Raspberry Shrub Recipe

The Raspberry Shrub is a syrup made with raspberries that can be utilized as a flavorful base for a variety of cocktails and nonalcoholic drinks alike. Frozen raspberries, white vinegar, and granulated sugar are blended with water to yield a tart and tangy berry-flavored syrup. 

A shrub is a pantry ingredient made by combining vinegar, sugar, and a flavoring agent like fruit, flowers, and even greens. Shrubs are tangy with balanced sweetness, because the vinegar provides a pointy chunk. 

This shrub was developed by New Orleans–primarily based bartender and creator Neal Bodenheimer and the recipe was featured in Jim Meehan’s 2024 e-book, The Bartender’s Pantry: A Beverage Handbook for the Common Bar, coauthored with Bart Sasso and Emma Janzen. 

Frozen fruit is right for vinegar-based shrubs like this Raspberry Shrub. Search for the phrases “flash-frozen or “Individually Fast Frozen’ (IQF) on the label, which signifies that particular person items had been shock-frozen utilizing liquid nitrogen or dry ice. The method preserves the colour, taste, and texture of the peak-season ripe fruit, so the total scope of flavors could be absolutely extracted for a shrub with the last word zing. 

Why the Raspberry Shrub works

The tart Raspberry Shrub is constructed on intensely-flavored frozen raspberries, which give it a ripe, fruity high quality. The raspberries are thawed earlier than use, so the shrub maintains a tender, syrupy consistency. The juices current within the thawed fruit mix with some extra water to assist the mixing course of. After mixing, the combination is handed via a nice wire-mesh strainer to catch any bits of raspberry seed and fruit pulp. 

The shrub is a perfect advanced base syrup that serves as each an acid and a sweetener within the Roffignac, Bodenheimer’s easy cocktail made with Armagnac and membership soda. It may also be mixed with membership soda to make a fast, tangy soda. 

This recipe was developed by Neal Bodenheimer; the textual content was written by Lucy Simon.