The Essential Herbalist

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On cookbooks and drinking shrubs….

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I recently mentioned drinking a raspberry shrub (yummy!) and a reader left this comment:

Hi Cheri,

Okay, I’m terribly curious about Raspberry Shrub. I’m a Yankee and I feel instinctively this is a Southern treat we need up here.

Diane

Yes, Diane, I think this is a southern drink. At least I assume it is, because I am a southern woman, have never lived up north, and as a child it was a common thing. Not so much anymore…but then neither are stay-at home mom’s and cooking from scratch!)

Here is a recipe for a shrub….I used raspberry but you could use another fruit of your choice:

Raspberry Shrub

4 quarts raspberries, 1 quart vinegar, sugar

Mash red or black raspberries and cover with vinegar (I like to use Braggs apple cider vinegar – please don’t use white vinegar). Let stand overnight or longer (I like longer…more flavorful). Strain.

To each pint of juice, add 1 pound of sugar (I don’t use white and I use less). Boil 20 minutes, then put in sterilized bottles and keep in a cool place. (I also can these using the water bath method).

To make the shrub, use 2 tblsp. to a glass of water. I have heard of people using seltzer water, but we prefer filtered water. Be sure to put lots of ice in the glass! Add a sprig of spearmint and you have a lovely drink!

This recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks. You can keep all of the cookbooks that are currently being published…I find that few of them actually involve cooking…too many are based on “mixing”. Open this bottle or this can…add this or that jar….top with the stuff from this box….the goal appears to be to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible. LADIES!!! For the most part this is NOT cooking with real food!

So….I wander the aisles of the cookbook section during the Library’s annual used book sales. I look for cookbooks from BEFORE the 1960’s…the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s are best! I always find treasures. I imagine that women today are cleaning out their mothers old cookbooks in favor of the new. This is so sad to me somehow. Some of the best treasures are finding hand written recipes or newspaper clippings tucked lovingly inside these books. How fun!

Most women have no interest in these books – the recipes take too much time I guess. It is hard to have a meal done in 30 minutes when you use real food! (Although I have a few recipes that work that way!) I love to cook so I don’t mind spending time in the kitchen. My boys are so appreciative that it makes the work well worth the time involved. Elijah loves to know in the morning what I have planned for dinner….he delights in the thought of it all day.

I have cookbooks that tell me how to take care of my dairy cow, make cheese, tend the chickens (or butcher one for Sunday dinner!) and more! I love these! These were written back when the “grocery store” was your own pantry of canned goods, your root cellar and your garden…or perhaps a corner country store that local farmers brought their produce too….now THAT is cooking with real food!

Comments

6 responses to “On cookbooks and drinking shrubs….”

  1. Andrea Avatar
    Andrea

    My Granny gave me her “Carla Emery’s Encyclopedia of Country Living & Old Fashioned Recipe Book” this past spring…I know it was published in the early 70’s, but it has all those things you are talking about- how to care for your farm animals, etc! I’ve learned a lot already and still have 500 more pages to go!

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  2. Julie from Seeking The Old Paths Avatar
    Julie from Seeking The Old Paths

    You’ll have to tell us what are your favorite cookbooks so we can look out for them!My two favorites are an old (pre 1960’s) Joy of Cooking, and an old Fannie Farmer which my Grandmother refuses to give up yet. Shrub sounds like it would taste like a fruity version of Kombucha…kinda sweety-soury-ish. Yum!

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  3. Diane Avatar
    Diane

    Hi Cheri,Thanks so much for the recipe for shrub! We like making things like this.Agreed on modern recipes. I would like to put in a qualified recommendation for books published by Cook’s Illustrated, though. They will, at times, “update” old-fashioned recipes, but many of their recipes and techniques involve real food from scratch even so. I adjust their ingredients somewhat to avoid things they think are good (like canola oil). I have learned a TON from them about how to use a whole chicken, how to use cuts of meat, the best ways to prepare different vegetables, etc. as well as found a lot of very tasty recipes. But my favorite cookbook is Nourishing Traditions. Wow, what a great resource, and no concerns with ingredients listed in that book. I sometimes end up using Cook’s Illustrated techniques and flavorings and combining that with Nourishing Traditions’ ingredients!

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  4. Kris Avatar
    Kris

    I agree completely! My sister collects cookbooks and has so many that she has to keep some in the garage, but called me last week for a recipe for plain bisquits! I have my Grandma’s favorite cookbook that I use for anything baked and I collect old cookbooks from garage sales, rummage sales, etc. They are the only ones that have recipes pre-preservative, which is important to me since almost everything I make and we eat is from scratch. Thanks for the great blog–I really enjoy reading it and wish we lived closer as I am sure we would be great friends 🙂

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  5. julie york Avatar
    julie york

    Cheri,I have NEVER heard of a shrub that is a drink. It was fun learning something new today! Yes, you will need to post some of your favorite cookbooks for us. I am always on the lookout for a new/old cookbook.Talk with you later.grace and peace,julie

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  6. Kelly Avatar
    Kelly

    This is interesting – I’ve never heard of raspberry shrub either, but I’ll bet you anything that using vinegar and pasteurizing it is actually a modern adaptation.Have you ever tried lacto-fermenting things? I’m adding this to my repertoire as it’s muce superior nutritionally.You could take that recipe and instead of cider vinegar, use water and about a quarter cup of fresh whey, plus a pinch of sea salt. Then bottle it and let it sit at room temperature for a few days to allow the lactobacilli in the whey to preserve it, then transfer to cold storage (basement or fridge).I don’t have any idea at what point to add the sugar.

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