Makes roughly 2 cups  |  Prep Time 10 minutes  |  Cook Time 5 minutes

Shrub is a fruit syrup made using vinegar and sugar. The rhubarb in my garden is thriving at the moment and makes the most beautifully blushing pink drinks. Here it is combined with warming ginger which goes so wonderfully in this refreshing spring drink.

Recipes, photos & styling Emma Boyd

INGREDIENTS

• 400 g rhubarb, cut into small pieces
• ¹/₃ cup water
• 1 thumb-sized piece ginger, sliced
• 1½ cups sugar
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar

 

METHOD

Put the rhubarb and water into a heavy-bottomed pot, bring to the boil, cover, then reduce the heat and simmer for 4 or 5 minutes until soft and stringy. Remove from the heat. Bash the ginger several times (a mug or glass bottle works well here) and add this to the rhubarb along with the sugar. Stir well to dissolve the sugar then add in the vinegar and stir again. Cover the saucepan with a lid and leave to macerate for several hours (at least 2 and up to 4).

Place a sieve over a large jug and pour the rhubarb into the sieve, leaving the liquid to drain from the solids. Don’t be tempted to squeeze the liquid out by pushing on the rhubarb as it will result in a cloudy syrup. Simply leave it to do its thing.

Once all the liquid has drained from the fruit, pour it into a clean bottle and store in the fridge until ready to use. The fruit pulp is delicious served on top of porridge, with plain yoghurt or in a crumble, so don’t throw it away!

To serve, add ice to glasses, pour in the syrup then top up with soda water. If you want to make the drinks a little bit fancy then peel thin strips from some fresh rhubarb stalks using a vegetable peeler and push this down the sides of the glasses once you’ve added in your ice.