A Shrub Is Not a Bush...

Nor is it furry... (oops). A shrub is an ancient drink, as old as spirits themselves. It's most often made with brandy or rum. It's truly a drink for all seasons. It can be cooling in the summer, or it can make a wicked hot toddy in the winter. It uses up fruit that has seen better days, and the fruit itself can enhance desserts such as cake and ice cream :P.

Orange Shrub

Benjamin Franklin's favorite libation was an orange shrub (a documented fact). However, from what I've seen of it, this recipe is MUCH better than HIS was.

6 oranges
8 oz cold water
2 lbs sugar
8 oz FRESH orange juice
2 fifths of rum (I would use cheap Virgin Islands rum, Cruzan or Ron Rico - use Ron Rico, I own stock in the company...)

Wash the oranges, peel off their rinds, and place the rinds in a gallon jar. Add the juice and 8 oz cold water. Close the jar and let stand for 3 days, stirring occasionally.

Strain into a pot, add 2 lbs of sugar, and bring to a boil. Let cool, add an additional 8 oz of FRESH orange juice, and strain again. Add the rum, jug it, and wait a week or two :)

Raspberry Shrub (adapted from Lobscouse and Spotted Dog by Anne Chotzinoff Grossman and Lisa Grossman Thomas)

1 1/2 pints fresh raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brandy
1 tsp lemon juice

Crush the raspberries and strain the juice. Add sugar, brandy, and lemon juice, and stir. Bottle and let sit for a week or more.

Lemon Shrub (adapted from Lobscouse and Spotted Dog - good for what ails you, esp. in the winter time)

Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups rum

Combine all ingredients, stir well, bottle, and set aside in a cool place. It will be ready to drink after about a week.

To serve, mix 2-3 parts boiling water to 1 part shrub.

Gudrun's Special Shrub

Any apropos rotting fruit that's around (i.e., good in a drink, and not too rotten). My last shrub contained strawberries, peaches, and some dried Cherokee blackberries that were too seedy to eat in their raisin-dried form.

1 cup fruit
1 cup sugar
1 fifth VI rum (Ron Rico is fine)

Put it in a Mason jar with as much of the rum as you can. Put it in the fridge for 2 weeks. You can replenish the rum as you drink it. Eat the fruit, even tho it discolors a little. It's good for you.