MEYER LEMON SHRUB

A shrub is a drink mixer you can craft with a few simple ingredients and enjoy a few spoonfuls of at a time in cocktails and mocktails. Shrubs are beautifully colored, refreshing, and far more delicious than anything you can get from a store.

The Shrub was popularized during the Prohibition era when hostesses had no alcohol, little money, a little fruit, and sugar, yet wanted to create a welcoming drink for guests.

A shrub is essentially a sweet-tart syrup made from fruit, sweetener, and vinegar. Many shrubs are no cook, and are concentrated so you’ll only use a tablespoon or two in a glass with sparkling water.

If you’re turned off by the idea of drinking vinegar, stay the course! The flavors of the fruit and sugar marry together so nicely, and if you choose a mild vinegar like the one in this recipe, you’ll hardly realize you’re adding vinegar to your glass at all.

Print Recipe

MEYER LEMON CHAMPAGNE SHRUB

A shrub is a drink mixer you can craft with a few simple ingredients and enjoy a few spoonfuls of at a time in cocktails and mocktails. Shrubs are beautifully colored, refreshing, and far more delicious than anything you can get from a store.

Course: Drinks

Keyword: beverage, cocktail, lemon, meyer lemon, shrub

Author: Jenny Gomes

Ingredients

• 3 Meyer lemons scrubbed clean
• 1 cup champagne vinegar*
• 1 cup sugar

Instructions

• Slice lemons and add to the bottom of a wide mouth quart jar or another clean glass jar. Add the sugar and wait 1 hour.
• Add the champagne vinegar and stir with a wooden spoon until sugar is mostly dissolved.
• Let shrub rest on the countertop for 3 days. Shake or stir daily.
• Strain the shrub into a clean jar and store in the refrigerator.
• *If this cannot be sourced, use the lightest tasting vinegar you can find. Try a white wine vinegar or a rice wine vinegar but remember the champagne vinegar is really delicious.

MEYER LEMON CHAMPAGNE SHRUB MOCKTAIL

• Add 2 tablespoons Meyer Lemon Champagne Shrub to a chilled copper mug. Top with sparkling water and cheers!

Notes

Note from the testing kitchen: We made a batch substituting ¾ cup honey for the sugar in this recipe. Jenny suggested using a very mild honey, so as not to overpower the champagne vinegar. Chico’s Pure Honey company recommended their alfalfa honey. The shrub was delicious, so if you prefer another sweetener, experiment!

Jenny Gomes

Jenny Gomes is a wife, mom of two small children, adjunct English Instructor at College of the Siskiyous, and blogger at The Domestic Wildflower. She loves sharing homemade food & craft tutorials with her readers and offers courses (several free courses, too!) and ebooks about canning and shrub making at startcanning.com. If you loved this recipe, you might love Jenny’s ebook, Shrubology.