Peach Shrub

I developed this peach shrub around using up liqueur from a previous month in place of sugar. I love the way it turned out. It figured heavily in July 2021, when we explored the Erie Canal’s heyday.

INGREDIENTS

2-3 peaches
1 cup peach or apricot liqueur
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
2 sprig lemon balm or mint
1 cup white wine vinegar

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Yield: 2¼ cups

Halve peaches, remove pits, and cut into neat slices (not too thin, so the fruit will hold up). You should have about 2 heaping cups fruit (~280-300g). Combine peach or apricot liqueur* and salt with fruit in a large nonreactive container. Add sprigs lemon balm or mint. Set out on the counter for a few hours. Remove the herbs, cover container, and store in the fridge until you hit the 24 hour mark (from when you combined the liqueur with the fruit. At the 24 hour mark, add white wine vinegar to the fruit / liqueur mixture. Store in fridge another 24 hours. Strain the shrub and allow to rest for 24 hours more in the fridge so it can mellow and meld. The peach slices can be used for baking or frozen and used as a garnish or in place of ice in drinks like the Summer Sangaree.

*You can also use 1¼ cup sugar in place of the liqueur; just be sure to gently agitate so the sugar dissolves by the end of the process.