This shrub drink is a delightful pick-me-up made with fresh fruit, sugar and vinegar.

What’s a shrub? In two words: drinking vinegar. Before refrigeration was invented, shrubs were an excellent way to preserve fruit. Fresh fruit was mixed was sugar and fermented over several days creating to create a thick syrup that could then be added to water and cocktails.

Shrubs don’t have to be alcoholic and are certainly not girly. You can finally serve a pretty pink drink that both men and women can enjoy together. Though similar in color, this shrub drink is a far cry from a Cosmopolitan.

The sweetness of fruit and sourness of the vinegar makes a refreshing combination when added to tall glass of seltzer. The tangy flavor in similar to other fermented drinks like kombucha.

A typical shrub cocktail revolves around the syrup. Usually made with fresh fruit, sugar and vinegar, the shrub syrup can be made in a variety of ways. Shrub enthusiasts will first make their own fruit vinegar. That vinegar is then added to a combination of fresh fruit and sugar left to sit out and ferment over a few days. This strawberry rhubarb shrub enlists a less traditional but time-saving technique of cooking the fruit, vinegar and sugar together, rather than waiting a week for fermentation. Add this shrub syrup to an iced glass of seltzer for a thirst-quenching aperitif. Make the shrub syrup up to three days before and store in the fridge. The combination of strawberry and rhubarb is perfect with a botanical gin like Hendrick’s or Magellan in this cocktail.

Quick and Easy Strawberry Rhubarb Shrub Drink  

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 cup chopped fresh rhubarb
1 cup chopped fresh strawberries
1 cup sugar
¾ cup apple cider vinegar
4 oz. Hendrick’s gin
24 oz. seltzer
ice
4 mason jars

Directions

Combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and apple cider vinegar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer for about ten minutes, stirring constantly until the fruit begins to break down. Remove from heat and allow the fruit soak for 15 minutes, stir again

Use a fine mesh sieve to strain the liquid from the pulp and chill in an air-tight container in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Fill each mason jar with 3-4 medium ice cubes and 1 ounce of the strawberry rhubarb liquid. Then add 1 ounce gin, stir with a spoon and then top off with 4 ounces selzer. Serve with a straw.

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Photos by Ally-Jane 

The post Quick and Easy Strawberry Rhubarb Shrub Drink   appeared first on EcoSalon.

Anti-Valentine’s Day prezzies for the BFF in your life.

Single or hitched, love it or hate it, it’s impossible not to do something for Valentine’s Day – even if you’re more of an anti-Valentine’s Day kinda gal. Maybe it’s not that you hate it per se, but you’re just not good at the whole mushy gushy, pukey wukey thing – and anything you’ve ever tried to do to make up for it screams, “Hi, I’m awkward.”

Luckily, that’s what best friends are for: To love you at your best, your worst, and everything in between. She knows your bitter sarcasm is code for, “I care,” so why not shower her with anti-Valentine’s Day gifts that only she would understand?

1. Literally Don’t Care Mug

Let your mug do all the talking. (Urban Outfitters, $10)

2. No Boyfriend iPhone 5/5s Case

What you lack in dating skills, make up for in cool swag. (Urban Outfitters, $10)

3. 50 Boyfriends Worse Than Yours

Since it could always be worse. (Amazon, $10)

4. Bittersweet Heart Candies

Because why should the perpetually single/recently dumped be left out of the deliciousness that are heart candies? Sayings include, “U LEFT SEATUP,” “DOG IS CUTER,” and “TRADIN YOU IN.” (Despair, Inc., $10)

5. “I Hate Everyone But You” Greeting Card

You know it’s true. (Zazzle, $3)

6. James Tattoo

It was love at first sight… you know, until it wasn’t. (Tattly, $5)

7. Ryan Gosling Pillowcase

Swoon. (Etsy, $12)

8. “Love Stinks” Pin

The next morning, just remember what we practiced: “The pin made me do it.” (Etsy, $3)

9. “I Have a Fridge” Tee

Guys come and go, but your fridge is forever. (Etsy, $30)

10. Man Candy and Cupcakes

Now you can have your cake and eat it too: “This book combines my all-time favorite things — cupcakes and cute guys. The first goes straight to my thighs, while I only wish the other would,” says author Babe Scott. Indubitably! (Amazon, $20)

How do you celebrate Anti-Valentine’s Day?

Related on EcoSalon

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Image: Best friends photo via Shutterstock

The post 10 Hilarious Anti-Valentine’s Day Gifts Only Your BFF Will Understand appeared first on EcoSalon.

Valentine’s Day is coming and you don’t have to be in a relationship to celebrate love. Better yet, you can join in the festivities honoring the opposite sentiments – out of love, not in love or never in love– with a Valentine’s Day party for single people.

So instead of spending the occasion alone, forlorn and wishing you had a significant other, enjoy a Valentine’s Day party with friends and other singles to make it a holiday to remember. Here are 4 single lady party ideas that both celebrate the single life and encourage putting yourself out there for love.

1. Slumber Party

No, you’re not too old for this. In fact, slumber parties can be far more fun in adulthood. Deliver Valentine’s Day cards to your closest girlfriends – the more the merrier – and cordially invite them to your house for a slumber party to celebrate the best and most lasting love of all – friendship! Plan ahead with fun games, DIY spa treatments and entertainment so that you and your girlfriends can gossip, laugh and jump around all night long, just like the old days!

2. Make Dinner Together

For better or worse, nothing replaces love quite like food, and lots of it for that matter. Invite your friends over and prepare a natural aphrodisiac-inspired meal, followed by a chocolate-based dessert that will satisfy your hunger and fill the emotional space where a significant other would otherwise be.

3. Matchmaker Fondue Party

Celebrating the single life is fun and all, but it’s also quite the thrill to meet new singles. Invite all the singles you know – male and female – to your house for a fondue party that acts as a great icebreaker. Create a big batch of fondue and sit around a table (with wine in tow), enjoying the fondue whilst adhering to fondue party rules:

• If a woman drops her bread in the fondue pot, she has to kiss every man at the table.
• If a man drops his bread in the fondue pot, he has to buy a bottle of wine for everyone at the table.
• If someone drops two pieces of bread in the pot, he or she has to plan the next fondue party.

4. Dig up Old Dirt

For those of you who are fresh out of a relationship or still cling to a relationship from the past, this Valentine’s Day can mark a time of letting go. Ask friends to bring a relic of their past relationship(s) – a letter, a piece of jewelry or a shirt, among many things – to your house in order to destroy said items in whatever fashion you decide on. Take turns talking about the objects each person brings, what they signify about your past relationships and what destroying it means. Then, do the dirty and let go of the past.

Related on EcoSalon

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Photo Credit: Mending a Broken Heart

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