Homemade Sour Cherry Shrub: Preserve Summer’s Tangy Flavor for Refreshing Drinks All Year Long

A spoonful of vibrant sour cherry shrub transforms a glass of bubbly water into an extraordinary, fruit-filled delight. This ingenious cordial offers a fantastic way to capture and preserve summer’s precious cherry bounty, ensuring year-round access to its zippy flavor. Beyond simple drinks, it serves as an exquisite base for crafting deliciously sip-worthy mocktails and sophisticated cocktails, or even enhancing culinary creations. (Jump to the full recipe.)

This year, our usually prolific cherry trees decided to stage a dramatic protest. I’m convinced they’ve formed a Sour Cherry Labour Union, demanding better working conditions! Despite our best efforts – treating them well, offering benefits, and even my questionable serenades (which might actually be the problem) – their yield was surprisingly sparse. It seems even nature’s bounty isn’t guaranteed year after year.

Okay, perhaps their treatment was a *bit* lacking this season. Mother Nature herself was stingy with sunshine, and while their “benefits” included a visit from porcupines a couple of years ago, I admittedly neglected my musical duties. Their “wage” was an overpayment of cool, rainy, and generally dismal weather. Still, even with a lighter harvest, we managed to gather enough of these precious red jewels to create a few batches of this incredible sour cherry shrub.

What is a Fruit Shrub? An Ancient Art of Preservation

I’ve been captivated by the art of making fruit shrubs for years, and I’m particularly thrilled to have enough cherries this season to continue the tradition. A fruit shrub represents an old-fashioned, yet remarkably effective, method for crafting a cordial. It’s essentially a concentrated fruit syrup that, when diluted with water, transforms into a truly delightful and invigorating beverage. The beauty of a shrub lies in its ability to capture and preserve the peak flavors of summer fruits, making them accessible long after the harvest season has ended.

The word “shrub” itself originates from the Arabic word “sharbah,” which simply means “a drink.” Historically, these unique concoctions were also known as “drinking vinegars.” You might initially react with a “YUCK!” at the mention of vinegar in a sweet drink, but please don’t dismiss it so quickly. The vinegar in a shrub doesn’t impart a harsh, pickle-like flavor, as you might imagine. Instead, it contributes a subtle, piquant tang that brilliantly highlights and amplifies the natural fruit flavors. Beyond its flavor-enhancing qualities, vinegar also acts as a powerful natural preservative, allowing the shrub to maintain its freshness and vibrancy for extended periods.

The process of making a shrub involves steeping fruit in vinegar, which skillfully extracts their essential flavors and vibrant colors. Following this infusion, sugar is introduced to create a rich, syrup-like cordial. This resulting shrub keeps beautifully in the refrigerator for months, and with proper canning or processing, it can be preserved for several years, offering a taste of summer even in the dead of winter. While there is a fresh fruit version of shrub that doesn’t involve cooking, I personally favor the cooked method detailed here. Cooking the shrub significantly extends its shelf life, enabling me to effectively preserve a substantial summer fruit bounty for personal enjoyment or thoughtful gifting throughout the entire year.

Crafting the Perfect Balance: My Signature Sour Cherry Shrub

Over the years, through much experimentation and tweaking, I’ve refined my shrub recipe to achieve what I consider the perfect balance of flavors. My version incorporates a small amount of water to subtly soften the vinegar’s intensity, creating a smoother profile. Additionally, I use less sugar than is traditionally found in many shrub recipes, allowing the natural tartness and sweetness of the cherries to shine through without being overwhelmed. The ratios I’ve settled on deliver just the right amount of “POW!” factor – a vibrant burst of fresh, tangy cherry flavor that’s perfectly sweet, making it the most refreshing drink when mixed with either still or sparkling water.

This delightful beverage is a staple in our home all year long. There’s truly nothing quite like a crisp glass of homemade cherry shrub during the chilly depths of winter. It serves as a potent, delicious reminder that summer’s warmth and bounty are never too far away, and will soon return to grace our days once more.

Effortless Preparation: Simple Steps for Maximum Flavor

One of the most appealing aspects of this sour cherry shrub recipe is its incredible simplicity. All you need to do is gently place your clean cherries into jars – no need for the tedious task of pitting them! Once the cherries are nestled in their jars, simply cover them with the carefully prepared vinegar solution and allow them to soak. This hands-off marination process is a game-changer, especially during the busy harvest season. Instead of feeling pressured to process all your cherries immediately, you can let them infuse for a few weeks, then return to transform them into this delicious cherry shrub when you have a bit of spare time.

Once your shrub is ready, the serving possibilities are endless. You can elevate a simple glass of cherry shrub with an array of delightful add-ins, exploring different flavor combinations (scroll to the bottom of the recipe for inspiring ideas). For those who enjoy a spirited beverage, simply add a shot of your favorite alcohol to create a truly wicked Cherry Shrub Cocktail, perfect for entertaining or unwinding.

Beyond Beverages: Creative Culinary Uses for Cherry Shrub

The versatility of homemade cherry shrub extends far beyond just mixing into drinks. Its unique sweet-tart-tangy profile makes it a secret weapon in the kitchen, capable of elevating a variety of dishes. Here are some fantastic ways to incorporate cherry shrub into your cooking:

• Roasted Sweet Potatoes: Toss diced sweet potatoes with melted butter, salt, and pepper. Add a generous drizzle of cherry shrub, toss again to coat, and arrange in a single layer on a baking pan. Roast at 400°F (180°C) until tender and caramelized, stirring occasionally. The shrub adds a lovely sweet and tangy glaze.
• Gourmet Vinaigrettes and Dressings: Use cherry shrub as a vibrant base for homemade vinaigrettes and salad dressings. Combine it with oil, salt, and pepper (typically a 3:1 oil to vinegar ratio, replacing some or all of the vinegar with shrub). Alternatively, stir a couple of tablespoons of cherry shrub into mayonnaise or Greek yogurt to create a unique and flavorful dressing or dip.
• Fruit Salad Enhancer: Brighten up any fruit salad by drizzling cherry shrub directly over top of cut fresh fruit. Its tartness complements and enhances the natural sweetness of the fruits, preventing browning and adding a beautiful gloss.
• Glaze for Meats: Cherry shrub makes an exceptional glaze for meats, whether barbecued or roasted. It creates a sticky, flavorful crust on dishes like baked ham, grilled salmon, or meatballs. Simply brush a layer of the shrub periodically throughout the cooking process, allowing it to caramelize and infuse the meat with its delicious flavor.
• Tangy Roasted Chicken: Place chicken legs or thighs in a parchment paper-lined pan. Sprinkle liberally with chili powder on both sides, then generously drizzle with cherry shrub syrup. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 to 1¼ hours, basting occasionally with the pan juices. The shrub tenderizes the chicken and adds an incredible depth of flavor.
• Baked Peaches with Shrub: Cut fresh peaches in half and arrange them cut-side up in a baking dish. Place a small chunk of butter into the indentation of each peach half. Drizzle liberally with cherry shrub. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until the peaches are tender (about 30 minutes), basting occasionally with the syrupy pan juices. Serve warm, ideally with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a truly decadent dessert.

If you’re as fond of Evans cherries as we are, you might also enjoy these other delightful recipes:

Evans Cherry Pie

Apricot and Evans Cherry Crisp

No-Bake Evans Cherry Coconut Bars

Evans Cherry Ginger Oat Crumble Bars

Evans Cherries in Brandy

Feuerwehrkuchen (Fireman’s Cake)

 * * * * *

Kitchen Frau Notes: Once prepared, homemade Cherry Shrub can be safely stored for up to six months in a sealed container in the refrigerator. For significantly longer preservation and convenience, especially for gifting, you can process or can the shrub in sterilized jars. Properly canned shrub will maintain its quality for three to four years or even longer at room temperature.

*When making my cherry shrub, I typically opt for white vinegar. Its neutral flavor profile allows the bright, clear cherry notes to truly sing. However, for a slightly mellower and smoother cherry flavor with a hint of depth, you can experiment with red wine vinegar instead.

Sour Cherry Shrub (Drinking Vinegar) Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 packed quart/liter (approximately 4 to 5 cups) fresh Evans sour cherries, thoroughly cleaned
• 1 cup (240ml) white vinegar (or red wine vinegar* – see Kitchen Frau Notes above for variation)
• ⅓ cup (80ml) water
• Sugar (1½ to 2 cups / 300-400 grams, adjusted to your taste and the tartness of your cherries)

Instructions:

1. Prepare the Cherries for Infusion: Fill a clean, quart-sized mason jar with the washed sour cherries. Gently press them down as you go, ensuring not to burst them, but compressing them enough to fit as many cherries as possible into the jar.
2. Create the Vinegar Solution: In a separate bowl, stir together the vinegar and water to create a 3:1 vinegar-water solution. For one quart jar of cherries, you will need approximately 1 cup (240ml) of vinegar combined with ⅓ cup (80ml) of water. If you’re making a larger batch with multiple quarts of cherries, maintain the 3 parts vinegar to 1 part water ratio for each cupful of solution required (e.g., ¾ cup vinegar plus ¼ cup water for each cup of solution).
3. Infuse the Cherries: Pour the prepared vinegar solution over the cherries in the mason jar, ensuring they are just completely covered. Screw the lid onto the jar securely. Set the cherries aside to marinate at room temperature for 1 week. If you need more flexibility or can’t get to them right away, you can transfer them to the fridge to marinate for up to several weeks longer.
4. Extract the Cherry Juice: After the marination period, carefully drain the infused vinegar juice from the cherries and reserve it in a separate container. Transfer the remaining cherries to a sturdy pot and lightly mash them with a potato masher to crush them and release more juice.
5. Set Up for Straining: Place a colander into a large bowl. Line the colander with a net jelly bag, a clean tea towel, or a large square of muslin cloth. Pour the crushed cherries into the lined colander.
6. Gravity Drip Method: Lay a wooden spoon across the top of the bag or towel. Gather up two diagonal corners of the cloth and tie them into a knot over the spoon handle. Repeat this with the remaining two diagonal corners. Position the bowl and colander assembly between two pots of equal height, or simply set it on the floor between two chairs spaced about a foot apart. Lift the wooden spoon and rest its ends onto the rims of the pots or the seats of the chairs, allowing the cherry pulp to hang suspended so the juice can drip freely into the bowl underneath. Remove the colander, leaving just the bowl to catch the dripping juice. (For a visual guide, refer to the photos in this detailed post on Saskatoon Jelly, which illustrates this straining method.)
7. Collect All the Juice: Allow the juice to drip for 4 to 8 hours, or until the dripping significantly slows down or stops. You can even leave it to drip overnight for maximum yield. With clean hands, gently squeeze the bag to extract the very last bits of juice. If the juice starts to become cloudy from sediment, stop squeezing immediately. Discard the spent cherries and pits. Combine the reserved infused vinegar juice from step 3 with the freshly dripped cherry juice.
8. Sweeten the Shrub Base: Measure the total amount of cherry juice you’ve collected. For every cup of cherry juice, add ¾ cup of sugar. Here are some examples to guide you:
   • 1 cup juice + ¾ cup sugar (240ml juice + 150gms sugar)
   • 2 cups juice + 1½ cups sugar (480ml juice + 300gms sugar)
   • 3 cups juice + 2¼ cups sugar (720ml juice + 450gms sugar)
   • 4 cups juice + 3 cups sugar (960ml juice + 600gms sugar)

   If your juice measurement falls between full cups, simply estimate the sugar amount; it does not need to be perfectly exact.

9. Cook the Shrub: Pour the juice and sugar mixture into a large pot. Bring it to a rolling boil, then reduce the heat to medium and allow it to simmer at a low boil, uncovered, for 10 minutes. This step helps the syrup to slightly thicken and ensures the sugar is fully dissolved.
10. Store the Shrub: You have two excellent options for storage:
    1. Refrigerated Storage: Allow the finished syrup to cool completely. Pour it into clean jars or bottles and seal them. The shrub will keep beautifully in the refrigerator for up to six months.
    2. Canning for Long-Term Storage: For extended shelf life and convenient gifting, pour the hot, boiling syrup directly into hot, sterilized canning jars. Top immediately with hot, sterilized snap lids and seal them finger-tight. Allow the jars to cool undisturbed on your counter; as they cool, a vacuum seal will form. For an added layer of preservation and assurance, you can also process the sealed jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Properly sealed jars of sour cherry shrub will keep for several years at room temperature in a cool, dark place.
11. Convenient Dispensing: For easy everyday use, I like to transfer a portion of the shrub to a clean, repurposed squeeze bottle (such as an empty syrup or condiment bottle) and keep it in the fridge. This makes it incredibly simple to squirt just the right amount into individual drinks whenever the mood strikes.

To Serve Your Cherry Shrub:

Add several ice cubes to a glass. Fill the glass almost to the top with sparkling water, club soda, or plain still water. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of sour cherry shrub, adjusting the amount to your personal taste preference. Stir gently and savor the refreshing flavor.

Optional Enhancements:

Elevate your drink with a sprig of fresh basil, rosemary, or thyme. Add thin slices of lemon, lime, or orange for extra citrus notes, or a classic maraschino cherry for a touch of sweetness and color. A fresh grind of black pepper can add an interesting and unexpected depth of flavor that beautifully complements the cherry.

To Make it an Alcoholic Sour Cherry Cocktail:

For a sophisticated adult beverage, add a shot of your favorite vodka or gin to your prepared cherry shrub and sparkling water. A dash of bitters of your choice can further enhance the flavor complexity and balance of your cocktail.

Guten Appetit!

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