It's been a pretty cold and gloomy summer in Fairbanks until recently. It's only when the weather gets really warm and the mosquitos start to die down that I enjoy sitting out on my deck with a cocktail. Last summer I went through several batches of
rhubarb simple syrup and the drink of choice was the
rhubarb mojito. With only about a cup or so of berries and a vacation just around the corner, I decided to make a couple quick batches of berry simple syrup for future cocktails. You can swap out your berry simple syrups for any regular simple syrup in a cocktail recipe. Just imagine the next time a friend comes over you can offer them their favorite cocktail in blueberry, cloudberry, or rhubarb! You can also add an ounce or so of simple syrup to plain soda water for a delicious wild berry soda. Pretty much any kind of berries will work in this recipe. I'm looking forward to trying a raspberry version soon. If you only have a small bit of several different berries you could also try a mixed berry version that I bet would be quite delicious. Later this week I will also share my favorite blueberry margarita recipe of this summer.
Berry Simple Syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup berries of your choice
Combine sugar and water, bring to a boil. Remove from head and add berries. Let sit for about 30 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh strainer pushing down on the berries to extract as much juice as possible. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Good morning...your post was an excellent one -- my son and I were out picking rosehips last night to make a rosehip syrup. Well, I found bags and bags and BAGS of high and lowbush cranberry from last year at the bottom of my freezer and am wondering if it would be a smart thing to mix the rosehips and cranberries together to make syrup. If not, then maybe I'll make rosehip wine. I have so many cranberries that I can't justify picking any this year! What do you think?
ReplyDeleteMichelle,
DeleteOh, we have all been there! I think this really depends on your taste preference and I can't say I have personally tried the combo, but rosehips are very similar in apple (at least to me). I love the combination of cranberry and apple, so I would say make a small batch first and see how you like it.
If you are looking for a way to use up the cranberry I would recommend juicing them. It's a great way to use up a lot of them quickly. The nice thing is if you juice them without adding anything you can then later use the juice to flavor baked goods or color frosting for cookies and cakes.
One the other hand...Rose Hip Wine sounds lovely. I don't think you can really go wrong with whatever decision you make.
Good luck.
-Nicole
I will let you know how my "experiments" turn out! :) Thanks for your suggestions.
DeleteLove your bottles!
ReplyDeletehttp://therealfoodrunner.blogspot.com/
Look at all those cute bottles and syrups! Yum!
ReplyDeleteHi Nicole, a quick question. How long do your simple syrups usually keep?
ReplyDeletep.s. I love following your blog!
I have never had it sitting around for much longer than a couple of weeks in the fridge. It is sugar water, so technically it should last for months in the fridge. The only thing I would worry about is the flavor not being quite so strong after a while. I would say a month to be safe.
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