Consider this a PSA – do not fork over your hard earned cash to buy simple syrup. A recent Amazon search revealed a variety of bottles selling for anywhere between ten and twenty dollars. Some are artisanal and small batch and, I must admit, very nicely packaged. But the truth of the matter is that simple syrup takes minutes and pennies to make. Equal parts sugar and water heated gently in a pan until all the sugar has dissolved. That’s it. Done. Finito. Nothing could be simpler (pun intended).
And once you’ve mastered the fine art of this tricky little recipe, you can get all sorts of creative. I frequently infuse my syrups with thyme, vanilla, citrus or mint.
All you need to do is take a piece of peel or herb sprig and let it sit in the warm syrup for about 15-20 minutes to infuse it. Don’t leave herbs for much more time than this or the flavour tends to become muddy.
I’ve also made rosemary, basil, rose (by adding a few drops of rosewater), lavender and hibiscus (use about a tablespoon of the flowers and then strain), but the syrup I make by far the most is vanilla. Split a vanilla bean down the middle, scrape the seeds out with a knife and add it to the sugar water, letting it steep for 20-30 minutes. This is the syrup which gets the most mileage at my house because it makes a delicious homemade vanilla soda.
Put a couple of tablespoons of syrup into a glass of ice and top up with club soda – a splash of cream is optional, but I must say, a vanilla cream soda is the best!
And if you want to get really crazy, you can make your own grenadine which tastes infinitely better than store-bought, still only takes a few minutes to make and comes a very close second to vanilla in the deliciousness of the soda it makes.
Put two cups of pomegranate juice (I use Pom) and one and a half cups of sugar into a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves and simmer for about five minutes to thicken a little.
From here you can get creative with a splash of rosewater, orange blossom flower water or a couple of tablespoons of pomegranate molasses. I tried out several variations and really loved the addition of two tablespoons of molasses and about 1/4 tsp of rosewater. The molasses really deepens the complexity of flavour and the touch of rosewater gives a hint of floral. The orange blossom water is nice too but definitely more flowery.
I used the Cortas brand of rose and orange water which you can order from Amazon in a two pack for $13. Cortas also makes a pomegranate molasses available on Amazon too, but if you can find any of these products in an Indian market you’ll pay a fraction of the online price.
You can also make honey syrup which is made in exactly the same way, equal parts honey and water. This one plays particularly well with whiskey cocktails.
A word about vanilla beans. Unfortunately right now, vanilla bean prices have gone through the roof due to bad weather and an increased world wide demand (apparently everyone is big on natural vanilla these days as opposed to artificial, imagine!) I have ordered a package of 25 beans from Amazon multiple times, at a usual cost of $25. The same item currently sells for $93. Yep, that was quite a shock when I recently went to re-order. You can currently buy 10 for $25, expensive but still cheaper than buying individually at the store. Just make sure that you buy Grade A if you want to use them for cooking. Grade B beans are extremely dry and better for making homemade vanilla extract and probably OK for syrup too, although I haven’t tried. You can also use vanilla extract for the vanilla syrup. Not quite the same, but still good.
As to how long the syrups keep – well that depends. I find that any syrup that’s infused with something, be it an herb or vanilla bean, will keep 3-4 weeks, maybe a little longer. Generally I keep mine in glass jars and I’ll take a good look at it and if it has something cloudy starting to grow in the middle I toss it out. If it still looks perfectly clear, I use it. Not terribly scientific, I know, but there you have it. A straight up syrup seems to keep a bit longer and a double strength sugar syrup (2 cups sugar to 1 cup water) tends to keep bacteria growth away by virtue of its higher sugar content. It’s also a favorite of bartenders because it adds nice body to cocktails. I’ve had some in my fridge for almost three months now and it appears to be fine. But – use good judgement!
Given that the syrups are quick and easy to make it’s fun to play around with flavors and experiment with using them for sweetening lemonade, making homemade sodas and using them in cocktails. A simple spritzer can be made with 1-1/2 ounces of gin, an ounce of syrup and sparkling water/club soda. Nice and light, goes down a treat!
