flavored water in a pitcher with a bouquet of flowers around it

Drinks from the Garden: Using Fresh Fruit, Vegetables and Herbs in Drinks

May 15, 2025 Food Preservation, Spoonful

— By Kate McCarty, Food Systems Professional, University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Springtime in Maine makes me want to sit outside and enjoy the sun on my face with a cool drink in my hand. I love looking to my garden for inspiration for making drinks like sodas, cocktails, and mocktails at home. While the garden isn’t fully established yet, there are still many Maine foods in season in spring and early summer to use in homemade drinks. Fruits like rhubarb, strawberries, and last season’s apples; herbs like mint, rosemary, thyme, and basil; and even root vegetables like carrots and beets are available locally or will be soon. Read on for our tips for making great drinks from the garden this summer.

Making Your Own Juice

Homemade juice is a great way to sweeten your beverages without added sugar, and there are several ways to make your own juice. You can use an electric juicer, a steam juicer, or make juice on the stovetop. UMaine Extension Master Food Preserver TerriLee wrote a post about her love for the steam juicer. I recently made some tasty apple juice with it and found the process to be very easy and mostly hands-off. You can also make juice without any specialized equipment, by washing and chopping fruit, then heating it on the stovetop with a little bit of water (use up to 1 cup per pound of fruit). After the fruit is softened, it can be dripped through a sieve or a colander lined with cheesecloth. See this fact sheet on extracting juice from fruit from the National Center for Home Food Preservation for more details.

I love homemade strawberry-lemon juice or a blend of apple, beet, and carrot juice with a little fresh ginger for spice. Cucumber-lime juice makes a great agua fresca on a hot day. For safety, fresh juice should be refrigerated and used within a week or frozen for longer term storage. Some juices can be canned in a boiling water bath canner like apple, grape, and a tomato-vegetable blend.

Shrubs and Flavored Syrups

Shrubs, or simple syrups with vinegar, are a great way to preserve fruit and make a tangy sweetened beverage. Made from equal parts fruit, sugar, and vinegar, shrubs got their start in Colonial New England when apple cider vinegar (not lemon and lime juice) was more readily available. Some good shrub flavors are peach-ginger, blueberry-basil, and strawberry rhubarb. 

Some people like the tanginess that shrubs impart, while others might prefer it to be sweeter. You can control how much vinegar you add when making the shrub—I add half as much vinegar as fruit syrup, since I find adding an equal amount of vinegar to be too harsh. Shrubs are concentrated, so they’re best served diluted with sparkling water or something like ginger beer. A few tablespoons in an 8-ounce glass of sparkling water will make a delicious and refreshing homemade soda.

Flavored simple syrups are another good way to add garden flavors to your drinks. Think homemade blueberry-thyme soda, berry lemonade, and spicy jalapeño margaritas. Simple syrup is made with one part sugar or honey and one part water (i.e. one cup sugar and one cup water). Bring the liquid to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add 1 to 2 cups of flavoring like rhubarb, berries, peaches, herbs, or peppers, then turn off the heat, and let it steep for 5 minutes. Strain the syrup into a clean, glass jar with a lid and let it cool before making your drink. Shrubs and simple syrup should be stored in the refrigerator and used within a month.

If you’d like to see some of these recipes in action, you can watch our Drinks from the Garden webinar where we demonstrate making shrubs, flavored simple syrups, and a delicious mocktail made with mint, beet juice, and ginger beer.

Garnishes from the Garden

Garnishes are another great way to use herbs and fruit in your drinks. Freeze herb leaves, fruit, or edible flowers into ice cubes for “fancy ice” or make a salt flavored with powdered dehydrated (or freeze dried) fruit to use on the rim of a glass. I made a delicious strawberry-lime salt and used it on the rim of a margarita. Cheers to a new season!

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