Up until about two years ago, if you weren’t a bartender or a pastry chef you probably never heard of simple syrup. Then the mojito became popular, and all of a sudden bottles of simple syrup started showing up in the grocery store. And they cost more than the rum! For half the size!
I’m not about to pay eight bucks for a 10-ounce bottle of sugar water. Yeah, that’s all simple syrup is: sugar and water. (There’s a reason they call it “simple”.) You can make your own way cheaper, but it can be a hassle. Unless you know this little trick.
Ingredients
sugar
Directions
Instead of making the syrup and then trying to get hot syrup into a bottle, just make it right in the bottle to begin with. Using a funnel, fill a glass bottle halfway with sugar. Measure how much you add, and add the same amount of water. For my bottle it was three cups each of sugar and water.
If you’re a high school chemistry teacher, you may have done a demonstration something like this next part. If so, could you explain what’s going on? You can see that the water is sitting on top of the sugar, and comes right up to where the bottle starts to get narrower.
Tip the bottle on its side a little bit and air surrounding the sugar starts bubbling up, letting water down to mix with the sugar.
Once all the air has bubbled up, the level has dropped by a couple of inches. Keep that in mind when you see the finished product. (This doesn’t really have anything to do with the recipe. It’s just something interesting I noticed.)
Put the bottle, with no cap on it, in a pan filled with water, and put it over medium heat. You want the water just barely boiling.
As the sugar dissolves into the water, it loses the cloudiness. You’re done when the syrup is completely clear. Depending on how large a batch you’re doing, this could take an hour or more.
Remember how the water was up to the shoulder of the bottle when I first added it? And then it went down a couple of inches after the trapped air bubbled out? Look where it is now that it’s done. I know water expands when heated but this is wild.
Anyway … put the cap on and let the syrup cool down until the bottle no longer feels hot to the touch. Then put it in the fridge until you need it.
And that’s it.
48 Comments
I make simple syrup when I’m having people over because unlike the majority of people in the South, I do NOT like Sweet Tea. I refuse to make it as well. So to solve the problem of sugar not dissolving in Iced Tea, I make simple syrup. Everyone likes it, because they like their tea at different levels of sweetness (bleh!) and this way they can tailor it to their taste.
It would never occur to me to buy simple syrup–I’ve harangued about it several times over at my place, too. I do so enjoy a good harangue
Interesting observation about the level in the bottle, Drew! I’m not a chemistry person, so I’m not sure what the deal is with that. Simple syrup is maybe not so simple after all…
And what do you use simple syrup for besides sweet tea? I don’t drink tea, because I’m rather have water!
Stephanie, are you allowed to say that? I mean, if you’re still in the South can’t they kick you out for not liking sweetea?
Jenni, I’m disappointed. I was actually hoping you’d be the one to explain that.
Linda, it makes the best lemonade and … a few other things I’ll be posting shortly.
Simple syrup is fantastic for sweeting all kinds of iced drinks. I make quadruple-strength coffee (the trick is to get the water just to the “bubbles on the bottom” stage, pull it off the heat, dump in an enormous amount of coffee, and then strain as soon as it reaches a deep color – no bitter, all the caffeine and flavor) and then refrigerate. It’s poured over ice, cut with milk or half and half, and sweetened with simple syrup.
It’s also good to sweeten iced tea, just like Stephanie said. My aunt-from-Texas says that it’s sweetened tea if the sweetner is added after. To be ‘real’ Sweet Tea, the sugar’s got to be added to the first heat and then leaves added afterwards. But then again she’s an even bigger snob than I am.
Simple Syrup is also what one feeds hummingbirds. It’s also how many candy recipes begin. It’s also the basis of a lot of icings.
It’s also how I geek the heck out in the kitchen. Dump 4 C cane sugar into a pot. Add 2 C H2O. Stir and heat. When clear, add sugar by the spoonful until the supersaturated liquid precipitates out sugar again (this amount differs depending on the humidity in your air and sugar). Then, while stirring, drip water in until the liquid clears. Ta-da! Supersaturated Syrup, a tablespoon of which will sweeten four cups of coffee or a dozen hungry hummingbirds.
I knew it. Sigh. Sorry, Drew. It could be something like the dissolved sugar molecules take up more space than they do in a crystallized form, but I have no idea. I hate to disappoint. Sigh again.
For Linda, let me also to what thpt said that a 1:1 simple syrup makes a good base for lemonade and a good place to start to make sorbet or fruit sauce. You can also make a flavored simple syrup by steeping whatever you want in it. I like citrus zest or mint, especially. Then, you can add sparkling water and make a naturally flavored soda:)
And as a total deterrent to buying simple syrup (and grenadine), it’s all corn syrup based instead of sugar and water. If my drink syrups have more than two ingredients, there might just be a problem!
Simple Syrup – even watered down as much as 4:1 – is great for hummingbirds too. Thanks for your blog.
Can’t make a decent cocktail without simple syrup and fresh citrus juice. I use two parts sugar to one part water as well as a mason jar and 30 second intervals in the microwave. I find it’s faster than the stove method. I also add 1oz vodka as a preservative.
Drew, Considering that despite the fact I was born and raised in San Francisco, I can make chili, pecan pie & gumbo so well that both my father-in-law & husband (born & raised Houstonians) won't make them anymore, they let me pass on the sweet tea thing.
thpt and John, I knew I could go with more sugar than the 1:1 ratio, but the sugar tends to settle out in the fridge if you go much higher than that. And I like to keep mine cold so it doesn’t melt the ice.
r, ecch, grenadine. Yeah, I’ve noticed that. That’s why I’m a fan of the imported fruit syrups. Check out Kuhns Deli and search for “Adriatic”, or go to Adria Imports for Marco Polo brand. The sour cherry is a great replacement for grenadine.
Mark, my wife is the one who feeds the birds. I just feed the creatures that look like me.
Now why didn’t I think of that? I guess for the same reason some casual restaurants just don’t get it when a person has ten single serving sugar packets sprawled all over the table and the iced tea is still not sweet enough!! I always have simple syrup on hand. Just never thought to make use of your simple trick.
Thanks for sharing…
I keep a mason jar of simple syrup in the fridge during “iced tea season” for those who like their tea sweet. This is a much easier way to make it, and I don’t have to wash a pan! Thanks for sharing.
Louise, ten packets? Ooookay.
Amy, I’m all about reducing dishwashing.
now add some yeast and let sit at room temp to make alchohol
The level in the bottle decreases when the sugar and water are thoroughly mixed because there is still air between the grains of sugar near the bottom, and this air is replaced by water when the bottle is tilted.
The level increases when the sugar is thoroughly dissolved is because, as Jenni hypothesized, the sugar molecules are now distributed evenly throughout the solution instead of being concentrated in crystalline form.
As an interesting side note, even when mixing two liquids you can get an end volume less than the sum of the liquids’ two individual volumes. But that’s like, complicated, and I got a C in thermodynamics.
Anon the first, I’ll let Mr. Smirnoff make the alcohol for now.
Anon the second, if I were a high school science teacher, I would do this as a lab experiment, then take all the finished products home and put them in the fridge.
Oh my gosh!! I was in the “Back Burner” Restaurant in Hockessin today and they have all the stuff you don’t find anywhere else… And there it was! “Little” Bottles of Simple Syrup for $10!!!!!
UN_BE_LIEV_A_BLE!!!
Barb, didn’t you almost think it was a typo on the price tag when you saw it? It’s craziness.
dude, it’s way easier to just put sugar and water to a 1:1 ratio or less in a pot and boil it and THEN put it in a bottle it doesn’t take an hour it will take about 20 minutes even for a way larger batch, for what you made it would take 10 mins max, and if you want to cool it just pour it from one pot to another for a few times and you can then put it in a fridge, you will be ready for making cocktails in an hours time from when you started
u can also use simple syrup to make some alcoholic drinks
Mitz, if you’re in a hurry then you’re absolutely right. With this method:
1) It’s nearly impossible to mess it up.
2) You can set it up and walk away to do other things.
3) You don’t have to clean a pot when you’re done.
This isn’t something I do when I need it right away. It’s like canning spaghetti sauce; you do a whole bunch at one time so you have it when you want it.
I’ll be using this recipe for making my bar syrup for drinks. Excellent
FunnyBoneApparel.com
you really don’t even need to cook it; just combine equal parts sugar and water (by volume) and stir steadily or pour from one container to another repeatedly until it dissolves…no muss, no fuss. it’s as stable as you like.
You need to cook it, or you won’t get the same taste. The syrup turns to a light shade of yellow, which is caused by caramelization. This process not yet fully understood, produces many byproducts responsibles in part for the change of taste.
Well how about that. I thought the yellow color I was seeing was just a reflection from something behind it. I didn’t notice it “live”, but saw it in the photos afterwards.
And this is why I like your blog so much, Drew… you are honest; you don’t pretend to know everything!
Are you kidding? Do you have any idea how long it takes to research something I just learned and offer additional detail, making it sound like I knew it all along? I mean, I’ll do it every once in a while, but not every time. Jeez, I’ve got a life here.
isn’t the reason for the lower water level due to simple evaporation from the “barely boiling” temperature for “an hour or more”? just don’t think too hard about it.
No, the level goes down when the air bubbles up out of the dry sugar and lets the water down. What I was noticing was that the level went up after the sugar dissolved.
Wow, I didn’t know people were actually selling simple syrup. That’s quite a scam…
Don't forget that this stuff can be used as a last second glaze for fresh fruit, or on BBQ chicken to make it look nice & shiny.
I’ve got some leftover BBQ chicken that’s looking pretty dry and flat. I’ll have to give that a try.
Simple syrup can be brushed on cakes to keep them moist, too.
Is that for cakes that you're not going to frost? Or just a quick step so it doesn't dry out while you're making the frosting?
I thought the scientific curiosity was about why the water sits on the surface of the sugar when pouring in the bottle. I'm not entirely certain, but it may have to do with surface tension of the water against the somewhat packed sugar crystals. It may be unfavorable energetically for the air to escape from in between the sugar crystals as it would require overcoming the water's surface tension. I may be off, but that's the only thing I can think of off the top of my head. Otherwise, air is (obviously) less dense than water and should rise to the top. Agitation probably disrupts the surface tension because the sugar crystals move around.
As for the volume change, that's textbook chemistry. Crystalline form is the most dense natural state for compounds. Initial mixing means the majority of the sugar is still as dense as possible while surrounded by water. Once the individual sugar molecules are "free" in the solution, they interact with the water molecules maintaining a energetically favorable distance which is greater than the crystalline case. You'll find in life that mixtures often are greater in volume than the sum of their individual parts. I believe there are also cases of the opposite.
Sorry to geek out on you all.
No problem here with the geekery. I think you're exactly right on the surface tension in the first part. As to the increased volume of the solution, it may be textbook chemistry, but I didn't read the whole book.
Come on. Just put sugar in a bottle, add hot water either from the tap. Shake, done. What's so hard? Why even heat the bottle?
Nuggetz, if you can get a cup of sugar to dissolve into a cup of water without heating, congratulations. I haven't managed it.
Drew really, boiling water for an hour or more. That's got to be 8 bucks in energy right there. Just go buy it and save yourself the time. Or… put equal parts sugar and water in a pot, turn on high, and stir gently until all the sugar dissolves (syrup is clear). 3-5 minutes tops. Pretty simple.
Kris, that was probably a poor choice of words. By "just barely boiling" what I meant was that you see bubbles break the surface every couple of seconds. Technically that's more of a simmer.
And eight bucks in energy? According to this energy use calculator it's more like 10 cents. Yes, most things are much cheaper to make at home.
Drew, of course I exaggerated the 8 bucks! My point is, why cook in the bottle when cooking in the pot is a lot quicker/cheaper? I'll emphasize quicker. I understand cooking in water baths gives a nice even temperature without scorching, but the solution is mostly water. You would have to keep it on the heat for a while before you caramelized/burned the sugar (Which may to be bad). If you're right there stirring it, there is no chance of this since you can pull it off the heat as soon as it dissolves. Pointedly, what is the advantage of cooking in the bottle?
Kris, the whole reason is I don't want to pour hot syrup into a funnel. I've spilled it on me before. Ouch.
Great recipe for simple syrup: get a block of cream cheese and a package of wonton wrappers. Get a knife and slice the cheese into 10 slices like you would a loaf of bread. pull out the wonton wrappers, line the edges with water, and wrap each cream cheese slice like you would any package (however it works best for you (fold-over, like an envelope, whatever). cover with a damp paper towel to prevent drying, and heat a skillet with at least a quarter inch of peanut or other high smoke point oil. Make lots of these, because they will GO. When the oil is hot (enough for anything you'd deep fry or pan fry) drop them in carefully and fry until golden. drain and pour a small bowl or cup of simple syrup. Dip the fried yummies into the syrup like you would fries into ketchup or any other dip-thing into a condiment, and EAT, baby! These are so good, you won't be able to NOT make them!
Wordgirl, that's about the fifth recipe I've got now that I'm going to need wonton wrappers for. I guess it's time to go get some.
Love this thread I have a sodastream carbonator and I live far from the one retailer that carries the syrup and S/H charges from the factory are too high. I am thinking simple syrup and a few well placed extractswould definately dothe trick. BTW Drew love your honesty and with a few ppl your patience with responses. Thanks for the recipe!
Nobody mentioned this yet, but those fancy syrups you get in your latte’s at Starbucks are just simple syrup and flavoring.
Mike, that’s not really surprising. But just for curiosity’s sake, how do you know? Did you work there and check out the ingredients?
One Trackback
[...] more sweetness? Add a bit of sugar. If you are concerned about it dissolving, whip up some simple syrup to keep in the fridge. Of course if you decide to add artificial sweetener it will dissolve just [...]