Learn How to Make a Shrub with this recipe for a tasty Probiotic-Rich Drinking Vinegar from the 1700s. A Shrub is a delicious ingredient for making homemade sodas, energy drinks, sports drinks, mocktails, and cocktails!
Affiliates note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. My content may contain affiliate links to products and services. If you click through and make a purchase, I’ll receive a small commission. It does not affect the price you pay.
Table of Contents
An Independence Day Beverage
In many ways, a Shrub is similar to Switchel (also known as Haymaker’s Punch), which are all forerunners to our modern-day energy drinks, sports drinks, and sodas.
So in celebration of the United States’ Independence Day, I want to wish you all a Happy 4th of July! And I thought it would be fun to go back to the Colonial days of the 1700s and share a recipe for a Shrub that may have been enjoyed by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin!
So together, let’s step back in time to the 18th century and join our Founding Fathers and Framers and lift our glasses to make a toast to the building of a great nation! Huzzah!.. Huzzay!…For the Great Washington and the Continental Congress!
Order YOUR COPY Now!
The Modern Pioneer Cookbook
Seasonal ingredients, traditional techniques, and nourishing recipes. Over 85 traditional, from-scratch recipes! Discover for yourself how you can use simple ingredients and traditional techniques to cook the modern pioneer way.
Homemade Electrolyte Drink Recipe
Update: Speaking of modern-day energy drinks, in the following video, I show you how to make a homemade electrolyte drink that you can turn into a refreshing sports drink or an elegant spa water.
More Beverage Recipes
Now that you’ve learned how to make a Shrub, try these other beverages that I show you how to make with my recipe videos.
You can also learn how to make milk and water kefir too!
Vinegar Recipes
In addition to making homemade apple cider vinegar for making your Shrub drink, I also show you how to make fruit scrap vinegar using strawberry tops.
Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List
For a comprehensive list of the traditional foods you can make and obtain to stock your pantry, be sure to download my free 36-page Traditional Foods Pantry List. This extensive eBook is full of links to recipe videos, helpful articles, and more!
Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy
Are you looking for more traditional foods videos? I invite you to join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy. Members of this optional paid YouTube community get access to exclusive videos, live streams, and other members-only perks. Plus, your YouTube comments include a special members-only badge.
In the following members-only video, I talk about How to Equip Your Traditional Foods Kitchen.
Stay in Touch with Maryโs Nest
- Subscribe to My YouTube Channel for Traditional Foods Videos (Free) - When you subscribe, be sure to click on the notification bell that will let you know each time I upload a new video.
- Subscribe to Maryโs Traditional Foods Newsletter (Free) - Get a free 36-page eBook for signing up: How to Stock Your Essential Traditional Foods Four-Corners Pantry.
- Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy (Optional Paid) - For more detailed videos and exclusive members-only perks, join my YouTube membership community.
- Order The Modern Pioneer Cookbook (Optional Paid) - Get a printed book of Mary's nourishing recipes from a Traditional Foods Kitchen. This bestselling cookbook is published by Penguin Random House with their DK imprint.
I look forward to having you join me in my Texas Hill Country Kitchen!
Shrub – A Tasty Drinking Vinegar Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Fresh fruit
- 1 cup Raw apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup Honey preferably raw honey
Instructions
- Mash your fruit of choice (berries work especially well), and add your mashed fruit to a clean quart-sized jar.
- Add honey and vinegar to the jar.
- Mix all the ingredients well with a wooden spoon. Next, put a lid on the jar and give it a good shake.
- Uncap the jar and pour the mixture through a strainer into a pitcher. Pour the strained mixture back into the quart-sized jar.
- To prepare the shrub drink, remove 1/4 cup of the mixture from the jar and pour it into a tall ice-filled drinking glass. Add spring water or sparkling water to fill the glass. Stir well and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Shop for items used in this blog post or video
Favorite Supplies for Making Fermented Drinks
- Half Gallon Mason Jars
- Wide Mouth Canning Jar Storage Lids
- Wooden Pestle/Pounder (See the Masontops discount code below.)
Use promo code MARYSNST for a one-time 15% off Masontops and Breadsmart products on Amazon.com.
Favorite Kitchen Supplies
- Favorite Aprons
- Spice Grinder
- Countertop Burner (On my kitchen island in many recipe videos.)
- Handheld Vacuum Sealing System
- Vacuum Lids
- Whisk
- Silica Gel Packets (Helps keep moisture from building up in your mix)
- Cast Iron Dutch Oven
- 8-Quart Slow-Cooker
- Fat Separator (Clever kitchen device to help you decant bone broth)
- Flour Sack Towels
- pH Strips (Helps you check on the acidity of your vinegar)
Amazon Shop and Shopping Guide
- Visit Maryโs Nest Amazon Shop
- Visit my Shopping Guide page
Get up to 15% off for stocking your Traditional Foods Pantry and equipping your Modern Pioneer Kitchen, including discounts from US Wellness Meats, Farmhouse Teas, Lehman's, Masontops, Cultures for Health, Survival Garden Seeds, Redmond Real Salt, Plan to Eat, and More!
Recommended Reading
- The Modern Pioneer Cookbook
- Nourishing Traditions
- The First American Cookbook: A Facsimile of “American Cookery,” 1796
- The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy: The Revolutionary 1805 Classic
- The City Tavern Cookbook: Recipes from the Birthplace of American Cuisine
- City Tavern Baking and Dessert Cookbook: 200 Years of Authentic American Recipes From Martha Washington’s Chocolate Mousse Cake to Thomas Jefferson’s Sweet Potato Biscuit
- A Taste of History Cookbook: The Flavors, Places, and People That Shaped American Cuisine
- Sweet Taste of History: More Than 100 Elegant Dessert Recipes From America’S Earliest Days