Currant Shrub

Name: Currant Shrub
Yield: makes about 4 cups
Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups strained red currant juice; 2 1/2 cups rum or brandy; Finely grated zest of 1 orange; 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg; 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

January 24, 2012

Season: June to July. A shrub is an old-fashioned kind of drink–essentially a delightfully fruity alcoholic cordial. Based on sweetened rum or brandy, it is traditionally flavored with acidic fruit such as Seville oranges, lemons, or red currants. Keep back some of the juice after straining red currants to make jelly (see recipe, p. 54), and you will find this lovely tipple very simple to make. Serve as an aperitif, either on its own or mixed half and half with a dry martini and finished with a splash of fresh orange juice, which is my favorite way.

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