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.