For those of you who don’t know about shrubs, they’re basically syrup mixed with vinegar for longer preservation. They can replace citrus in cocktail recipes.

Ever since I learned about them I was curious to 1) taste some, 2) make some.With the spring coming I wanted to experiment with some seasonal fruits: rhubarb.

Rhubarb shrub

Rhubarb – 2.25 kgs

Powder sugar – 850 grs

Raspberry red wine vinegar – 2 dl

Cut rhubarb stalks into small pieces and weigh them. Place them in a glass or stainless steel container .

Let them simmer with a third of their weight in sugar for a 3-4 days inside your fridge (or on your balcony if days are still fresh). Stir every day. The fruit will give out its juice which mixed with the sugar will turn into syrup.

Filter the rhubarb syrup through a fine mesh strainer lined with a layer of cheesecloth. With my 2.25 kgs of rhubarb stalks, I got 1 l of rhubarb syrup. Keep the solids to make some rhubarb purée which you can use for baking.

Mix the syrup with vinegar (quantity of vinegar to taste but I’d go for very little so as not to overpower the rhubarb’s flavour).

There! You have your rhubarb shrub! Bottle it and keep it in the fridge until ready to use. Time will allow the rhubarb and the vinegar to properly mix and balance for a full flavour effect. You can mix the shrub with tonic water or use it as a replacement to citrus in cocktails.