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simple syrup
Adding sweetness and flavor to drinks couldn’t be “simpler” when you use these syrups!
Prepare Ingredients
Gather Cooking Equipment
In jar, combine sugar, water, and flavor ingredient, if using. Cover jar with lid to seal. Shake jar vigorously until sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes.
Food For Thought
Try It This Way: Flavored Syrups
You can infuse plain simple syrup with lots of different flavors! Letting herbs, spices, or fruits sit in the liquid allows some of their flavors to travel into the simple syrup—just like when you steep a tea bag in water. Try some of the flavor ideas below, or come up with your own!
Lemon
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Lime
1 teaspoon grated lime zest plus 1 tablespoon lime juice
Raspberry
1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen-and-thawed)
Strawberry
1 cup quartered strawberries
Pineapple
½ cup pineapple chunks (fresh or frozen-and-thawed)
Watermelon
1 cup watermelon chunks
Mint
1 cup mint leaves
Ginger
½ cup chopped fresh ginger (no need to peel ginger!)
So Simple
To sweeten a cold drink, you could add a spoonful of sugar—but it won’t dissolve all the way, leaving a pile of sugar grains at the bottom of your glass. The solution? Simple syrup. In simple syrup, the sugar is dissolved in water, so it easily mixes into any drink. It’s called “simple” because the formula is so easy to remember: equal parts water and sugar. You could boil the water and sugar on the stovetop to make simple syrup, but our method is even simpler (and more fun): Give it a good shake!
Vigorously shaking the sugar and water distributes the tiny particles of sugar in the water, which helps them dissolve. It also (slightly) increases the temperature of the mixture, and the warmer the liquid, the more easily the sugar dissolves. Time to shake things up!
