Making Simple Syrup

You can also make sugar syrup entirely without heat. Put sugar and water in a clean jar with a lid and shake vigorously for two minutes. Let the jar sit for fifteen minutes, then shake it again. With a one-to-one ratio, all the sugar will dissolve on its own. Cold-made syrup tastes just a little cleaner, and you don't have to wait for the pan to cool. Heat is more useful for rich syrup, though, because that much sugar dissolves slowly in cold water.

A clean, tightly sealed bottle of one-to-one syrup keeps in the fridge for about a month. Rich syrup lasts longer because the extra sugar acts as a preservative. Rinse the bottle with boiling water first and let it dry. If you like, add a bar spoonful of vodka per half liter; you won't taste it, and it will give you a few extra weeks. If you see flakes or threads, or the syrup turns cloudy, throw it away. Reboiling won't help.

In English recipes, it's called simple syrup, often followed by 1:1. Americans measure in cups instead of grams, which makes their syrup a little sweeter, but you won't notice much difference at home. Choose one method and stick with it, so your recipes stay consistent. If a recipe calls for rich syrup or gomme, it means the thicker version, which you need less of. Dutch recipes often just say syrup. They mean one-to-one.

Usually between half a centiliter and two centiliters. A sour with 2 cl of lemon juice calls for 2 cl of syrup, while a cocktail with a sweet liqueur only needs a bar spoonful. A Mojito takes about 1.5 cl, and an Old Fashioned half a centiliter. Syrup is viscous and pours slowly, so if you free-pour, you almost always add too much. Better to start with a little less and taste. You can always add more. Find measuring cups in two sizes among the jiggers.

A sour consists of two parts spirits, one part citrus, and one part syrup. That alone makes it worth keeping syrup at home. Take the Whiskey Sour, for example. Without syrup, 2 cl of lemon juice is almost undrinkable. With syrup, just enough tartness remains to keep the bourbon sharp. Match the syrup to your citrus fruit. Lime is more acidic than lemon, and a ripe lemon can easily make a difference of half a centiliter.

White granulated sugar gives you the most neutral syrup and won't change your cocktail's color. Cane sugar or demerara tastes like caramel and makes the syrup light brown. It's great with rum and whiskey, less so with gin or vodka. Powdered sugar dissolves faster, but it's full of starch, which makes your syrup cloudy. So white sugar is almost always a good choice. Save brown sugar for cocktails that suit its flavor.