Blueberry shrub

While reading And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails, I came across something known as a shrub — a brew of vinegar, sugar, and berries or ginger used to flavor soda water, or during colonial times, rum and gin.

Though the book described how shrub was made, it didn’t feature a recipe. So I made one up. Feel free to change the proportions to suit your own tastes.

Ingredients

• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 c blueberries
• 3/4 c water
• 1 c sugar

What to do

Mix the vinegar, water and berries in a non-reactive saucepan. Simmer until the berries macerate (become berry pulp). Stir in the sugar, and reduce the mixture to the point where it becomes a thin syrup. If I was paying attention to the clock, when I first made this, I’d guess it takes 20 minutes. But keep an eye on it. You don’t want it to boil over.

The traditional way is to steep the berry-and-vinegar mixture overnight and add sugar the next day. But my way takes less time .

To drink

Add some shrub to the bottom of a glass, top with soda water and ice. Add light rum (10 Cane is a nice one for this) if you want to get a little tipsy.

Also try

• Strawberries
• Blackberries
• Ripe mango