You guys. Where has the summer gone?! I cannot believe that it’s already the middle of August!

angled view of different three glasses with colored lemonade on a marble surface

I’m always SO excited for summer at the beginning of the season, but by mid-August, once we’ve had a couple of consecutive weeks of crazy hot weather, I’m ready for fall’s cooler temperatures. Do you agree? Or do you kind of hate me for saying that? Either way, there’s definitely something special about the summer season that I wish I could bottle up and save for the cold and dreary days of winter.

red drink in a glass with a large ice cube and a sprig of fresh mint

Speaking of bottling up summer, let’s make some fruit shrub! In other words, let’s can (or would it be pickle?) our favorite summer fruits so that we can make delicious cocktails with them all year long! I love the sweetly tangy taste of this fruit-infused vinegar in cocktails, but I discovered that it’s also pretty epic when paired with fresh-squeezed lemonade.

So let’s spice up our lemonade with some homemade shrub!

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Recipe

Sparkling Fruit Shrub Lemonade

A sweetly tangy fruit-infused vinegar that's most often found in craft cocktails, this non-alcoholic acidic syrup is absolutely delicious paired with fresh squeezed lemonade.

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Drinks

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 5

Resting Time: 5

Total Time: 25

Servings:

Calories: 176kcal

Author: Allison Ferraro

Ingredients

Fruit Shrub:

1 ½ cups sliced fruit*
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup distilled white vinegar

Lemonade:

2 cups granulated sugar
3 cups water
12 lemons
4 cups sparkling water
Ice

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the shrub.

Wash and slice your fruit. Place the sliced fruit in a bowl, pour in the sugar, and stir so that all the slices of fruit become coated with sugar. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to rest for a few days.
After about two days, your sliced fruit should be swimming in its own juice. Strain out the fruit, leaving the juice in the bowl. Add the vinegar to the juice and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into a clean jar and place in the fridge.
Let the jar sit in the fridge for a few days before using the shrub to give the flavors time to meld. The vinegar's acidic bite will be strongest when the shrub is fresh, and the flavors will continue to balance out over time. The vinegar will eventually dissolve any remaining sugar, but you can shake the jar in the meantime to mix in any settled sugar.

Make the lemonade.

Make a simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a medium saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Allow the mixture to cool.
Juice the lemons and pour the juice into a pitcher.
Add the simple syrup and sparkling water to the pitcher and gently stir until blended.

Serve the shrub lemonade.

To serve, add 2 Tablespoons to ¼ cup shrub to a glass. Top off with lemonade and ice and enjoy!

Notes

*I made three shrubs using strawberries, peaches, and blackberries. Use whatever fruit you like! Metric weight measurements for sliced fruit are an average and will vary slightly based on type of fruit used.

Nutrition