A Trio of Shrubs and a Smashed Pumpkin Sour for #HandCraftedEdibles

In an effort to make all of my holiday gifts this year, I invited some of my favorite foodie bloggers to share recipes for hand-crafted edibles. Over the course of the twelve weeks, we'll be sharing recipes that you can make at home to give to friends and loved ones. We hope you'll follow along for inspiration. You can find out more information, including the schedule: here.

This week, we're continuing our homemade libations - here's the first installment that kicked off the series, Libations, Part I - and here we are at Part II.

Thanks to these fabulous, cocktail-serving gals for these creations:

• Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures made Lemon Vodka Marinated Blackberries
• Terri of Christmas Tree Lane shared Tipsy Cherries
• Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm posted her recipe for Citrusy Cocktail Onions
• Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla crafted Homemade Bitters, an Old-Fashioned, and a Naughty Gnome
• Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla also poured A Trio of Shrubs and a Smashed Pumpkin Sour

As for me, I shared my Nocino (green walnut liqueur) during Part I. I've also recently posted about my Sad Rhubarb Liqueur. Click on the recipe titles to go to the original post.

This week, I was torn, put the question out to friends on social media, and there was absolutely no consensus. So, I'm posting about both bitters and shrubs. This post is about homemade shrubs and a cocktail you can make with one of them.

I was introduced to shrubs when I met Lauren DeVine while working on my piece Commonwealth Wednesday Debut in Carmel, that was published on the Edible Monterey Bay blog in October of 2014.

What are shrubs? Shrubs are essentially fruit preserved with sugar and vinegar. They add a certain je ne sais quo to your cocktails and can be mixed with sparkling water for a refreshing homemade soda. You can make shrubs through a cooked process or a cold process; I do the latter.

 Cold-Process Fruit Shrub

This can be done with any fruit. And the more ripe, the better. This is a great way to preserve the fruit flavor even if the fruit itself is too far gone to really enjoy. Just don't use any fruit with mold, okay? As I think this is a great way to bottle up the taste of a season, I used some late summer pluots and figs.

Ingredients

• 2 C fruit, cubed
• 3/4 C organic sugar (for the pluot shrub I used a raw turbinado sugar, for the fig shrub I used a granulated sugar)
• 1-1/2 C vinegar (for the pluot, I used apple cider vinegar, for the fig shrub I used a combination of apple cider vinegar and coconut vinegar)

Procedure

Put the fruit and sugar in a quart-size mason jar.

Put the lid on the jar and shake around to coat the fruit completely with sugar. Place the jar in the fridge and allow to macerate, at least, overnight; I usually leave it for a day or two.

Add the vinegar to the jar and agitate with a wooden spoon or chopstick to dissolve most of the sugar. Return it to the fridge for three to five to allow the flavors to develop.

After three to five days, strain the fruit out of the jar and transfer the flavored vinegar to a clean bottle.

Shrubs should be refrigerated, but will last for several months. Unless, like us, you drink it all within a week!

Serving suggestions for the shrubs

Fill a pint glass with ice. Add 2 T shrub to the glass and top with sparkling water. Stir to incorporate, add a cute straw and enjoy!

Spiced Pumpkin Shrub

Ingredients

• 2 C pumpkin puree (how to make pumpkin puree: version 1, version 2)
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t ground nutmeg
• 1/4 t ground cloves
• 1/4 t ground mace
• 1/4 t ground cardamom
• 3/4 C organic granulated sugar
• 1-1/2 C apple cider vinegar 

Procedure

Put the pumpkin, spices, and sugar in a quart-size mason jar. Put the lid on the jar and shake around to coat the fruit completely with sugar. Place the jar in the fridge and allow to macerate, at least, overnight; I usually leave it for a day or two.

Add the vinegar to the jar and agitate with a wooden spoon or chopstick to dissolve most of the sugar. Return it to the fridge for three to five to allow the flavors to develop. It's ready to go.

Smashed Pumpkin Sour

Ingredients

• 2 ounces bourbon (I used Knob Creek)
• 1 ounces spiced pumpkin shrub
• 1/4 ounces ginger syrup
• 2 drops Spiced Vanilla Bitters
• ice cubes

Procedure

Place ice cubes in an old-fashioned glass. Pour in the bourbon, shrub, and syrup. Drop in the bitters. Stir gently to combine. Drink immediately.

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