining fruit will have lost much of its flavor to the syrup,
but it should be tasty enough to serve atop ice cream or cake.

Special equipment: bowl, fine-mesh strainer, spoon, knife, funnel,
bottle
active time 20 minutes, total time 1 to 3 days

Ingredients
1 cup berries or other fruit, washed and quartered or lightly crushed-
CUTTING OR CRUSHING FRUIT TURNED OUT TO BE VERY IMPORTANT!
1 cup sugar
1 cup red wine vinegar or apple-cider vinegar

Procedures
1 Place berries or fruit in bowl. Cover with sugar and stir.

2 Cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator until juice exudes
from fruit and starts to combine with sugar to form syrup. This may
take only 5 or 6 hours, or it may need a couple of days. A longer
maceration won't harm anything, so feel free to leave it in fridge
longer than it might need. (I had leftover berries in the freezer that
I threw in a jar with sugar- Nothing! You really need to smash it up.
The frozen, cut plums I used, on the other hand, almost totally
dissolved into the syrup.)

3 Strain syrup from fruit. Press lightly on solids to express any
remaining juice/syrup. Scrape remaining sugar into syrup.

4 Add vinegar and whisk to combine.

5 Pour through funnel into clean bottle. Cap and shake vigorously, and
mark date on bottle. Store in refrigerator.

6 Check periodically. Some sugar may remain undissolved for up to a
few days. Shake to combine. After about a week, acids in juice and
vinegar should dissolve sugar entirely.