Chicken Free Classic Apple Shrub
Tart, spiced, and quietly complex, this apple shrub is the kind of homemade pantry staple that makes every drink feel a little more special. The process is a slow one — two rounds of refrigerating let the sugar draw out the apple juices and then the vinegar and warm spices weave themselves into every drop — but the hands-on effort is minimal. What you end up with is a concentrated syrup that balances sweet, tangy, and aromatic in a way that's genuinely hard to stop sipping. Stirred into sparkling water over ice, it becomes a refreshing, non-alcoholic drink that feels far more sophisticated than anything you'd pull from a store shelf. The whole recipe is built from fruit, pantry spices, and vinegar, so there's nothing complicated to source and nothing to worry about in terms of hidden animal-derived ingredients. It keeps in the fridge for up to three months, which means you can make a batch and enjoy it well into the season.
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Learn more →Ingredients
8 servings
- 2 medium apples (about 12 oz), cored and finely diced
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 whole cloves
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
For serving
- sparkling water, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Combine the diced apples and granulated sugar in a medium bowl and stir well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, until the sugar has fully dissolved into the apple juices and a syrupy liquid has pooled at the bottom of the bowl.
- 2
Add the apple cider vinegar, cinnamon stick, whole cloves, and ground ginger to the bowl and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate for another 24 hours to allow the flavors to develop.
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