Raspberry Rum Shrub

Raspberry Rum Shrub and the 'Pinch Punch'

Whilst reading a the book 'Rum a Global History' by Richard Foss I came across a great shrub recipe full of fresh raspberries, vinegar and sugar. This sounds too good not to try myself.

Shrub making is great fun, it’s the perfect way to incorporate different flavor levels into a complex cocktail. I normally create earthier shrubs that involve root vegetables and experimenting with fresh fruits is fairly new to me.

Ive created a tiki style cocktail with a nod to the beautiful english city of Oxford im currently residing in. The Pinch Punch requires a shrub full of complementary flavors that sit perfectly next to the other bold ingredients. The Tiki era is one of those categories that bartenders really love, its the chance to use incredible spirits that were created in hundreds of years ago alongside a list of fruits, herbs, spices and sugars native to the Caribbean.

My Raspberry Rum Shrub takes influence from a traditional 1500’s Caribbean recipe that called for fresh raspberries, water, sugar and vinegar.

 

Raspberry Shrub

600g fresh raspberries

1.5lt Water

300g Cane Sugar

2 pinches of Salt

1.5 grates whole nutmeg

400ml White Wine Vinegar

50g Sliced Fresh Ginger

Bring it all to the boil except the vinegar, sieve and cool. Add the vinegar and bottle. Refrigerated this mix will last for up to a month.

Its subtly sweet and zingy, it really picks up your taste buds and takes them to a whole other world.

                              'Pinch Punch'

35ml Doorly’s XO

10ml Pineapple Juice

20ml Ginger Beer

10ml Lime

25ml Falernum

50ml Rum and Raspberry Shrub

4 dash Angostura bitters

Garnish with fresh mint dusted in Nutmeg

Build it all in a big wine glass with crushed ice, its got amazing colour from the rum and the shrub, so this time put your ceramic tiki mug away and lets really look at how beautiful this cocktail looks!

 The Shrub is light and mixes well with with spirits and the sweetness of the Rum is accented by the raspberries. The Falernum is essentially a low- proof rum thats infused with ginger root, lime, cloves and nutmeg it gives delicious herbacious notes with a little banana hint.

The raspberries I used were overall less sour than normal for this time of year, I was surprised as usually they pack their own tartness but they were delicate and fragrant. This meant I had to use a sweeter, woodier rum like Doorly’s XO to kick off the party. The small addition of pineapple, lime and ginger beer gives acidity and spice and the Bitters rounds it all out in a herbal cocoon.

Give it a try yourself!