Friends, it’s called simple syrup for a reason. There are two ingredients in it, plus your imagination. You can make it with equal parts sugar and water or with 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. The one with more sugar will be more syrupy and sweeter. Generally, use 1:1 simple syrup for brushing cake layers. But use whichever one you think will go better with what you’re making.
1 part sugar (or 2 parts)
1 part water
Bring to a boil. Cool. The end.
Or is it?
You can steep almost anything into your simple syrup: vanilla, cinnamon, mint, lemon verbena, star anise, ginger, chiles–you name it. Make the kind that compliments your dish. Making a cider sorbet? Use cinnamon or ginger simple syrup. Want to sweeten your homemade margarita? How about a lime simple syrup? Mango salsa? (I’ll have the roast duck with the mango salsa) Try using some habanero or jalapeno simple syrup. Use mint simple syrup to sweeten homemade iced tea or lemonade. No more annoying sugar crystals in the bottom of your glass!
Serving Suggestion: lemon/mint simple syrup with muddled berries, mint and club soda. Click photo for the “recipe.”
Besides brushing cake layers with it, here are some other things you can do with simple syrup:
- Use as a base for making sorbet
- Mix a strongly flavored simple syrup with club soda for homemade soda
- Poach fruit in it
- Add lemon and lime juice and make homemade sour mix
- Use it to make mixed drinks
vbright says
As always, enjoyed your blog post. I never realized syrup was so easy!
Chris says
I’m proud to say I’ve never spent money on simple syrup. But in a way that’s meaningless because I’ve never used simple syrup either. Can you suggest any usages other than the obvious drizzle-into-mouth technique?
Daily Spud says
That syrup for $2000 wasn’t called the Emperor’s New Syrup, by any chance?
Drew Kime says
Actually you can keep it way past a week if you keep it sealed tightly. The biggest problem is it can crystallize, which is annoying if you’re in a hurry when you notice it. If you *not* in a hurry, you just place your bottle — with the top off — in a small pan half filled with water on the stove at low until the sugar re-melts.
Next time you’re in your grocery store, check the ethnic foods aisle. (If you live in Kansas, no, Vermont cheese does not count as ethnic.) Look for what looks like wine bottles, but with pictures of fruit on the front. Brand names will be Adriatic, or Piku, or a few others I can’t remember. These are from Slovenia or a few other places nearby, and they’re simple syrup made with sugar and fruit. That’s it, two ingredients. The Sour Cherry flavor, which isn’t sour at all, makes the best slushies in the entire world. And the lemon makes the bestest lemonade.
Chef Keem says
Just dropping in to let you know how much I enjoy reading your posts, every once in a while. I simply MAKE the time. You’re so worth it. You’re such an entertaining and knowledgeable writer, Jenni.
Erika says
Your math skills clearly trump mine.
I have some simple syrup in my refrigerator now, actually. It has been playing well with the Meyer lemons that keep falling off my trees because they are so heavy with juice that they can’t seem to stay attached. Rarely have I drunk lemonade so many days in a row. I love winter in southern California!
Reluctant Gourmet says
This post is fascinating. Great investigative reporting. “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Mr. George Hull, of Binghamton, New York not P. T. Barnum.