The Domestic Wildflower

Handmade Food & Craft Tutorials for Beginners

Jenny Gomes

Blood Orange Balsamic Shrub

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Blood Orange Balsamic Shrub

Blood oranges are arguably the most beautiful citrus fruit, inside and out, and when paired with balsamic vinegar in a sweet-tart shrub they really shine. You may have noticed that I am a huge fan of shrub making and I compiled everything I know into a FREE email course just for my Wildflowers! Get in here! 

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Blood Orange Balsamic Shrub is the second shrub I have crafted with balsamic vinegar. The other recipes I have shared use apple cider vinegar and that is a much more mild tasting vinegar. Balsamic is bold both in flavor and in color and when added with blood oranges and plain white sugar it creates a strong but delicious shrub. This mixes so, so well with unflavored sparkling water and in a cocktail with bourbon.

So all this shrub talk probably has you wondering what the buzz is about and why you should be making shrubs in mason jars, like, yesterday. I wanted to share my favorite mixer tips and techniques with you so I created a simple, fun, and totally FREE email course to teach you everything I know about making shrubs. Sign up for the week’s worth of easy to read emails that explain how to make all kinds of shrubs, from whatever is in your fridge, to suit your tastes and make these sweet-tart syrups. Grab it here!

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The quantities below are tiny, I admit but when I was trying this out I didn’t want to sacrifice more than one blood orange on a trial shrub. I’m such a produce hoarder. Feel free to increase the quantities. Go on and be crazy and use 2 blood oranges, Wildflowers 😉

You need:

1 blood orange, peeled and sections sliced into halves or thirds, that equals about ½ cup.

½ cup white sugar

1 cup good quality balsamic vinegar

Add the fruit to a clean mason jar or another clean glass vessel with a lid.

Add the sugar and if time allows, let the sugar and fruit sit for up to 24 hours. I’d be fibbing if I said I always make time for this and with a juicy fruit like a blood orange it isn’t entirely necessary but it can help a bit pulling the juice from the fruit.

Add the vinegar and perhaps muddle with a wooden spoon and stir to incorporate the sugar.

Lid and let the shrub sit on your counter for up to a week. The flavors will blend and develop into a bold and delicious shrub.

Strain using either a fine mesh sieve, a colander with small holes, or a funnel and a cheesecloth into a clean glass vessel. Store in the refrigerator.

Blood Orange Balsamic Shrub + How to Make Shrubs Email Course! click to grab the course from A Domestic Wildflower and learn how to make these sweet tart shrubs!

Blood Orange Shrub + Whiskey Cocktail

1 part Blood Orange Balsamic Shrub

1 part whiskey (I like Bulleit Bourbon, as recommended by a dear friend)

3 parts sparkling water

ice

Served nicely in a wide mouth mason jar. What, you don’t have a stash of jars on hand? You can grab some from Amazon by clicking the affiliate photo link below!

Blood Orange Balsamic Shrub + How to Make Shrubs Email Course! click to grab the course from A Domestic Wildflower and learn how to make these sweet tart shrubs!

If those beautiful blood oranges have convinced you to try more shrubs, I can’t encourage you enough to try my new and completely free e-course! In a week’s worth of emails, I share everything I know about shrubs to help you turn nearly any fruit, in even tiny quantities, into a sweet-tart syrup that is as pretty sitting on the counter as it is delicious served in a beverage or as an ingredient. Sign up here!

Enroll Now!

Wildflowers, I have to tell you something. I’m a teacher, some of you may know this already, and this school year I decided to take the year off to stay home with my kids that are 2 and 4 years old. I have been working on writing blog posts, creating workshops, and generally putting all this extra “teacher energy” in the blog because while I LOVE being home with my babies, I love teaching and I miss it. With all the great feedback I have had from these fun shrubs recipe blog posts, the comments I have had on lifestreams in the Grow Like a Wildflower Facebook group, I decided to create a whole course that will teach you, step by step, the super-simple preserves, and techniques to make homemade cocktail mixers. The course is called Wildflower Mixology and I’m so excited about it!

Wildflower Mixology is a way for a busy, modern homemaker to transform their hostess skills from uninspired and stressed to at ease, farmer’s market fresh, and fun. It is a full-fledged course that teaches you how to make bounces, infused syrups, shrubs and more in 15 professionally edited (as in, not be me lol!) videos. That’s the Bloody Mary Shrub in the youtube thumbnail below…and you are NOT going to find that recipe anywhere else, Wildflower! I can promise you that!

Head over to www.wildflowermixology.com to learn more and enroll! 

Apple Shrub

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This post will share with you a super simple apple shrub recipe that will help you transition from sweltering summer days to cooler fall nights.

Apple Shrub

Shrubs are, in addition to being nice greenery, a simple syrup made from fruit (or sometimes vegetable like rhubarb), sugar, and vinegar. It is very strong straight but divine when mixed with ice, sparkling water, and booze. They are a refreshing departure from the overplayed and saccharine sweet daiquiri or standby margarita. They are super simple to make, even if you don’t cook, and are sure to impress. They are an old-fashioned concoction, popularized during the prohibition era, and ready to be reincarnated on your countertop. My friend Kalisha of www.kalishablair.com and homemade bread baking fame told me about this book, “What to Drink” which is about cocktails served up during Prohibition and I immediately put in my Amazon order. It is awesome, of course, and I’ll be sharing more of the fun recipes within here very soon. 

Apple Shrub is a great recipe because it takes just one apple of any variety, is fun to spice up with cinnamon or a few dissolved red-hot candies, and mixed with whiskey. It is a cocktail that will transition your beverage game right into autumn.   

Sign up for my new and improved shrub making email course that will teach you above and beyond what one blog post recipe can demonstrate. The email course is 6 quick emails delivered to your inbox. I think you’ll dig it 🙂

Ingredients:

1 apple, shredded with a box grater or rough chopped

1 cup of sugar

1 cup good quality apple cider vinegar

Place shredded apple at the bottom of a glass jar. Cover with sugar. A funnel is helpful but not necessary. Cover the jar with lid, and let it sit on your counter for several hours, even overnight. Add vinegar and stir and be sure to dissolve sugar. Lid and let sit on your counter for up to a week. Strain into a clean vessel, add a teaspoon of cinnamon if you desire, and store in the refrigerator.

Apple Shrub: Fresh Fruit Flavor for Fall Cocktails | The Domestic Wildflower click to read this clear and helpful tutorial for how to make apple shrub!

Apple Shrub: Fresh Fruit Flavor for Fall Cocktails | The Domestic Wildflower click to read this clear and helpful tutorial for how to make apple shrub!

Apple Shrub: Fresh Fruit Flavor for Fall Cocktails | The Domestic Wildflower click to read this clear and helpful tutorial for how to make apple shrub!

Apple Shrub: Fresh Fruit Flavor for Fall Cocktails | The Domestic Wildflower click to read this clear and helpful tutorial for how to make apple shrub!

Apple Shrub Cocktail:

1 part shrub

1 part whiskey (I thought Bulleit Bourbon was very tasty with this particular shrub), optional of course

3 parts sparkling or plain water

Ice

Mix and serve. Wood stoves, scarves, and falling leaves are optional.

This little love affair I’ve had with creating shrubs based on old recipes, mixed with spirits I like, in simple combinations has spawned a project that I’m really proud of and very excited to share. I’ve created a course about how to create your own homemade cocktail mixers called Wildflower Mixology. If you’ve been following me for any length of time you know how much I love homemade, simple, farmer’s market fresh fare, and how much I love helping beginners start making more homemade for themselves.

If you love sweet-tart things and want to learn how to make a ton of different types of shrubs, sign up here for my free email course. I’m pretty sure it is the only email course out there on shrub making and it is 6 easy to read emails and includes recipes like Strawberry Pineapple Shrub and Balsamic Blood Orange. Get it now!

Wildflower Mixology

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This post will share with you the Wildflower Mixology course and a fun quiz to determine what kind of homemade cocktail you are!

Wildflower Mixology

I know I am in good company when I say I have been busy lately. 2016 has been a very busy year indeed for my little family and I have accomplished more than I ever thought I would on this little blog. It has helped me make many friends, all across the country, who I have never got to enjoy in person, but collaborate with all the time. Hallelujah for technology! I reached out to many of the experts I know in person to help me with many projects that resulted in resources for you all, and for that, I am very grateful.

 

One thing that I created in 2016 for you was done in a totally “me” fashion. I tend to be great on the big picture, grand scheme ideas, and not- so- great on the details. I like to say that I’m a Type B person masquerading as a Type A person. I had in mind a course to create for you all that would be really fun since my canning course is so…practical. I love practical, and I know lots of you do too, but this next course is meeting my desire, and I hope your desire, for something a little lighter. In my big picture idea for the year, I wanted to expand upon all the super successful shrub recipes that ya’ll be pinned ALL OVER Pinterest (great job, Wildflowers!) and create a cocktail mixer course where I demonstrated how to make the components of a farmer’s market fresh, unique, and fun cocktail- alcohol not required.

 

In August, my good friend Serena, the uber-talented videographer who created the videos for Start Canning, called me up to say she was moving out of the area, much to my dismay. She kindly offered to film something for me before she left. This was on a Monday, I think. Because this cocktail course had been in the back of my mind for months, with the big picture crystal clear, I said YES, let’s film something, without really having the details nailed down…at all. We filmed on THURSDAY, which is so “me.” I don’t care about “perfect”, I don’t let details slow me down, and I routinely let enthusiasm lead the way, even when thinking things through a little better would be the wiser choice. In the days between the proposal and filming day, I filled up half a dozen pieces of scratch paper with ideas, went to the grocery store and the farmer’s market and bought a ton of produce, picked fresh mint from near the leaky faucet at the family ranch, and gathered another half dozen pieces of ill-organized notepaper from this big idea’s brainstorm over the first half of the year. I showed up to Serena’s with my produce, gobs of note paper, my big idea and some lipgloss and she brought her lights, her cameras, and her prowess. Together we absolutely nailed it in about half a day. We drank all the drinks, laughed all the laughs, and she moved shortly thereafter. She is on to another adventure, and I’m on to mine here with you!  

 

The resulting course SHOWS you how to create simple, fresh, delicious, easy cocktails yourself, at home, with wholesome ingredients so you can skip the lame, over processed mixers on the supermarket shelves. It allows you to relax and enjoy a refreshing, heartening drink without having to feel guilty that it is loaded with heavily processed ingredients that contain artificial everything including coloring that will dye your teeth if not give you cancer.

I used to really feel apprehensive and anxious when it was my turn to host company. I love people, I’m an extrovert, I love to get-togethers, but I never felt like a qualified hostess.

I know how to waitress, quickly and efficiently, I know how to vacuum the whole house in minutes, but to prepare and serve my guests in a way that makes them feel genuinely welcomed and special?

That’s where I wanted to be and as silly as it sounds, knowing what to serve to drink was a simple but critical piece of that puzzle. I want to help you feel inspired and excited to have guests, or to bring the drinks to your next girl’s night in.

 

How To Make Shrubs Course

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This post will share the new and improved shrubs email course that you all should sign up for in order to impress this season.

How To Make Shrubs Course

First of all, my devoted readers, I am sorry I haven’t posted a blog post in the last two weeks. I was sick, then my kids were sick, and really, I have been working like mad on some very fun and exciting projects that will be unveiled in the next couple of weeks. I truly didn’t have time to do much beyond the behind the scenes work I was tackling in between bouts of the flu. We are all healthy, happy, thinking about Santa, and back to normal. I am looking forward to revealing several awesome resources for you but the first of which is the new & improved, free, shrubs email course.

Enroll Now!

History of Shrubs

Shrubs were invented in the Colonial era as a way of saving the bounty of the harvest; fresh fruit was preserved (aka saved for later, when it wasn’t growing on the tree, plant or vine) in vinegar and then used as an astringent add-in to water that may or may not has been all that clean to drink, given the absence of sanitation measures. I spent a year teaching Social Studies a couple years ago, (I normally teach English) and enjoyed (note: sarcasm) explaining to my junior highers about how many colonies darn near died out from dysentery, which is basically terrible diarrhea from drinking dirty water. Yucky, but true. Historically, waterborne illness encouraged the creation and consumption of a great many beverages that were safer to drink than plain water, like beer, shrubs, and other liquids that were inhospitable to bugs that are likely to make us sick.

They were revived during the Prohibition era in the US. Alcohol was banned in a variety of states and manners, off and on, during the 1800s as it became clear that the overindulgence of alcohol caused a lot of problems for families. The 18th amendment was ratified in 1919, by which time about 33 states had independently banned alcohol as well. Of course, enforcing the prohibition of alcohol effectively in more rural areas (as poorer folks were less like to be able to afford expensive bootlegged spirits) and less so in urban ones. Overall, those who wanted to drink found ever more inventive ways of drinking; moonshine, speakeasies, and bootlegging all were means to a tipsy, and criminal end. Al Capone, a famous Chicago gangster, supposedly earned $60 million a year from bootlegging, or illegally brewing and distributing, illegal alcohol. In short, Prohibition failed to reduce drinking, crime, or drunkenness, and Franklin D. Roosevelt called for the repeal of the 18th amendment on his election platform and easily won the election. In February of 1933, the 21st amendment repealed the 18th, and alcohol was legal once more.

During Prohibition, the housewife and homemaker were faced with the great question of what to serve guests who came calling. The book, “What To Drink” by Bertha E. L. Stockbridge, 1920, is one that is filled with creative, frugal, and sensible ideas of how to quench the thirst without alcohol. Remember, the Great Depression began in 1929, so Prohibition straddled the end of the Roaring Twenties and the beginning of the depression. The lack of legal alcohol coupled with the lack of disposable income resulted in a revival of shrubs, also known as drinking vinegar, and a great many other drinks.

What is a shrub?

 

Shrubs are a syrup made with fruit (which spoils rather quickly without refrigeration), sugar or honey, and vinegar. Vinegar is very high in acid, and acid is one way we can make food and drink a place where germs that make us sick cannot thrive. Sugar is a powerful preservative, which is one of the reasons a gummy worm doesn’t rot away when lost under a car seat the way a slice of bread will. The combination of sugar and vinegar means that fresh fruit flavor is preserved in a concoction that will last much longer than fruit left whole. It also made an astringent addition to water, which by Prohibition was a lot cleaner in general, but still was a concern in some areas, or times, as the end of summer when wells were lower, etc.   

Nowadays, we know a lot about the health benefits of drinking vinegar. The darling of the vinegar world currently is apple cider vinegar, the same way the gem of the wine industry is red wine. Generally speaking, vinegar is vinegar, they way darkly colored alcoholic beverages are all darkly colored alcoholic beverages. Dark beer has many of the same health benefits of red wine, just better marketing has been done on red wine’s behalf. The same goes for apple cider vinegar.

At any rate, there’s oodles of information out there on reputable sites about the health benefits of apple cider vinegar specifically, and generally, incorporating vinegar of all kinds into the diet. Vinegar lowers the appetite, speeds up metabolism, reduces inflammation, among other desirable actions. Indeed; consider the diets of many places known for maintaining great health. The Mediterranean diet enjoys balsamic, the Asian diet enjoys rice vinegar, and so on. I’m not saying vinegar is a silver bullet cure-all, I’m just saying it is probably a good thing to incorporate into our diet.

The main opposition I have found to making or drinking shrubs is that people say they don’t like vinegar and they assume that drinking shrub means you are just guzzling plain old white vinegar. Not so, Wildflowers. White vinegar is good for descaling the dishwasher, whitening white laundry, and cleaning windows in my home, NOT for use in shrubs. For one of my very first shrubs I used plain, cheap white vinegar, the very same stuff I use to clean with, and blueberries and there’s no amount of sugar or fruit in the world that will make that taste better.

Best Vinegars for Shrub Making

What IS good, however, is apple cider, balsamic, champagne, rice, and other milder vinegar. THOSE are the hot ticket. The second piece of growing to love shrubs is to understand you usually don’t drink them straight. The recipes in the Prohibition era cookbooks call for just a spoonful of shrub in a glass of cold water. I drink mine with about a shot of shrub, which is just 1-2 ounces, in a 16-ounce wide mouth pint glass, filled with water and a shot of alcohol if the day called for it (a junior high field trip day calls for 2). So, you really aren’t drinking plain vinegar at all, unless of course that you want to. The flavor that I have read enjoyed straight the most is apple shrub, which is a freshly grated apple submerged in apple cider vinegar.

Shrubs are not a fermented concoction. They delicious without the addition of alcohol and all my recipes make it clear that you don’t have to add a shot of booze at all to enjoy them. Most days, I skip the alcohol just to keep my pesky migraines at bay.

All of my shrub making instructions are no-cook. That means there’s no saucepan to heat up, no dishes to scrub clean..NO cooking. Many recipes of yesteryear gave instructions for boiling fruit and sugar together but what is lost is that delicious fresh fruit flavor. I prefer to let the fruit and vinegar sit together to marry, and then add the vinegar. I suppose what I’d be gaining is time if I chose to sacrifice the taste of a perfectly fresh, ripe apple for the 10 minutes of cook time.

Sign up for the free email course that will teach you how to make a no cook syrup from fresh fruit, sugar, and vinegar. These drinking vinegars are fresh, unique and delicious mixed with sparkling water. The optional shot is divine on a hot day & and they are the most gorgeous, bright colors! Sign up for the free course today!

I’m sharing this post now so you can learn how to make these in case you are like me a few years ago in regards to being an underprepared and uninspired hostess.
I love my family and friends but I wasn’t raised in a home that enthusiastically welcomed the idea of having gobs of company over. My mom, who taught me how to be a hard worker and where I get my hustle and height, was a waitress for many years. She was a good, fast, efficient, tip-making machine but that’s not quite the same thing you want to be when having your new in-laws over for supper, right? I wanted to be like the gal on the cover of a magazine, pouring pretty drinks in a white kitchen where something was peacefully baking out of sight and there were never any dishes to be washed. Learning how to make simple, economical, and unique drinks like shrubs can take you one step closer to the cover of that metaphorical magazine. You don’t have to rely on some tired old choice from the grocery store shelf. Your best friend’s brother’s new girlfriend who will be over for drinks has already had that margarita mix a dozen times. That mixer would be okay and no more.

Sign up for my free shrubs making email course and you will be on your way to serving fresh, fun, and unique shrubs this season!

Enroll Now!

Maybe shrubs are a mixer you’ve mastered, and maybe you want to try something fresh and new. I am in that boat, and when I found this amazing graphic, I was in cocktail love. I hope it helps inspire you to fill your mason jar with something farmer’s market fresh, on the double, Wildflowers!

Grow Your Own Cocktail Garden: Mason Jar Garden Cocktails
Source: Fix.com Blog

Spiced Pear Butter

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Spiced pear butter is easy, grown up in taste, and flavored with maple syrup, whiskey if you please, and spices. It’s delicious in your lunch box, in between the layers of a cake (instead of frosting!), and more. Read on for this simple spiced pear butter recipe!

Spiced Pear Butter Canning Recipe

This post contains affiliate links.

First, if you clicked on to this recipe and are worried about the canning part, don’t worry. I’m a pro at teaching beginners (that’s actually a important part of my blog) and if you want to see if you have the gear to start canning (which I bet you do!) download the Free Equipment Checklist here!

Second, you are going to want to eat this the same way you eat applesauce, except is is more grown-up tasting, and you’ll be getting a serving of fruit in these little shelf-stable jars. It’s fantastic.

How to Make Spiced Pear Butter: Canning Recipe

You Will Need:

6 cups pear juice/pulp which comes from 10 cups chopped ripe pears + 10 cups water simmered together until soft and then pureed together using a food mill (read this post to learn more about these kitchen work horses!)

Then:

Return puree to the preserving pan and

add 1 cup sugar

1 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup whiskey (optional)

1/4 cup good homemade vanilla extract  OR  good quality store bought vanilla extract

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Simmer together on medium high heat, stirring often for 10-20 minutes depending on the desired consistency.

Ladle carefully into hot half pint jars, maintaining 1/2 inch head space. Add lids and rings and return to water bath or steam canner (What’s a steam canner you ask? Only the fastest way to can. Read more here).

Process 20 minutes in half pint jars at sea level, remembering to at 5 minutes for every 1000 feet you live above sea level (more about that important step here). Yields about 8 cups spiced pear sauce.

Want more details about how canning works? You’ll love my Free Canning Basics Course. Sign up to get a handful of super clear email lessons right in your inbox to get STEP BY STEP instruction and address the most common pitfalls beginners experience. Canning is way more fun and way easier than you think, I promise!

Canning Personalities Quiz

Hungry for more maple-y goodness? You might love this post about 8 Unexpected Uses for Maple Syrup– it’s so much more than a pancake topping, Wildflowers.

Want to make that homemade vanilla extract that I mentioned above? Get the recipe here– it’s so easy and amazingly better than store-bought.

Now that you’ve made this spiced pear sauce, you could use it in these tender, delicious muffins– just swap out the applesauce for the pear sauce 🙂 Get the applesauce muffins recipe here!

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