Raspberry Shrub Soda

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A craft-bar drinking vinegar built the old-fashioned way: fresh raspberries buried in sugar for a day until they release a thick, jammy syrup, then sharpened with unfiltered cider vinegar and a splash of white wine vinegar. No cooking, so the fruit tastes raw and bright rather than cooked-down. Poured over ice and topped with cold seltzer, it drinks tart, fizzy and grown-up — the sour-sweet soda that bottled versions have been imitating for a century.

Ingredients

• 18 oz fresh raspberries (about 4 cups), or frozen and thawed
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 strips lemon peel, removed with a vegetable peeler
• 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
• 3/4 cup unfiltered apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup white wine or champagne vinegar

• 1 1/2 oz raspberry shrub syrup (3 tablespoons)
• 6 oz cold seltzer or club soda
• ice cubes
• 1 pinch flaky salt, optional
• 2 fresh mint sprigs or a lemon wheel, for garnish

Instructions

1. Put the raspberries in a wide non-reactive bowl (glass, ceramic or stainless — not aluminum). Add the sugar, lemon peel and salt. Crush the berries against the side of the bowl with a sturdy spoon or a potato masher until they are broken down but not puréed, about 1 minute; you want visible seeds and pulp, not a smoothie.
2. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface, or cover the bowl, and leave at cool room temperature (65–72°F) for 8 hours, then refrigerate for 16 hours more — 24 hours total. Stir once or twice along the way. The sugar will dissolve completely and the fruit will float in a dark, glossy syrup.
3. Set a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl and scrape in the macerated fruit. Let it drain 10 minutes on its own, then press gently with the back of a ladle to extract the syrup. Stop pressing when the pulp looks pale and dry; forcing it through makes the shrub cloudy and grainy. Discard or save the pulp (see tips).
4. Whisk the cider vinegar and white wine vinegar into the strained syrup until fully combined. Taste: it should hit sweet first, then a clean acidic snap. If it tastes flat, add another tablespoon of cider vinegar; if it makes you wince, whisk in 1 tablespoon sugar at a time until balanced.
5. Funnel into a clean glass bottle or jar, cap and refrigerate at least 3 days before drinking — the raw vinegar edge softens and the raspberry flavor rounds out. One week is better. It keeps 6 months refrigerated.
6. To build a soda: fill a tall glass to the top with ice, pour in 1 1/2 oz (3 tablespoons) shrub syrup, then top with 6 oz cold seltzer, pouring down the side of the glass to keep the bubbles. Stir once from the bottom with a bar spoon — just one pass, so the syrup streaks up through the fizz.
7. Garnish with a mint sprig or lemon wheel and, if you like, a tiny pinch of flaky salt on top, which mutes the vinegar's sharpness and makes the fruit read sweeter. Serve immediately.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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