Raspberry Shrub Recipe

The Raspberry Shrub is a syrup made with raspberries that can be used as a flavorful base for a range of cocktails and nonalcoholic drinks alike. Frozen raspberries, white vinegar, and granulated sugar are blended with water to yield a tart and tangy berry-flavored syrup. 

A shrub is a pantry ingredient made by combining vinegar, sugar, and a flavoring agent like fruit, flowers, or even vegetables. Shrubs are tangy with balanced sweetness, as the vinegar adds a sharp bite. 

This shrub was developed by New Orleans–based bartender and author Neal Bodenheimer and the recipe was featured in Jim Meehan’s 2024 book, The Bartender’s Pantry: A Beverage Handbook for the Universal Bar, coauthored with Bart Sasso and Emma Janzen. 

Frozen fruit is ideal for vinegar-based shrubs like this Raspberry Shrub. Look for the words “flash-frozen or “Individually Quick Frozen' (IQF) on the label, which indicates that individual pieces were shock-frozen using liquid nitrogen or dry ice. The process preserves the color, flavor, and texture of the peak-season ripe fruit, so the full scope of flavors can be fully extracted for a shrub with the ultimate zing. 

Why the Raspberry Shrub works

The tart Raspberry Shrub is built on intensely-flavored frozen raspberries, which give it a ripe, fruity quality. The raspberries are thawed before use, so the shrub maintains a soft, syrupy consistency. The juices present in the thawed fruit combine with some additional water to help the blending process. After blending, the mixture is passed through a fine wire-mesh strainer to catch any bits of raspberry seed and fruit pulp. 

The shrub is an ideal complex base syrup that serves as both an acid and a sweetener in the Roffignac, Bodenheimer’s simple cocktail made with Armagnac and club soda. It can also be combined with club soda to make a quick, tangy soda. 

This recipe was developed by Neal Bodenheimer; the text was written by Lucy Simon.