Eleven-year-old Patrick was excited. He’d found a recipe online for a homemade shrub — a “drinking vinegar” popular during the Colonial Era — using rhubarb and fresh mint, both things he was growing in his backyard garden. Over the 3 days it took to make the drink, Patrick delighted in the snapping sound of the rhubarb stalks when he plucked them from the garden; the sourness of the rhubarb and vinegar; the feel of the soft mint leaves between his fingers; the fresh smell of the mint when he muddled it with sugar; the ruby-red color of the rhubarb juice; and the tangy finished drink, topped off with the fizz of seltzer.
