Terra Madre Delegate Profile -
Kim Tait, shrubber
Tait Farm Foods - Centre Hall, PA
www.taitfarmfoods.com

It was the summer of 1986 and a bumper crop of raspberries was ripening on the canes, waiting for the pick-your-own folks to come out. In a typical summer, there were never enough berries to satisfy the hungry pickers, but this fateful season brought a week of rain as the berries reached their peak. With thousands of pounds of fruit threatening to rot on the vine, David Tait decided to pick as much of the fruit as possible and freeze it for winter sales. After an unsuccessful attempt to sell frozen raspberries, David was reminded of something he once drank called "raspberry shrub."

This Colonial concoction was served by folks like Martha Washington, the Shakers, and the good people of Williamsburg. The word shrub means literally "an acid fruit drink" and stems from the Arabic sharab, to drink. The beverage is believed to have arrived in the Colonies from England, and recipes for shrub can be been found in many cookbooks from that period. In those days, fresh fruit was preserved in vinegar and sugar to be reconstituted at a later time. After a bit of historical research and home kitchen R&D, David set out to recreate this historical beverage.

The original recipes were a little rough around the edges, but after several tries, a more palatable and contemporary taste was developed. In 1987, the first bottles of this unusual concentrate were hand labeled and sold on the farm. It was sampled with carbonated water (1 part Shrub to 8 parts water) to thirsty raspberry pickers. The following year, a more sophisticated label was developed-and the rest is history. Raspberry Shrub found a home in gourmet stores, farm markets, and historical locales like Colonial Williamsburg, Monticello, Mount Vernon, The City Tavern in Philadelphia, and Plimoth Plantation. Most fans of Raspberry Shrub mix the concentrate with carbonated water and ice to make a refreshing non-alcoholic beverage. It can also be mixed with champagne or white wine and has many exceptional culinary uses ranging from fruit salsas to sautéed fruit.

Tait Farm Foods is now run by David's widow Kim Tait, who makes over 4,000 bottles of Raspberry Shrub a year. Other flavors of Shrub include ginger, cranberry, sour cherry, and strawberry. -Kim Tait, Slow Food Central Pennsylvania