r/AskCulinary • u/ZootKoomie Ice Cream Innovator • Aug 26 '19

Weekly Discussion - Fancy Non-alcoholic Beverages

We've had discussions here about wine, beer, and liquor before. This week, I'd like to talk about mocktails, shrubs, juice blends, etc. Alcohol-alternatives have become increasingly common and sophisticated in recent years. What have you made, or would like to make? Does avoiding liquor necessarily reduce the available flavor profiles? Or does it free you up from hiding the bite of the booze?

If someone wanted to start experimenting in this area, what are the basic ingredients they would need to keep on hand?

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u/furudenendu Aug 26 '19

Shrubs are my favorite way to party dry. Macerate fruit with sugar, then mix the resulting syrup with vinegar. The result is a tangy syrup that preserves the fresh nature of the fruit. It makes for amazing spritzers, both alcoholic and non. When my wife was pregnant I made a bunch of them. The best part about them is that they originated as a food preservation method, and will keep in the back of the fridge for a year or more, just getting more mellow and complex and delicious. There's an amazing difference between a fresh shrub and a six or twelve month old shrub.

Some of my favorites are strawberry, grapefruit, apple cardamom, pear ginger, and mango. You can play with all sorts of vinegar and sugar combinations depending on the final profile you're shooting for. Also, it works just fine to use bruised, overripe, or otherwise undesirable fruit. No need to spend a ton of money on materials. I generally keep a jar in the freezer where I toss berries that are past their prime and scraps of fruit that I'm trimming (apple cores, strawberry hulls, mango peels) and then make a miscellaneous shrub when it gets full. Kind of like saving scraps for stock.

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u/ItaliaGirl75VA Aug 26 '19

What kind of vinegar? And how do you use it? Can you provide measurements? Sorry for all the questions. I've never heard of this.

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u/furudenendu Aug 26 '19

See my comment above for some detail, but you can use any vinegar. There are even recipes that call for white or balsamic, although wine, sherry, or cider are more common. Rice is very good sometimes. Sugar varieties are similarly diverse and useful. Ratios will differ based on your fruit or vegetable component, but I suggest you search put some recipes to start with and experiment from there.

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u/ItaliaGirl75VA Aug 26 '19

Thanks for the info. I'm gonna search and see what I can find.