Читать книгу The Taste of Britain - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - Страница 182

The word shrub derives from the Arabic root sharab, meaning a sweetened drink. The word and various drinks and confections associated with it are discussed in detail by Alan Davidson (1993). Since the mid-eighteenth century it has been applied to a sweetened drink of rum and oranges, lemons or other acid fruit such as currants. Athough it was clearly old-fashioned by the late 1800s, it was well enough known for Law’s Grocer’s Manual to give a recipe. The taste for it has survived in the South West of Britain, where its manufacture is associated with Bristol. This town carried on an important trade with both the West Indies and the wine- and brandy-producing areas of France and Spain. Rum or cognac were vital ingredients for the drink. The Bristol company that now produces it, J.R. Phillips, makes several other alcoholic cordials, including lovage, peppermint and aniseed.