Making Your Own Simple Syrup
White sugar doesn???t contain calcium, phosphorous, iron or potassium. These nutrients are removed from table sugar during bleaching, a process that gives sugar the texture and color of dry snow. White sugar is monochromatic in flavor. It provides one sensation: Sweet. I use processed sugar when baking because its sweetness integrates with other ingredients. But, for making simple syrup, I look for a sweetener of a different color to provide rich layers of sugared flavor. For homemade simple syrup, my elixirs are demerara-sugar based.
Demerara sugar, an import from South America, is a must for creating flavorful simple syrups. Simple syrup is my summertime staple for sweetening bubble tea, iced coffee and teas. When it???s hot and sticky outside, I keep a bottle of lychee simple syrup in the refrigerator door. Not only is it the perfect sweetener for chilled bubble teas and iced beverages, lychee simple syrup is sublime in martinis and mint juleps.
Lychee simple syrup
You will need:
1 large can of lychee (Available at Asian groceries)
1 to 2 cups of demerara sugar (Available at Whole Foods or other specialty markets)
1. Drain the syrup from the can of lychee into a measuring cup. (One can of lychee yields between 1 ?? to 2 c. of syrup.) Reserve the lychee fruit for later. *
2. Pour the syrup into a medium sauce pan and add one cup of demerara sugar for each cup of syrup.
3. Stirring constantly, simmer over medium-low heat until all the demerara sugar dissolves into the syrup. The lychee syrup should become more viscous and turn a lovely shade of taupe when done.
4. Allow the mixture to cool and pour into a glass or plastic container that you can keep in the door of your refrigerator.
??? There are a zillion uses for lychee; including pureeing the fruit for flavoring bubble teas and macerating the fruit in vodka to add to martinis.
