Strawberry Vanilla Shrub

Shrub, shrub and more shrubs. This one is wonderful and I was able to use my leftover vanilla beans for this shrub syrup. Plus, I took the center of the pod for all the gooey juicy goodness. As I have said before strawberries are abundant here in Ventura County they grow year around.The directions are easy like all the shrubs so let us get started. 

Ingredients

• 1.5 pounds of ripe strawberries chopped
• 1.25 cups of trabino sugar
• 1 or 2 left over vanilla pods or 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1.25 cups of quality apple cider vinegar
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Place the strawberries into a large glass dish.Add your vanilla pods chopped or the extract.

Sprinkle the sugar on the top of and then mix it well. Seal with a lid or plastic covering for two days in the refrigerator. Stirring daily. This will allow the fruit juices to be drawn out by the sugar.

After two days in the refrigerator take the bowl out of the refrigerator stir the ingredients and make sure there is no undissolved sugar. Next you will want to have a strainer or some cheese cloth on hand so you can strain the liquid. I use cheese cloth because I like to squeeze the dickens out of the fruit once strained. 

Once you have completely strained the liquid add the apple cider vinegar.Stir and restrain the syrup into a clean glass jar. You an use your shrub immediately it will have a true vinegar tang. But if you leave it for a few days it gets a the flavors begin to balance together. Shake it everyday and after about one week the balance between sweet and sour is great. 

You can use your shrub with water soda or regular. Also use your shrub with different mixes of non-alcohol and spiked drinks as well. The ratio is 1:2 but can be adjusted to your specific taste.

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It is good refrigerated for about 3 weeks.