Perfect your entertaining cocktails with these recipes by Anthony, lead bartender of Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens.
Grapefruit Shrub
Ingredients:
2 Large Grapefruits
¾ cup granulated white cane sugar
¾ cup white wine vinegar
Procedure:
- Using a vegetable peeler, peel the grapefruits and reserve skin for oleo saccharum (see note)
- When you peel the grapefruits, try and get as little of the white pith as possible (it’s bitter, we don’t want that.)
- Juice the grapefruits and reserve the juice in a container
- Discard the grapefruit hulls
- Build an oleo saccharum
- Add the peels and sugar together in a small mixing bowl, muddle the 2 with a muddler or wooden spoon
- Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for at least an hour (I do it over night)
- After an hour or longer, separate the peels and the sugar. Save the peels so you can candy them (see recipe)
→ TIP: If you have a food saver or some type of cryovac machine, you can speed this process up by adding the peels and sugar to a bag and vacuum sealing it!
- The sugar from the oleo saccharum is going to be packed with citrus oil, it’s going to add depth to the shrub that sugar alone couldn’t add
- Add the juice, the sugar from the oleo saccharum, and the vinegar to a jar and blend to combine (I let my shrub sit for a day or two, to let the flavors meld).
- Your shrub is ready. Enjoy on the rocks with a little soda water or make a great cocktail with it!
Candied Grapefruit Peels
Ingredients:
Reserved grapefruit peels from your grapefruit shrub
4 cups sugar, divided
Pinch of sea salt
3 cups water
Procedure:
- Preheat oven to 250 F
- Combine 3 cups of sugar, salt and 3 cups of water and cook over medium heat, stirring until dissolved
- Add the peels and bring to a gentle boil – frequently stirring – making sure all of the peels are in contact with the simple syrup
- Arrange a wire rack on a baking sheet
- Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the grapefruit peels and arrange them on the wire rack
- Keep the simple syrup, use it for lemonade or cocktails
- Bake, rotating the tray once or twice until just dried out / around 40 minutes
- Put the remaining cup of sugar in a mixing bowl
- Toss peels in the sugar, making sure they are coated
- Return the peels to the wire rack after they are coated with sugar
- Place in a cool spot overnight
- Store in an airtight container. (Do not refrigerate)
Melon-Lemon Thyme-Mint Shrub
Ingredients:
2 pounds of cantaloupe or melon / cut into chunks
¾ cup granulated white cane sugar
½ ounce of lemon thyme
½ ounce of mint leaves bruised
¾ cups white wine vinegar
Procedure:
- Add cantaloupe chunks and sugar to a bowl, stir. Cover and leave to macerate on the counter for a few hours
- In the interim, add mint and lemon thyme to the vinegar in a glass jar
- After the cantaloupe has macerated, drain off the liquid and set aside
- Discard the solids (or save them and make ice cream)
- Add the liquid to the mint and lemon thyme vinegar
- Place the mixture in the fridge for up to 3 days
- Taste until you’re happy with the level of mint and lemon thyme
- At that point, strain out the mint and lemon thyme and discard the solids
YOUR SHRUB IS READY TO DRINK. ENJOY ON THE ROCKS OR MAKE A FANTASTIC COCKTAIL!
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