Simple or not? Well, hope­ful­ly after read­ing this you can say that’s sim­ple. Sim­ple syrup is basi­cal­ly just two ingre­di­ents, sug­ar and water. Start with a basic 1:1 ratio. That’s 1 cup of water to every cup of sug­ar. If you’re mak­ing a tra­di­tion­al sim­ple syrup all you’ll need is water hot enough to dis­solve your sug­ar. That’s it. You don’t have to cook it. It’s just a basic sug­ar water.

Let’s talk about the sug­ar. There’s a bunch of sug­ars you could use.

• White
• Brown
• Demer­ara
• Turbina­do
• Maple syrup
• Molasses
• Sug­ar sub­sti­tutes like: ste­via, splenda.

Ok grant­ed I just com­pli­cat­ed things a bit, but bare with me here. Real­ly, you can make this as sim­ple or com­pli­cat­ed as you want. With that said, demer­ara is your pre­mi­um and most expen­sive sug­ar. Check.

Late­ly, I’ve been using Sug­ar in the Raw which is a turbina­do sug­ar and is sim­i­lar to demer­ara. You’ve prob­a­bly seen them at your local cof­fee shop. It’s that brown sug­ar pack­et. If you are look­ing for a rich­er syrup this is the way to go. This sug­ar is made from real sug­ar cane, not sucrose like white sugar.

White sug­ar can be impor­tant if you’re look­ing for a clear syrup to add to your cock­tail. Demer­ara and turbina­do are going to give a brown hue to your sim­ple syrup and ulti­mate­ly to your cock­tail’s col­or profile.

Brown sug­ar, maple syrup and molasses are the heav­i­est and most promi­nent. This is going to give you a thick, dense sim­ple syrup that will stand out in your cocktail.

So back to mak­ing your sim­ple syrup. The ratio of water to sug­ar is real­ly up to you and how sweet you like your drinks or how thick you want your syrup. 1:1 ratio is safe, but taste it and exper­i­ment to your lik­ing. I like to adjust my sim­ple syrups to what kind of cock­tail I’m mak­ing. With basic sim­ple syrups, I usu­al­ly go with a 2:1 water to sug­ar ratio. This is on the weak­er side. How­ev­er, I don’t like my drinks too sweet. But if you are going for a rich­er syrup and cook­ing oth­er ingre­di­ents in the syrup, I go with a 1:1. If you’re mak­ing sim­ple syrup for a grena­dine you might want to go with a 1:2 water to sug­ar ratio. But remem­ber the longer you cook your sim­ple syrup the thick­er and sweet­er it gets. The ratio you decide on also effects your vol­ume and den­si­ty of your cock­tail recipe. So keep this in mind as well.

You can also add herbs and spices to your sim­ple syrups, the com­bi­na­tions are end­less. Here are some.

• Rose­mary
• Basil
• Sage
• Laven­dar
• Mint
• Lemon Ver­be­na
• Cin­na­mon
• Nut­meg
• All­spice
• Apple
• Rasp­ber­ry
• Gin­ger
• Lemon­grass

You can order nice organ­ic herbs and spices here on the web at Moun­tain Rose Herbs.

When cook­ing I usu­al­ly sim­mer my syrups for 30–45 min­utes to extract the fla­vors. When using fresh herbs like basil or rose­mary, cook until the herbs start to turn brown and remove the herbs right away. Then taste your syrup after that point and adjust to see if you need to cook more herbs to inten­si­fy your fla­vor. Don’t be afraid to exper­i­ment and make to your taste. If you are using the syrups for cock­tails I would rec­om­mend putting a shot of vod­ka in the final prod­uct to extend the shelf life. Sim­ple syrups should keep for about three weeks. Always make sure the glass bot­tles you are using are ster­il­ized. To do this boil water and fill the bot­tles up with the boil­ing water and allow to sit for about 20 minutes.

Here are some of the syrups I’ve been using for fall.

FALL SIMPLE SYRUP RECIPE

• 2 cups of water
• 2 cups of turbina­do sugar
• 2 nut­megs
• 1/4 cup of cloves
• 2 cin­na­mon sticks
• 1/4 cup all­spice berries
• tsp whole black peppercorns
• tsp vanil­la extract
• 2 twists of orange peel

Com­bine all ingre­di­ents except vanil­la extract in a saucepan. Sim­mer for approx­i­mate­ly 30 min­utes. Strain threw a sieve and cheese­cloth and fun­nel into a glass bot­tle. Allow to cool and add vanil­la extract and a shot of vod­ka. Keep in the refrig­er­a­tor for approx­i­mate­ly 3 weeks.

Apple Simple Syrup Recipe:

• 2 cups of water
• 2 cups of turbina­do sugar
• 5–6 red apple peels

Sim­mer for approx­i­mate­ly 30–45 min­utes. Strain through a sieve and cheese­cloth and fun­nel into a glass bot­tle. Add a shot of vod­ka and refrig­er­ate for approx­i­mate­ly 3 weeks.

Cinnamon Simple Syrup Recipe:

• 2 cups of water
• 2 cups of white sugar
• 5 cin­na­mon sticks

Sim­mer for approx­i­mate­ly 30–45 min­utes. Strain threw a sieve and cheese­cloth and fun­nel into a glass bot­tle. Add a shot of vod­ka and refrig­er­ate for approx­i­mate­ly 3 weeks.