Making a Shrub Drink Recipe: The Lowdown on Drinking Vinegar!
Making a shrub drink recipe! Drinking vinegars, or shrubs, make awesome mocktails, and cocktails.
Does drinking vinegar, in the form of a beverage, not a health supplement, seems weird to you?
If so, stay right here!
Making a shrub drink recipe is easy, and it makes sense in menopause, when our alcohol tolerance is much, much lower.
By the end of this blog post, I am going to change your mind about drinking vinegars, and even give you some inspiration to make your own shrub drink recipe!
I’m sharing:
What are Drinking Vinegars?
The History of Drinking Vinegars.
Why Use Drinking Vinegars in Menopause
Really? Health benefits to drinking vinegars!
How to make drinking vinegars at home.
My favourite drinking vinegar to buy!
Flavour combinations of drinking vinegars.
What Are Drinking Vinegars or Shrubs?
Drinking vinegars are exactly what they sound like.
Vinegar that can be a drink.
They are also called shrubs, which make you think of short bushes in your front yard! Nope, a shrub is an infused vinegar, that’s drinkable!
Drinking vinegars, or shrubs, are a mixture of vinegar, fruit, sugar or other sweetener, and even herbs. They are a type of flavoured vinegar that has been around for centuries, as you will see. Originally used as a way to preserve fruit, they were also an alternative to water, and to alcohol.
Drinking vinegars were also used as a way to get down herbal medicine concoctions.!
This is not to be confused with switchel, or haymakers punch, a drink I learned about from Correne Omland, one of my awesome podcast guests, from Spirea Herbs.
Her video about switchel is linked on my YouTube channel!
Drinking vinegars surged in popularity around 2011, so as usual, I am late to the party. I am glad I arrived!
They’re still popular, and for good reason.
Drinking vinegars differ from other cocktail ingredients, such as syrups and bitters, in their flavour profile and acidity. Syrups are typically made with sugar and water, while bitters are made with herbs and spices.
Drinking vinegars have a slightly sour taste due to the vinegar, which adds a unique flavour to your cocktails and mocktails. They are also less sweet than syrups, which makes them an excellent choice for those who prefer less sugary drinks.
I want you to know, they are delicious.
The History of Drinking Vinegars
Drinking vinegars, and even the act of drinking vinegar, has a long history.
Vinegar itself dates back to 3000 BC, according to Wikipedia. Shrubs seem to have been either made with alcohol, or with vinegar.
I wanted to know where the name shrub came from, so in my quest, I learned that the word “shrub” comes from roman times.
“Long ago, the Romans and Babylonians were mixing vinegar with water. The word “shrub” is derived from the Arabic word “sharbah,” which translates as “drink.” Even sailors from the 16th-18th centuries drank shrubs to prevent scurvy!”- Institute of Culinary Education's website,
They were particularly popular in colonial America, (maybe not as popular as rum and beer), and many recipes for shrubs can be found in old cookbooks from that period.
Colonial America (and Canada I am sure) had some tainted water from humans, not really thinking about going to the bathroom near their nearby streams. Hence, the alternative to water.
Shrub making declined in popularity in the 20th century, but it’s been making its way through the craft cocktail scene, and in nutrition circles.
Are they just for the millennials? NO! These drinks make great nutrition sense in menopause.
Why Use Drinking Vinegars in Menopause?
Many of us in the over 50 category have some epic memories of clubbing and cocktail days! Many of us can recall time spent on the beach with a few Coronas, and we still engage in girl’s night out with wine and food.
While alcohol can be part of balanced living, you may also find that the booze in perimenopause and menopause hits a little differently.
The hangover comes easier, quicker and harder.
The hot flashes intensify.
Your sleep is disrupted.
You may even end up with diarrhea, the morning after. Nice, huh?
You may be where I am, getting curious about my relationship to alcohol, as I face some tough emotions and circumstances in this stage of life.
My alcohol tolerance has decreased in menopause.
What about yours?
One glass of wine can hit me like a ton of bricks some days, or it can just mess with my much needed deep sleep.
I am going through a phase of exploring my alcohol use, and my long standing relationship to alcohol.
Just like using food to cope with emotions, the desire to drink can have an interesting root within us. I am the daughter of two alcoholics, lost my fiance to alcohol, and also do like to have a drink, on occasion.
Growing up with alcoholics, partnered with the loss of my fiance, has kept me tuned in to alcohol throughout my lifetime. Lately, I have been looking at many areas of my life, alcohol included.
When it comes to the booze, I am asking myself:
Why do I drink it, considering the impact it had on my life?
What does it DO for me?
What can I drink instead, as I explore being sober curious?
That is where drinking vinegar fits into my life.
I am always searching for ways to hydrate, that will taste good, and even deliver some minerals. I also like to feel that I am drinking something special, when I don’t want to have booze.
We’ve all needed the odd beverage option that’s non alcoholic. Personally, I don’t love soda pop, but do love sparkling water, which can taste ho-hum, some days.
A few years back, I discovered this world of drinking vinegars, and I was immediately impacted by their flavour, and their versatility. I also see them as healthy!
Yes, there will be naysayers that say: but the SUGAR.
I’ll get to that.
If you don’t want the sugar, you still can experiment with apple cider vinegar (ACV) as a drink for digestion, but here with the shrub, there's some sweetness involved. I’m not about that restrictive life anymore and yes, I consume sugar.
I make this choice based on the concept of my Wise Mind as part of a Mindful Eating practice. The idea of balance with food and life looks different for all of us.
I do believe sugar, sweet things, CAN have a place in your diet, depending on your relationship with food, AND your overall health concerns & issues.
But: is a drink like this actually healthy?
Are There REALLY Health Benefits to Drinking Vinegars?
This all depends on how you define health. It also depends on your health needs.
It limits alcohol use.
If you are limiting your alcohol use, these can have a healthy place in your life. YES, drinking vinegars can be healthy!
When making choices between alcoholic drinks and something else, these shrubs can be a really fun option. Alcohol itself contains ethanol and water. It can also contain all kinds of other compounds including histamine, nitrosamines and molds.
There are different types of byproducts in different types of alcoholic beverages (1).
Many alcoholic beverages contains sugar. Sometimes it's added, and sometimes it naturally occurs. Vodka tequila and gin tend to have the lowest sugars. In fact vodka has zero sugar.
“Hey”, you're saying, “Why would I drink the sugary vinegar then?”
Mainstream nutrition advice states that sugar is as addictive as drugs, and that sugar should never be used in your diet.
As someone who has lived experience with addiction, I find that comparison unhelpful, and it makes the addict's experience seem less important. Yes, sugar can light up the same dopamine pathway, just like recreational and even some prescriptions drugs can.
… however with drugs, this increment occurs repeatedly every time it is given, compared to a decline in release observed with palatable food (1).
The science on sugar, and food addiction, is complicated and conflicting. Both food, and alcohol addiction, are influenced by the bio-psycho-social picture.
Your liver will have to break down the alcohol into acetaldehyde, which is a toxic byproduct. Acetaldehyde is short lived in the body but not without consequences (3).
Considering the harm that excessive alcohol, and addiction causes to the body, the mind, and in relationships, I believe that a few teaspoons of drinking vinegar in some sparking water are far better for you. than repeated alcoholic drinks.
Its all about context and individuality.
Both can have consequences, if consumed in excess.
What about a digestive boost?
If you are wanting to focus on digestion in menopause, then drinking, and making drinking vinegars, with raw apple cider vinegar (ACV), might be a delicious way to add in probiotics.
If you use the cold method, you get some beneficial bacteria in your glass!
There ARE documented health benefits of apple cider vinegar when added to your diet.
ACV, is a great vinegar to have on hand for shrub making, and there are claims that it helps with blood glucose, digestion and more. ACV is a great source of probiotics, which are essential for gut health.
Use this wisely
While there are some documented article on the boost of digestive enzymes when it comes to ACV, do use it wisely. I’ve have seen the effects of straight vinegar, or lemon, on tooth enamel and the tissues inside the mouth.
While places on the internet say to enjoy this “refreshing drink on its own”, that may be a little too much vinegar for you. It is for me, and I do keep my tooth enamel in mind with acidic foods and beverages. (Once a dental hygienist, ALWAYS a dental hygienist retired or not!)
Making and Buying Drinking Vinegars
I make my own drinking vinegars, and I also love to buy them!
The convenience and flavour profile from some of the vinegars I have tried from The Olive Oil Company in Brantford, Ontario, are not something I can make on my own.
Their specialty infused organic oils and vinegars speak to my home cooking soul. Using them in food is also nothing short of amazing.
My favourite family owned company is The Olive Oil Company, in Brantford Ontario. You can buy vinegars and olive oils that can be used in drinks, and almost every recipe you can dream up!
This is a business that really caters to their clientele, shares great recipes for their products on YouTube. They never fail to give me an all round good feel every time I go to their shop!
Having pre-made drinking vinegars, like the ones from The Olive Oil Co. make spontaneous entertaining pretty darn easy. Especially when there are no figs or rhubarb to macerate!
The basics of the cold method.
These vinegars can be made by two methods, the hot method and the cold method. They both mix fruit with vinegar and sugar, and then strain.
To make a basic shrub, with the cold method, you will need:
2 cups of fruit (or more depending on your preference for flavour) (such as berries, peaches, or citrus)
1 cup of vinegar (apple cider vinegar is what I use, but white wine vinegar, and rice vinegar works too. This may change the health properties)
1 cup of sugar. You can use whatever you like, from honey to maple syrup to cane sugar.
Combine the fruit, vinegar, and sugar in a jar and let it sit for 2 days. I’ve seen recipes that say to leave on the counter, and some say put in the fridge. I’ve done the counter method, and I’ve been fine. Totally up to you!
Just make sure you give it a stir every so often. The cold method is good for fruits like melons, as the hot method required cooking, and may change the flavour of the end product.
Strain the mixture and store the resulting shrub in a glass bottle or jar in the refrigerator. There are many recipes that do say you can store on the counter for a long time, but here, i do prefer the refrigerator.
Trust me, these won’t last long they are so good!
The basics of the hot method.
It’s not much different. It just requires cooking. Mix the same amount of fruit, vinegar and sugar, bring to boil and simmer for three minutes. Cool, strain and use!
You may lose some of the flavour of certain fruits, like raspberries.
Flavour combinations of drinking vinegars.
Raspberry-Basil Shrub + Lime
Peach Shrub + ginger (make my ginger lemon tea & cool)
Rhubarb + Rosemary
Blueberry + Basil
Cranberry + Cayenne
Cranberry + Rosemary
Are You Ready to Try?
Health is more than what I eat, or how many hours are logged at the gym. Enjoying food, and social connection make up a life well lived.
Yes, I know I can drink water. I do drink water.
But my my cucumber and basil water combination gets a little stale.
Whether you make your own, or purchase them from a store, drinking vinegars are an excellent addition to recipes, cocktails and yes, mocktails!
Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6234835/
https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa72/aa72.htm