Happy Dry January to those who celebrate! Every day this month, I’ll be posting a new tip or technique for satisfying your craving for a fancy celebratory beverage without any alcohol involved. I’m kicking things off with a basic simple syrup, which just might be the easiest and most cost-effective way to take any ordinary beverage and turn it into something special.
Let’s start with the basics. The classic recipe for simple syrup that a bartender might have on hand, for example, is equal parts sugar and water (by volume), brought just to a simmer to dissolve the sugar, then cooled and stored in the fridge. And this is a good thing to have on hand for sweetening cold drinks or making lemonade, or any other situation that makes it tricky to dissolve granulated sugar.
But what if we tweaked it a bit?
For starters, you could play with the ratio of sugar to water. Equal amounts will give you a thin, lightly sweet syrup perfect for adding a touch of sweetness to something that already has plenty of flavor, like iced tea.
Using less water, like half or a quarter of the amount of water to sugar, will give you a thicker syrup. This would be useful in situations where you would want a more concentrated sweetness, like adding it to sparkling water to make a homemade soda.
What if we changed up the sweetener?
You could swap out basic white sugar for any other granulated sweetener to change up the flavor. Brown, dark brown, or raw sugar would add some notes of molasses. Try coconut sugar, sucanat, date palm sugar, which all have their own combination of sweet, smoky, slightly bitter flavors.
Non-calorie sweeteners, like monk fruit, stevia, allulose, or even artificial sweeteners will work, too. However, they will not have the same texture that a sugar-based syrup will. Since you’re presumably going to add them to other liquids, this probably isn’t a big deal, but you could always add a touch of xanthan gum to give it a little substance.
I have very limited experience with xanthan gum, but I do know that a little of that stuff goes a long way, like 1/8th of a teaspoon or less per cup of liquid. And you’ll want to blend it in a blender because it will absolutely clump up on you. I would mix it into my dry sweetener first, then stir in the water and heat it just to dissolve, then transfer it to a blender or try using an immersion blender.
Liquid sweeteners like honey, molasses, or maple syrup are already basically syrups, but dissolving them in water would thin them out, if that’s something you’d be into.
How about some flavor?
But once you have a liquid sweetener, this is where you can really start getting creative. Once your sugar is dissolved, you could add herbs, spices, or fruit, cover, and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes or so. Here are some suggestions:
- A cinnamon stick or two
- A star anise pod for a cinnamony-licorice sort of situation
- A spoonful of dried lavender or chamomile (an herbal teabag or two would work)
- A handful of fresh mint
- Slices of fresh ginger
- A couple of strips of lemon or orange peel
- A vanilla bean
- A cup of frozen fruit (and as a bonus, keep the fruit for a tasty treat!)
- Get really crazy and throw in a dried chile or a spoonful of coarsely ground coffee
You’ll probably want to strain out the solids after the syrup cools. Then just store in a mason jar or a squeeze bottle in the refrigerator.
So now what?
Add it to hot or iced tea or coffee. Or just stir it into hot water for a quick warm treat on a cold day.
Mix it with a little fruit juice and top with sparkling water or club soda. Think mint syrup plus lime juice, ginger syrup plus lemon juice, or vanilla syrup plus orange juice. Seriously, the possibilities are endless.
Enjoy!
