A STANTHORPE household is enhancing the resilience of their farm by championing the resurgence of an old-time beverage.
The Fawdon household – Ellen, Justin, and Justin’s father, Tony – of Budburst Australia produce artisan vinegars, utilizing handpicked complete fruit from their apricot and black plum bushes.
The distinctive merchandise have discovered favour with fine-dining cooks, at-home cooks, and people with a style for ingesting vinegar – whether or not as a cordial or in “shrubs”, the 17th century scurvy remedy now having fun with a revival with bartenders and non-drinkers alike.
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Justin mentioned the vinegars had allowed them to get essentially the most intense flavour from their fruit whereas decreasing danger and waste after years of antagonistic situations.
“By not having to move complete fruit to market, we are able to go away the fruit to totally ripen on the tree, letting the sugars mature to their most potential and produce out these quaint, candy-like flavours many keep in mind from childhood,” Mr Fawdon mentioned.
“And lots of ‘flaws’ that will have led to the fruit being rejected earlier than, like barely cut up pores and skin, do not matter now – if something, the adjustments in climate that trigger them really add to the distinctive flavour of every batch, like local weather influences wine vintages.”
Once picked, the stone fruit is left to infuse in Granite Belt vinegar for 10 weeks before being filtered by hand.
The result is a tonic that can be used to pickle and preserve, elevate salad dressings, added to water for a refreshing drink, or craft “shrubs” – a simple but flavour-packed syrup or cordial made with macerated fruit, sugar and vinegar.
Shrubs have a long history of being used for flavour and health benefits in centuries gone – sailors, pioneers trekking across America or deserts, rural families and more would use the vinegar to preserve fruit and medicinal herbs.
Even when no longer driven by need, the acquired taste became a mainstay in bars and parlours, and in recent years is enjoying a resurgence in both cocktails and the low-to-no alcohol beverage trend.
The idea for the vinegars – and their potential use in shrubs – came from Ellen, with Stanthorpe’s long-lasting drought the catalyst.
The family was preparing to rip out their remaining fruit trees to make way for oregano and other hardier plants, and she was experimenting with potential oil and vinegar herb infusions.
She added fruit from the two varieties that were still producing in spite of everything – Black Amber plums and Sweet Golden apricots – and soon realised they were onto something.
“Older generations remember their parents or grandparents drinking vinegar in water after a hard days’ work …, but we’re seeing an increase in the younger crowd too,” Mrs Fawdon said.
Justin said there were still some risks with their new direction, but the flavour pay-off was worth it.
“Fruit and sugars can be hard to work with, which is why most other fruit vinegars use juice concentrates or synthetic blends rather than infusion. But then you lose the more delicate notes and sense of place and season,” he said.
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The story Drinkable shrubs, just like in the olden days first appeared on Good Fruit & Vegetables.
