Red pomelo, hibiscus & cinnamon shrub

Ingredients

• Juice of 1 large red pomelo (approx 400ml juice)
• 30g dried hibiscus, crushed
• 1 cinnamon stick, crushed
• 235g caster sugar
• 150ml cider vinegar with honey
• Ginger ale or sparkling water, to serve

Method

Remove the thick outer skin from the red pomelo, then carefully divide into segments, removing the white pithy skin around each segment, along with the pips to reveal the flesh inside.

If you have an electric juicer, you can put the peeled fruit segments straight into this to extract the juice. Alternatively, place in a small blender, blitz on high speed for 1 min, then pass through a sieve so you’re left with just the pastel pomelo juice.

Place the crushed hibiscus, pomelo juice, cinnamon stick and caster sugar into a saucepan. Carefully bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle bubble and simmer for 13-15 mins, whisking the entire time.

Once reduced by a third into a thicker syrup, remove the juice from the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Once cool, add the cider vinegar, mix well and leave to steep for 6-8 hours (adding the vinegar to hot liquid will kill off the live bacteria).

Pass through a sieve, pressing with a spatula to extract as much of the shrub as possible. Pour into a glass bottle. It will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks.

To serve, mix 2 tbsp of the shrub with 175ml of ginger ale or sparkling water over ice.

ALTERNATIVE If you can’t find pomelo, use pink grapefruit juice instead.

Image: Rachel Phipps