ginger beer, shrubs and swizzles

Do some healthy drinking this summer and make your own thirst quenching drinking vinegars, shrubs and swizzles. It's so much fun to take the fruit of the summer and make your own special concoctions.

Shrubs are usually equal parts fruit, sugar and vinegar.

Here is a recipe for a simmered cherry shrubIngredients:

• 1 cup Black Cherries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup vinegar (apple cider vinegar is our preference)

1.     In a saucepan, simmer equal parts water & sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved.
2.     Add the fruit and simmer until fruit is sufficiently softened and can easily be crushed.
3.    Crush fruit to release the juices and allow to cool.
4.    Pour through a fine sieve or straining funnel and collect the juices. If you want to maintain higher clarity of your shrub, just allow the juices to drip through.  At this point, you may choose to save the fruit syrup as is OR you can add your vinegar to complete the shrub.
5.    Cap it, label it and store in your refrigerator. I love keeping some of these French Square bottles on hand for things like this…they look so pretty, but are also great space savers and fun for sharing!

Save the fruit and make fruit leather, spoon it over cake or ice cream or put it in your oatmeal. Waste not, want not.


The above recipe and these recipes can be found on https://foodinjars.com.

• Spiced Cranberry Shrub (and a bonus Tangy Cranberry Applesauce)
• Cold Processed Blueberry Ginger Shrub
• Strawberry Shrub from some strawberries distracted from their rush to become worm food
• Cranberry & Canela Shrub   
• Plum Shrub which uses red wine vinegar and apple cider for a warmer flavor profile.
• Apple Shrub
  
  

GINGER BEER
Then there’s ginger beer. Oh, yes, half the fun is collecting the Grolsch bottles with the ceramic caps to make capping up Ginger Beer simple. Here is just one of many ways to make your own “Thirst Slaking” drinks.

Ingredients
Ginger Syrup Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger

Ginger Beer Ingredients

• 1/8 tsp active dry yeast or brewer's yeast
• Ginger syrup (ingredients above)
• 3 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 7 cups filtered water

See the full HERE: https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/the-old-fashioned-way-homemade-ginger-beer/
For the podcast of Main Street Eats with Root Seller Sue talking with Doug and Ashley about old-fashioned drinks, visit https://news.prairiepublic.org/programs/main-street.