With an impressive apricot harvest this year—78 pounds—there was plenty of fruit for preservation and experimentation. About a month ago I made my first shrub, Lavender Kumquat Shrub and was smitten with the unique beverage. I envisioned other shrubs with fruit yet to ripen in our small backyard orchard. And the lavender is still blooming.

Wikipedia has a fascinating article on shrubs and here’s a short excerpt.

The American version of the shrub has its origins in 17th century England where vinegar was used as an alternative to citrus juices in the preservation of berries and other fruits for the off-season.[11][12] Fruit preserves made in this fashion were themselves known as shrubs[11] and the practice carried over to colonial America.[4][6] By the 19th century, typical American recipes for shrubs used vinegar poured over fruit—traditionally berries—which was left to infuse anywhere from overnight up to several days; afterwards, the fruit would be strained out and the remaining liquid would be mixed with a sweetener such as sugar or honey and then reduced to make a syrup.[6][8][13] The sweet-and-sour syrup could be mixed with either water or soda water and served as a soft drink, or it could be used as a mixer in alcoholic cocktails.[4][12][13] Shrubs eventually fell out of popularity with the advent of home refrigeration.[11][14]

I followed the general instructions at Food52—How to Make Shrubs. They offer some intriguing combinations for drinking vinegars, though I like to call them shrubs. Drinking vinegar sounds too acerbic. I have necta-plums ripening soon and I’ll try the Stone Fruit Shrub recipe from Edible Ojai & Ventura County

My version used equal amounts of chopped, ripe apricots (5 large) and organic sugar—1-1/4 cups of each. I clipped six large lavender stems and stripped the buds. I’m fond of the essence of lavender so would increase the number of buds next time.

Apricots, lavender and sugar go in a sterilized quart jar and then gets a good shake. Covered loosely with a clean cloth, it sits for two days, with a daily stir.

Then after the maceration is complete, the fruit mixture is pressed through a fine-mesh strainer to extract the syrup—about 1.25 cups. At this point, add one cup of apple cider vinegar and refrigerate. The apricots and lavender became the stars in a breakfast smoothie. I left mine to mature for a couple weeks in the fridge while I waited for a new CO2 canister to arrive for my Soda Stream.

When it was time to capture the shrub in a photo, I realized my husband had eaten the last apricot. An apricot rose from my garden was the stand-in.

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