Shrubs and fruit vinegars!

[Nannybakes]

Blackberry vinegar, mandarin orange vinegar and a blackberry, raspberry, lemon, mint shrub.
With the encouragement of saragama and MunchkinRedux , i am giving shrub a shot. This is a very small quantity with the least amount of sugar I could find, I don’t expect to use this for cocktails but as a sparkling water additive. I’ll be waiting for a week or so before trying. The mandarin orange vinegar will take a month to develop.

[mig (you can call me mig)]

Beautiful first shot. I think you’ll love it!

[Nannybakes]

Thank you, hope so!

[shrinkrap]

I’ve been looking through this thread and didn’t see citrus vinegars. Can you share what you did? Husband just brought these beauties from one of his patients. We enjoyed eating both oranges, but the blood orange would make a pretty vinegar! I’d love to have a fast way to use it in a salad dressing.

ETA one of my favorite sources

Blood Orange Vinegar

[Nannybakes]

Wow…those are spectacular.a
My usual method is just to take a lot of peel, usually in long strips rather than in small pieces as in the mandarin. I probably use a two cup measure, add a pile of orange strips, cover with vinegar and bring just to the boil in the microwave .Let cool a bit, add strips to vinegar container and pour the hot vinegar back over the strips. I previously used TJ’s white wine Modena vinegar, but they have discontinued it, unfortunately. I’ve only used white wine vinegar for the citrus . It generally takes a month for the flavor to develop. I frequently make Cara Cara or an early orange in December for Xmas gifts for the family.

[shrinkrap]

Thank you! At what point, if ever, do you remove the strips from the vinegar?

[Nannybakes]

I leave them in indefinitely. There is no need to refrigerate this vinegar, I would be reluctant to use the pulp. Same process for lemon peel but my family loves the orange!
In the spring, I make chive blossom, chervil , Chinese chives, etc.

[mig (you can call me mig)]

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[kaleokahu (Kaleo)]

You know, you can lop off the top of a living pinapple fruit, core it on the stalk, and fill with a fermentable mix. Come back later. Enjoy. I think the local term is ‘skipe’ or ‘swipe’.

No reason it wouldn’t also work off the stalk…

[shrinkrap]

Good to know!

[shrinkrap]

From @Saregama about citrus shrubs and “oleo” sugar infusion.

I've got two fresh pinapples from Hawaii!

Didn’t make much of a difference aside from flavor (how sweet do you want it). Enough sugar to macerate the fruit and draw out all the liquid. I didn’t measure much after the first couple. I trust Dietsch’s ratios, though, if you need a reference. Make a citrus one of you haven’t yet - they were amazing with the “oleo” sugar infusion or whatever he calls it where the sugar is infused with the oil in the peels. Makes an amazing limonata or aranciata in sparkling water.