today's video is going to be a little different not just because we're in my
kitchen but because it's going to feature something of a cooking tutorial
along with some awesome botanical facts today we're going to be making shrub and
not the growing out of the ground kind of shrub this is a beverage component made
out of vinegar sugar and fruit though they're often used in cocktails they're
also great with just Seltzer or tonic shrub and tonic is my go-to summer drink
shrubs are also referred to as drinking vinegar or sipping vinegar I
tried to find some reputable historical sources on the origins of shrub and
drinking vinegar but unfortunately because it's become kind of a newfangled
health craze I had a really hard time finding good sources so if you have any
about the origin of shrub and drinking vinegars definitely leave those in the
comments some people also tout vinegar as a healthy thing to add to your diet
but I'm not here to give out medical advice I just think that shrubs are
delicious they're both sweet and tart kind of like lemonade now to make a
basic shrub you only need three ingredients firstly fresh fruit in my
case I'm using strawberries but you can really use whatever your heart desires
second sugar I'm using a basic white sugar here I've used brown sugar but I
didn't really like it as much it kind of dominated the finished product and all I
tasted was the brown sugar and lastly vinegar you have a few options such as
apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar I'm using apple cider vinegar just
because with those acquired you'll need a couple of basic supplies you will need
a bowl a sieve or cheesecloth plastic wrap a sealable container for the final
product like a mason jar a whisk and a sharp knife in a cutting board the whisk
really optional I don't know why I have that on the list
now I'll be making a cold-pressed shrub which is slower but arguably easier no
messing with hot stove tops or pots and pans especially in this hot summer
weather like I said I'll be using strawberries which I need to cut into
smaller pieces strawberries scientific name Fragaria ananassa are in the
rose family the strawberry is somewhat unique as a fruit as fruits go
it is an accessory fruit meaning that the fleshy delicious part doesn't
actually come from the ovary of the flower like with most fruit instead the
receptacle of the flower expands and the little seeds on the surface of the
strawberry are actually the fruit it is very very tiny humans have been eating
wild strawberries for at least a few thousand years but the strawberries we
find in grocery stores today are grown on large farms in fact a total of 3
billion pounds of strawberries are produced in the US every year this
variety is known as the garden strawberry a variety that wasn't
cultivated until the eighteen hundreds prior to that if people grew wild
strawberry varieties the hybridized garden strawberry is favored because of
its color smell sweetness and size all right with the strawberries chopped up next we
need to add the white sugar I'm using about a cup of white sugar to
start and I'm kind of eyeballing it from there and then I'm going to mush up
those strawberries to kind of help release the juices so it combines with
the sugar what we want is a sugar syrup as these two things combined so the next
step is easy you're going to cover this fruit sugar combo in plastic wrap and
let it sit in the fridge overnight or even longer those juices will combine
creating that syrup and you can check the mixture periodically to see how it's
doing once you're happy with that combination of sugar and fruit you need
to strain it this can be a little bit messy I've tried using a strainer and
cheesecloth I do prefer cheesecloth even though it's way messier because you can
really get all the juice out and kind of use your hands to squeeze out the last
of it so you're not wasting any of that good fruit juice so you're gonna want
squeeze it out into some kind of bowl and then I transfer it to the mason jar
before the last step and that last step is adding the vinegar and slight tangent
but apple cider vinegar like I'm going to be using is also plant-derived as
this name indicates it's derived from apples the juices are squeezed out of
apples and then fermented with yeast and bacteria yielding vinegar so you can add
usually like one it's one part sugar one part fruit one part vinegar so kind of
eyeball it that way I do it really not scientifically and then like taste it
and see how it tastes I like a lot of vinegar maybe you like less so I say
start with less vinegar and then go up from there and with the vinegar added
your shrub is pretty much ready to go the taste will likely change
and mellow over time and it should be kept refrigerated in a sealed container
stored that way it should last at least a few weeks but if you're like me it'll
be used up long before that like I mentioned I drink shrub with just
straight-up tonic and some ice I find it's like a really refreshing sweet and
tart drink especially when it's really really hot if you decide to make a shrub
of your own please send me pictures you can find me over on Twitter and
Instagram is at brilliant botany or you can shoot me an email at Claire@ brilliantbotany.com if you want to show me how your shrub turned out please feel
free to leave any questions in the comments and let me know if you'd like
me to do more videos like this and if you'd like to support brilliant botany so
I can keep making videos head over to patreon to become a monthly supporter or
check out my awesome merch at the link in the description even a small
contribution helps me cover software costs and keep creating thanks so much
for watching I'll see you next week