Recipe: Honeyed Apple Cider Vinegar Sodas

Honeyed Apple Cider Vinegar Sodas

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

• measure :

  to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).

• pour :

  to cause liquid, granules, or powder to stream from one container into another.

• simmer :

  to cook a food gently, usually in a liquid, until softened.

What is a "Shrub?"

• A "shrub" is a sweet and sour soft drink (or cocktail) that includes vinegar, water, and a sweetener. Carbonated water and fruit or fruit juice may also be added. The name can also refer to "drinking vinegar," a vinegar-based syrup infused with fruit juice, herbs, or spices used in cocktails. 
• The drink developed in England in the 16th century from medicinal cordials that contained alcohol, herbs, and spices. Colonial America's version of a shrub containing vinegared syrup, spirits, and water came from the 17th-century English practice of adding vinegar instead of citrus juice to preserve fruit. 
• Later, in the 19th century, vinegar would be poured over fruit, especially berries, allowing it to infuse the vinegar for a few days. Then, the fruit would be strained out, honey or sugar added, and the mixture would be reduced to syrup. It could then be added to water or carbonated water to make a soft drink or mixed with alcohol to make a cocktail.
• Shrub drinks became popular again around 2011. One reason might be that vinegar-based drinks are clear and not cloudy when shaken, unlike citrus-based drinks. Another reason might be the rise in popularity of kombucha, another slightly sour drink made from fermented black tea.

Let's Learn About Colonial America!

• European settlers came to America from England, France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic in the late 1500s and created colonies for their respective countries. The Jamestown settlement in the Virginia colony was established in 1607 and was the first English community in the Americas. The Dutch founded the New Netherland colony in the area that is now the states of Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York. 
• There are two reasons these countries colonized America. One was the access to natural resources in the new land and the ability to make money for investors back in their home countries. The second was for freedom to practice their religion without persecution. The Puritans were the first such pilgrims to leave England, and they settled at the Plymouth Plantation. The Province of Maryland was founded to protect English Roman Catholics. 
• Unfortunately, foreign colonization brought hardship to the indigenous people already living there. One reason is that these people lived in an interconnected relationship with the land. In contrast, many colonists and their governments set out to conquer the land (and the Native Americans) to increase their property and wealth.
• The thirteen British colonies eventually joined in revolting and fighting against the British in 1775 and declaring independence from the British government in July 1776. 

What Was It Like to Be a Kid in Colonial America?

• The lives of colonists and their children were difficult. They had to live off the land and often suffered and died from diseases. Kids had to follow strict rules, and their parents expected them to do a lot of work at home.
• There was a common belief that "children are to be seen and not heard." Therefore, kids were to eat quickly, without talking, and then leave the table as soon as they finished. Sometimes kids did not even sit at the table but stood behind their parents, waiting to have their food handed back to them!
• Kids had household chores such as shelling corn, spinning cotton and wool, cutting sugar, gathering wood, making soap and candles, helping in the garden, and feeding the animals. 
• Even babies had a job to do! Crawling was considered an animal behavior, so little ones wore stiff stays under their clothes to help them stay upright, keep good posture, and learn to stand and walk as soon as possible.
• At the age of eight, boys started grammar school for writing and arithmetic, but for girls, education came second to their training in domestic duties. By age 14, young people were already considered adults. 
• Children played with toys made of wood; however, they spent so much of their time doing chores they had to squeeze in playtime.