AIP rosemary peach drinking vinegar - a slow-infused shrub base of peach, honey, rosemary, and apple cider vinegar, served over ice with sparkling water

Most of the drinks on this list come together in 15 minutes. This one asks for 5 days, a mason jar on your counter, and the discipline to leave it alone and just stir it once in a while. That kind of patience is exactly the muscle this protocol is building in you anyway, so a shrub is a strange, fitting kind of practice.

What you're making is a slow infusion: peaches and rosemary steeped into apple cider vinegar and honey until the flavor turns layered and a little sharp. Polyphenols are peaches' contribution here, the antioxidant plant pigments this bank keeps returning to for their loose tie to gut and immune support. The digestive claim you sometimes hear about drinking vinegars isn't settled, so don't lean on it, this one earns its place on taste. One real note: apple cider vinegar can be rough going if you're on a low-histamine plan or managing interstitial cystitis, so this isn't a drink for everyone even with the AIP tag.

Pour a small glass over ice and top it with sparkling water, and notice that it tastes like something you waited for, because you did. 5 days of near-nothing effort turns into a drink with real depth, the kind you can hand someone at a gathering without a single explanation attached.

Ingredients

• 4 cups diced peaches
• 1 cup honey
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• Sparkling water, to serve

Method

Add the diced peaches, the honey, and the rosemary to a mason jar. Muddle them together to release the juices. Refrigerate for 2 days, stirring now and then.

Blend the contents, then strain out the solids and return the liquid to the jar. Stir in the apple cider vinegar and refrigerate for 3 more days.

To serve, pour about a quarter glass of the base over ice and top with sparkling water.

A note on swaps: apricots or nectarines work in place of peaches, and thyme works in place of rosemary.

This is a no-cook infusion, so it needs no air fryer or Instant Pot variation.

*Adapted from acleanplate.com*