Even though I have a whole category dedicated to Food and Drink, I haven’t posted a recipe for Simple Syrup (It’s included in a lot of cocktail recipes so I’m a bit chagrined to have overlooked this.).
Simple Syrup isn’t just for drinks. It’s used in all sorts of recipes and comes in handy for sweetening cold drinks. Substitute granulated sugar with simple syrup. 1 tsp granulated sugar = ~1 1/2 tsp simple syrup.
You can get as creative as you want when it comes to flavoring. Add mint when you’re heating the mixture, strain it as you pour the solution into your container and toss in a few leaves to live in the syrup.
Toss in a cup or two of raspberries while the sugar and water are heating for a berry infusion. Use orange and lemon zest and toss in a couple of curls to hang out in the syrup. You’re literally only limited by your imagination and what sorts of things you can find to add to the solution.
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup water
- Optional: 1 TB vodka
- If you're feeling adventurous: mint, rosemary, berries (fresh or frozen), cinnamon...you get the idea.
- Dump your sugar and water into a pan, put it on the heat, bring it to a boil, stir until the sugar is dissolved and then let the solution cool. Add in your vodka. Pour in a bottle and you're done.
- Dump your sugar, water and vodka into a container of some sort (A mason jar is a good choice.) and shake the hell out of it until the sugar dissolves.
- The vodka helps preserve the simple syrup (Yes, it will go bad eventually.). However, a 2:1 ratio by itself will stay alive for ~6 months. Vodka mix lasts longer. Of course, this is assuming you don't use the stuff at all. I highly doubt you're going to have the syrup sitting around for six months.
