Cucumber Mint “Shrub” Soda

Have you ever heard of a “shrub” (as in drink, not bush)? It’s basically a vinegar-based fruity cordial or soda. The acidity of the vinegar provides tang and intensifies the flavor of the fruit in much the same way that the acidity of lemons balances the sugar in lemonade, and makes lemonade taste so lemony.

Vinegar allows you to make a soda with fruit, without it being cloyingly sweet.

With this cucumber mint soda, first you make a simple syrup with water, sugar, and vinegar. Then you infuse the vinegar simple syrup with fresh mint leaves. To make the soda, you pour the syrup over ice and chopped cucumber and add seltzer water. Easy!

If you are not familiar with shrubs, the whole vinegar concept can seem a bit weird, but believe me, it works!

I made a batch of this the other day for some friends and they’ve all been begging for the recipe. It’s wonderfully refreshing on a hot summer day. (We may have a few of those left this summer, right?)

Many thanks to Payam Fardanesh of Silk Road Soda for introducing me to the whole concept of vinegar-based sodas, and in particular this cucumber mint combo. It’s my favorite flavor of all of his sodas, and is a classic Persian drink.

This particular recipe is adapted from a recipe for Sekanjebeen, a mint vinegar syrup, from the Persian cookbook Pomegranates and Roses, by Ariana Bundy.

Cucumber Mint “Shrub” Soda Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 cups water
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/3 cup white wine vinegar (can sub plain white vinegar)
• A handful of mint leaves
• 1 cucumber, peeled if the peels are thick, chopped
• Seltzer water

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