{"id":1416,"date":"2021-06-18T12:12:15","date_gmt":"2021-06-18T19:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/?p=1416"},"modified":"2021-08-26T17:29:33","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T00:29:33","slug":"a-shrub-for-what-ails-ya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/?p=1416","title":{"rendered":"A shrub for what ails ya"},"content":{"rendered":"

A friend once told me he’d cured his lifelong sinus problems forever simply by drinking a tall glass of straight vinegar.<\/p>\n

I was skeptical, and my friend wasn’t able to explain exactly by what mechanism downing a quantity of ascetic acid on a single occasion could relieve inflammation of his sinus tissues for all time. Apple cider vinegar has long been a popular homeopathic treatment for sinus infections<\/a>, although the clinical evidence of its effectiveness is almost nonexistent<\/a>. In my friend’s case, I’m guessing that the unpleasant memory of gulping down that glass of liquid fire\u2014and the very real possibility that it damaged his esophagus<\/a>\u2014was enough to make him ignore his stuffy nose for years afterward.<\/p>\n

It might seem strange, then, that this week’s Sunday Special<\/a> suggests that you drink vinegar.<\/p>\n

Our cocktail of the week utilizes a shrub<\/a>\u2014basically, a flavored simple syrup that substitutes vinegar for water. A good shrub (from the Arabic word sharaba<\/em><\/a>, meaning “to drink”) combines fruit, herbs, and various types of vinegar to produce a flavor that’s sweet, tart, and acidic all at once. A scant one ounce is great mixed with club soda over ice; add a shot of good-quality gin, and you’ve got a cocktail of amazing depth and deliciousness.<\/p>\n

The range of shrub flavorings is practically limitless; I look forward to trying a marionberry shrub<\/a>, a blood orange shrub<\/a>, and a ginger shrub<\/a> (which is also called a switchel). This one uses strawberries, basil, and mint, and three types of vinegars.<\/p>\n

The resulting cocktail is delightful. It won’t cure your allergies. But it will make you happy.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

Strawberry Basil Mint Shrub<\/h3>\n

Adapted from the Washington Post<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

For the shrub<\/em><\/p>\n

2 cups strawberries (14 ounces), rinsed, hulled and sliced
\n1\/2 cup packed basil leaves
\n1\/2 cup packed mint leaves
\n1 cup apple cider vinegar
\n3\/4 cup white wine vinegar
\n1\/4 cup white or red balsamic vinegar
\n2 cups sugar<\/p>\n

For the drink<\/em><\/p>\n

1 ounce good-quality gin
\n1 to 1 1\/2 ounces strawberry basil mint shrub
\n4 ounces club soda
\nStrawberry slices, for garnish
\nFresh mint leaves, for garnish<\/p>\n

For the shrub<\/em><\/p>\n

Combine the strawberries, basil and mint in a medium bowl.<\/p>\n

Combine the three vinegars in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once the liquid starts to bubble at the edges, remove from the heat. Pour over the strawberry mixture so it is completely covered. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.<\/p>\n

Line a fine-mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set it over a medium saucepan. Strain the strawberry-vinegar mixture, discarding the solids.<\/p>\n

Add the sugar to the saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cook, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Let cool. The yield is about 3 cups.<\/p>\n

Refrigerate in an airtight container.<\/p>\n

For the drink<\/em><\/p>\n

Fill a rocks glass halfway with ice cubes, and fill a cocktail shaker with ice cubes.<\/p>\n

Add the gin and the shrub to the cocktail shaker. Seal and shake vigorously for 10 seconds. Strain into the glass, and then top with the club soda.<\/p>\n

Stir, then add garnishes and serve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A friend once told me he’d cured his lifelong sinus problems forever simply by drinking a tall glass of straight vinegar. I was skeptical, and my friend wasn’t able to… [Continue Reading]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sunday-specials-cocktails","category-beverages"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shrub-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2LarU-mQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1416"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1549,"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416\/revisions\/1549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}