Please Help Me Shrub
June 26, 2021 11:41 AM Subscribe
Can I make a shrub with just juice (no actual fruit)? A few details inside.
Whenever I try to do anything fermented I get really hung up on the details, fearing that if I don't use the exact things, and the exact amount of things in the recipe, I will mess up and poison myself. I have almost a gallon of tiny Nanking Cherries from my tree. They are frozen but not pitted. They are far too small to pit, I can't even imagine having the time to pit all those tiny cherries. I'd like to just hang them up in a cheese cloth and let the juice drain out as they thaw, then use the juice to make a shrub (for FODMAP reasons I can't eat cherries without fermenting them first). I can't find any recipes for shrubs that just use juice, and not the whole fruit. I don't know if there is a reason for that, (like maybe something in the body of the fruit helps generate the fermenting process?) or its usually just easier for people to use the whole fruit.
Anybody know the answer to this?
Whenever I try to do anything fermented I get really hung up on the details, fearing that if I don't use the exact things, and the exact amount of things in the recipe, I will mess up and poison myself. I have almost a gallon of tiny Nanking Cherries from my tree. They are frozen but not pitted. They are far too small to pit, I can't even imagine having the time to pit all those tiny cherries. I'd like to just hang them up in a cheese cloth and let the juice drain out as they thaw, then use the juice to make a shrub (for FODMAP reasons I can't eat cherries without fermenting them first). I can't find any recipes for shrubs that just use juice, and not the whole fruit. I don't know if there is a reason for that, (like maybe something in the body of the fruit helps generate the fermenting process?) or its usually just easier for people to use the whole fruit.
Anybody know the answer to this?
I’ve always macerated fruit and vinegar and sugar for a shrub (maybe you as the vinegar later? Consult a recipe) and then strain after a while. Use those cherries!
posted by jeweled accumulation at 2:22 PM on June 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by jeweled accumulation at 2:22 PM on June 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
Yep you can use fresh fruit or juice, it's fine.
Since you mentioned having a dietary reason for needing fermentation, I want to make sure you know that most modern shrub recipes are not fermented. The health benefits many people believe shrubs have come from the belief that the vinegar itself has those benefits.
Most modern shrub recipes are instead mixtures of fruit/juice, sugar, and vinegar that don't require special handling the way a fermented or naturally carbonated beverage recipe would. This is why using juice will be fine--you may just need to adjust for the fact fruit juice will be more liquidy and likely sweeter than fresh fruit.
You may have an unusual recipe that is a ferment, in which case, ignore me. But if your shrub recipe contains vinegar, and doesn't include a multi-day fermentation process, it's not a ferment.
posted by rhiannonstone at 2:38 PM on June 26, 2021 [4 favorites]
Since you mentioned having a dietary reason for needing fermentation, I want to make sure you know that most modern shrub recipes are not fermented. The health benefits many people believe shrubs have come from the belief that the vinegar itself has those benefits.
Most modern shrub recipes are instead mixtures of fruit/juice, sugar, and vinegar that don't require special handling the way a fermented or naturally carbonated beverage recipe would. This is why using juice will be fine--you may just need to adjust for the fact fruit juice will be more liquidy and likely sweeter than fresh fruit.
You may have an unusual recipe that is a ferment, in which case, ignore me. But if your shrub recipe contains vinegar, and doesn't include a multi-day fermentation process, it's not a ferment.
posted by rhiannonstone at 2:38 PM on June 26, 2021 [4 favorites]
Missed the edit window above so I'll correct myself here after a brief bit of additional research: a fermented shrub recipe may indeed contain vinegar, but still will need to follow a fermentation process rather than just being mixed and refrigerated.
Here's a fermented recipe, that uses fruit.
Here's the non-fermented recipe I use most often. I've made it with juice and just skipped the maceration step.
I haven't found a fermented version that uses juice only, and if that's the route you want to go, I'll make the same recommendation I would for any question about home canning and fermentation: if you can't find a trustworthy recipe, contact your local agricultural extension office.
posted by rhiannonstone at 2:49 PM on June 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
Here's a fermented recipe, that uses fruit.
Here's the non-fermented recipe I use most often. I've made it with juice and just skipped the maceration step.
I haven't found a fermented version that uses juice only, and if that's the route you want to go, I'll make the same recommendation I would for any question about home canning and fermentation: if you can't find a trustworthy recipe, contact your local agricultural extension office.
posted by rhiannonstone at 2:49 PM on June 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
I have a recipe for a pear shrub that I've made successfully with whole roasted fruit, canned fruit, and pear juice from a can. The texture varies slightly from one to another but by the time I've thrown it in a drink I can't tell the difference.
posted by some little punk in a rocket at 5:19 PM on June 26, 2021
posted by some little punk in a rocket at 5:19 PM on June 26, 2021
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posted by Candleman at 11:50 AM on June 26, 2021 [3 favorites]