Raspberry Shrub (1862 Jerry Thomas Adaptation)
Raspberry vinegar sweetened into a cordial and finished with brandy, for a tangy soda highball or cocktail.
- Original yieldYield
- About 750 ml cordial, approximately 25 portions of 30 mlAbout 750 ml cordial, approximately 25 portions of 30 ml
- PrepPrep time
- CookCook time
- TotalTotal time
Includes 24 hours refrigerated steeping, 30 minutes gravity straining, and 45 minutes initial cooling. Refrigerate promptly; fully cold syrup may take longer.
Published Updated
Original recipe: About 750 ml cordial, approximately 25 portions of 30 ml
The story behind the recipe
Raspberry shrub gives you the sharpness of vinegar in a drink that still tastes of berries. A little of the concentrated cordial, lengthened with cold sparkling water, makes a red highball with a tart finish. Brandy is part of the batch, so this is a fruit cordial with alcohol.
A day for the berries
Jerry Thomas's 1862 How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon-Vivant's Companion describes a raspberry preparation with plenty of waiting before the saucepan comes out. The berries stand in vinegar for a day. After straining, sugar goes into the liquid, followed by boiling, cooling and a final brandy addition.
Standing, straining and sweetening separate the extraction of fruit flavor from the making of syrup. Whole berries never have to compete with sugar crystals and spirit in one crowded pan.
For a host, that order has a welcome advantage. Most of the first day is waiting, leaving a much shorter period of active work afterward. It also sets the schedule: this is a bottle to prepare ahead, with its refrigerated steep included in the time, not a five-minute cocktail that happens to have a long ingredient list.
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Which vinegar, which berries?
Fresh raspberries bring their flavor and color to the vinegar. Use sound fruit, rinse it and let the excess water drain away. Bruised berries that are simply soft can release juice readily, but spoiled fruit doesn't become good drinking material after a steep.
Commercial apple cider vinegar labeled 5% acidity is the specified ingredient. Its apple character fits the berries, while the labeled acidity gives the recipe a defined starting material. Homemade vinegar or a sweet balsamic condiment would change the acidity or flavor. The cordial is already getting its sweetness from measured sugar.
This sharpness is what makes raspberry shrub different from a raspberry syrup. Syrup can sweeten a sour; the shrub brings acidity of its own. Think of it as a concentrated sweet-tart drink base when deciding what else to pour into the glass.
Give the cordial room
The first serving uses 30 ml cordial with about 150 ml sparkling water. That generous dilution gives you a long drink from a small measure of the batch. If the first sip is too intense for your taste, lengthen the glass with more water. Adding a larger cordial measure increases the vinegar, sweetness and brandy together.
A highball has space for the water and ice without crowding the surface. A fresh raspberry is an optional garnish, not a second fruit infusion. The red liquid can carry the presentation by itself.
Gravity straining leaves much of the pulp behind. A little haze is normal, especially with soft berries. Pressing the fruit for every last drop can bring more pulp into the cordial; decide whether that extra recovery matters more to you than a clearer-looking glass.
Three shrubs, three approaches
Thomas's cherry shrub begins with fruit warmed indirectly over water. His English rum shrub uses citrus and milk clarification, with no vinegar. The common name covers quite different preparations. The three-shrub article compares their waiting time and ingredients if you'd like to choose another batch.
Measure the finished cordial before counting glasses. Berries retain liquid and the simmer loses some water, so the approximate yield is a planning figure. A small batch made for a near-term gathering is easier to use than a row of bottles with no occasion in sight.
The name covers more than one tradition. Our sister site, Forgotten Drink, explores the two different drinks called shrub.
Make it your wayOriginal: 25 servings · Makes About 750 ml cordial, approximately 25 portions of 30 ml
Original recipe: About 750 ml cordial, approximately 25 portions of 30 ml
Ingredients
For About 750 ml cordial, approximately 25 portions of 30 ml. Quantities are shown as written.
Source measurement convention: Metric. Explicit unit definitions take precedence; unconfirmed measures must be checked before conversion.
Original quantities for About 750 ml cordial, approximately 25 portions of 30 ml.
- Fresh raspberries, rinsed and drained600 g
- Commercially produced apple cider vinegar, labeled 5% acidity500 ml
- Granulated sugar450 g
- Brandy, 40% alcohol by volume60 ml
Measurement notes
Measurement notes
Original ingredients
- 600 g fresh raspberries, rinsed and drained
- 500 ml commercially produced apple cider vinegar, labeled 5% acidity
- 450 g granulated sugar
- 60 ml brandy, 40% alcohol by volume
Equipment
Fine-mesh strainer
Small 1.5-liter saucepan
Highball glass- Airtight glass container
- Clean, tightly woven cooking cloth
Instructions
Steep the raspberries in vinegar
Place the raspberries and vinegar in a clean nonreactive container with a lid. Stir gently, cover, and refrigerate for 24 hours, turning the berries once for even contact.
Strain the berry liquid
Line the fine-mesh strainer with clean, tightly woven cooking cloth and drain the berries over a clean vessel for about 30 minutes. Avoid squeezing if you prefer less pulp; some natural haze may remain. Discard the spent fruit.
Dissolve the sugar and simmer
Put the strained liquid and sugar in the saucepan. Heat gently, stirring until dissolved, then maintain a gentle simmer for 20 minutes. Skim foam if necessary.
Cool and refrigerate the syrup
Remove from the heat. Cool in a shallow heatproof vessel set in an ice-water bath, keeping outside water out of the syrup. Refrigerate promptly within two hours, or one hour above 32°C (90°F); the planned initial cooling allowance is about 45 minutes.
Add brandy and bottle the cordial
When cold, stir in the brandy. Measure the actual finished batch and transfer to clean refrigerated bottles or containers with at least 1 liter total capacity. The approximate 750 ml yield varies with fruit drainage and evaporation.
Serve as a sparkling highball
For one serving, put 30 ml cordial in a highball glass with ice and add about 150 ml chilled sparkling water. Stir gently; a fresh raspberry garnish is optional and separate from the batch ingredients.
Estimated calories 80 kcal
Nutrition portion: 1/25 of recipe · Original yield: About 750 ml cordial, approximately 25 portions of 30 ml
Source & assumptions
Rough ingredient-based estimate per one-twenty-fifth batch, nominal 30 ml before dilution. Uses a published raspberry-juice yield and juice profile to model pulp and liquid losses; sugar and brandy added afterward are included. Actual extraction and yield vary. This is a modeled estimate, not a measured result. The listed milliliters describe the approximate original yield, not a measured dose.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
Ingredient amounts can be adjusted; vessel capacity, cooking, cooling and curing times need their own checks.
Original recipe notes
These notes describe the original recipe. Quantities mentioned here do not change when you adjust servings.
Jerry Thomas, How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon-Vivant's Companion (1862), recipe 157, p. 64. We specify berry weight and fixed vinegar, sugar and brandy amounts, refrigerate the steep and use a shorter 20-minute simmer. Thomas's wine-glass has no defined capacity in this passage; the brandy amount is a modern choice.
The cordial contains alcohol, including when diluted with sparkling water. Brandy is added cold.
Keep every stage refrigerated at 4°C (40°F) or below. Use within four days from the start of preparation, including the day spent steeping. This conservative short-use plan doesn't establish a longer shelf life. Sugar, vinegar and brandy aren't permission for pantry storage or months of keeping.
Read the scaling guide. Times, temperatures and equipment need their own consideration. Open the recipe tool to review and correct individual amounts.
Recipe details
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- Vintage
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- Drink
- Cuisine
- American
- Main ingredient
- Fruit
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