Watermelon shrub

That looks amazing!
It’s pretty great, thanks for the pointer. I’m actually making the mint syrup now and will further enhance the shrub (which coincidentally I under-sweetened a bit) with this once it’s cool.
I bought a watermellon that is smallish, but still too big for me to eat as is.
I’m going to try both aqua fresca and shrub, but using the Michael Dietstch recipe that begins “Place cubed watermelon, lime zest, and sugar into a medium bowl. Stir to combine, Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator, and Allow to macerate for 1 day.” which allows for a bit more procrastination.
Note to self; A link to the flavored water thread and Serious Eats take on flavored water.
Have you tried watermelon granita? (I also love fresh watermelon juice.)
I have not. Have you tried it in tomato-watermelon gazpacho? Thinking of trying a bit in my current batch.
I’ve not made tomato-watermelon gazpacho, but tomato and watermelon salad works surprisingly well.
Sigh…
I went on a shrub making frenzy last year, finding it such a great way to preserve fruit and/or use up odds and ends. Sadly, we never drank a lot of it. Not that mixing up a glass of shrub is complicated, but I think we found drink of water so much quicker and more intuitive when thirsty.
I still have a lot of it in the fridge in the garage, and I didn’t make any at all this year.
Yeah, I identify with this. I am now making a single half-batch at a time, and not making more til I drink it.
It’s a way of preserving fruit, not a drink-it-up-pronto thing — all to say you’re in good company!
I was suggesting as a bulk use idea for the watermelon rather than as an enhancement.
I don’t drink gazpacho myself (yet).
Here is my day 2 watermelon shrub.
Dietsch suggested saving strained solids “for another use”, which I interpreted as “eat it with a spoon”. Pretty tasty!
Enjoying last year’s tomato shrub!
A month and a half ago, I desperately cut up one of the enormous local watermelons that I was getting weekly in my CSA and shrubbed it. I already had a big jar of melon shrub in the fridge, but I had no other way to get through so much melon, so I shrubbed it and stowed it in the very back of the spare fridge for “later.”
One of my discoveries this summer was how delicious mint simple syrup is combined with watermelon shrub. It takes a beverage I was willing to drink and turns it into a legitimate treat. I didn’t want to crack open the big jar of melon until I had a chance to whip up more mint syrup, but I kept forgetting, and the mint at the grocery store was always despicable.
Last week I finally remembered to snag some at the farmers’ market. So I made the syrup.
Today I finally opened the big jar and tasted it; even without the syrup, it was smooth and complex and delicious. With the syrup, though: wowza.
Great idea! I happen to have some mint!
It’s worth it
Couldn’t identify with that sentence more
When I made watermelon mint shrub a few years ago as part of a shrub series (there was a shrub COTM on Chowhound), it had a cucumber tinged flavor. Did you notice that?