257 replies to this topic

[Dan Perrigan]

Howdy. What are people using to filter their syrups (cinnamon, blackberry-habanero, etc.)? I've been using unbleached coffee filters, but they're too "filtery" -- very little gets through so it takes hours to filter a few ounces.

Is there a good cross between that and a strainer?

Thanks,
Dan

[EatNopales]

Unbleached, Undyed, ultra thing Cotton dish towels

[Kent Wang]

Common metal fine mesh strainer. It works just fine for the syrups I'm making.

[Paulo Freitas]

Is there a good cross between that and a strainer?

Cheese or Muslin Cloth?

[Dan Perrigan]

Unbleached, Undyed, ultra thing Cotton dish towels

Common metal fine mesh strainer. It works just fine for the syrups I'm making.

Cheese or Muslin Cloth?

Thanks, all. I ended up giving up last night and poured the final 2/3 through a fine mesh strainer (twice) and it worked great. I'll try the cheesecloth and cotton too next time.

Dan

[mkayahara]

For kicks, I was looking at making my first batch of true gum syrup/gomme syrup today. The recipe in Imbibe! calls for one third as much gum arabic as sugar (1 lb. of gum arabic to 3 lbs. of sugar), which seems like a lot of gum arabic. Is that what others are actually doing? I don't need such a big batch, so I can work with the amount of gum arabic I have, but I don't want to burn through my supply needlessly.

[Tri2Cook]

There's a recipe I posted in one of these threads discussing gomme for a smaller batch size that has worked well for me and I seem to remember a couple others saying it worked well for them too. Unfortunately, I don't remember which thread it was in and my laptop is suffering technical difficulties (power supply/charger kicked the bucket) so, until I order a new one, I can't access any of my recipes and stuff that I have on there.

Just for fun, I'm planning on giving the "modern gomme syrup" from the willpowder site a try next time I make some. It uses LBG (in a much smaller amount) in place of arabic. Parting from tradition with food has never bothered me so I figure why not carry the same attitude with me while I delve into the world of drink.

[mkayahara]

Thanks Tri2Cook. I'll poke around and see if I can find it. I actually have substantially more gum arabic than LBG, so that's probably still the way to go... for now, at least.

[mkayahara]

So... that didn't go so well. I ended up going with the recipe in Imbibe!, but scaled down significantly. (Tri2Cook, I assume the recipe you were talking about was this one?) The gum solution was lumpy, and it took me a while to work out most of the lumps, and I think I evaporated too much water in that time. The resulting syrup was barely fluid while still warm, and is rock-solid at fridge temperature. Obviously I'm going to try to salvage it by reheating and adding more water, but of course I have no way of knowing how much I need to add. Kind of frustrated that I burned through half of my supply of gum arabic on a failed project.

[Ian McCarthy]

If you know how much sugar you added by weight, and how much gum you added by weight, subtract them both from the weight of your current batch, and that is how much water you have. Top it up from there.

Your Syrup should still be fluid at fridge-temp. Be sure to take time scumming off the gunk that floats to the top when you are simmering. This will give you a clear, consistent product without lumps. If everything was not flowing well, you likely did not have enough water. Figure out how much you burned off, add it to your batch, re-heat, and skim it mercilessly. If it is still isn't treating you right, your gum might have some impurities.

[Tri2Cook]

That's the one Matt. I've used it many times since digging it out of my files and posting it here with no troubles. Sorry to hear things didn't go well with the recipe you used.

I have a pre-hydrated spray dried gum arabic I've been using lately that is much easier to disperse in liquid and hydrate than the other stuff. I don't really make gomme syrups very often but it's nice when I decide to.

Edited by Tri2Cook, 13 June 2011 - 02:24 PM.

[eje]

I thought the version of Raspberry Syrup I made for the Albemarle Fizz turned out rather well. Taking some cues from the discussion over in the Shrub topic.

Raspberry Syrup
1/2 cup Water
1 Cup Washed Raw Sugar
1 Cup Frozen Raspberries
1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar

Combine water and sugar in a saucepan over low heat. When sugar is dissolved, add raspberries and Balsamic Vinegar. Strain through chinois or cheesecloth, mashing to get as much of the liquid as possible. Cool and refrigerate. Makes about 12 ounces.

Obviously, you're not going to want to use a ridiculously expensive Balsamic for this, instead something young and fruity.

[Kent Wang]

I bought some gula melaka—palm sugar from Malacca—while I was in Malaysia. Syrups with that are absolutely amazing, very rich with a bitter, smokey finish like chocolate or coffee.

Great for an Old Fashioned, but also excellent with rhum agricole. I tried some with Damoiseau blanc, and the spiciness of the rum pairs very well the gula—an interesting combination of East and West Indies.

I wonder if palm sugars from other places like India are much different.

[Hassouni]

OK, what gives, I thought a 2:1 syrup was essentially immune to mold? My 2:1 piloncillo syrup has barely been sitting around a week in a sterilized container, and the surface is COVERED in mold!

[thirtyoneknots]

OK, what gives, I thought a 2:1 syrup was essentially immune to mold? My 2:1 piloncillo syrup has barely been sitting around a week in a sterilized container, and the surface is COVERED in mold!

How did you measure? By volume? Piloncillo has a pretty significantly different density than granulated sugar in all forms. 2:1 is pretty reliably shelf-stable when done by weight, and doing volume measures with common types of sugar is pretty dang close to being identical to weight measures.

[Hassouni]

Yeah I did by volume, but the sugar was pretty tightly packed.

[FrogPrincesse]

OK, what gives, I thought a 2:1 syrup was essentially immune to mold? My 2:1 piloncillo syrup has barely been sitting around a week in a sterilized container, and the surface is COVERED in mold!

How well did the piloncillo dissolve? Maybe there were some impurities floating at the surface that ended up growing mold?

[mkayahara]

In a Wondrich recipe in Beta Cocktails, piloncillo (or maybe it's gula jawa?) sugar syrup is an ingredient, and there's a note saying that it must be refrigerated, as it will ferment on you. I imagine that these unrefined sugars are a lot less microbiologically stable than white sugar is.

[thirtyoneknots]

In a Wondrich recipe in Beta Cocktails, piloncillo (or maybe it's gula jawa?) sugar syrup is an ingredient, and there's a note saying that it must be refrigerated, as it will ferment on you. I imagine that these unrefined sugars are a lot less microbiologically stable than white sugar is.

Good call, I had totally forgotten about that tidbit.

[Hassouni]

OK, what gives, I thought a 2:1 syrup was essentially immune to mold? My 2:1 piloncillo syrup has barely been sitting around a week in a sterilized container, and the surface is COVERED in mold!

How well did the piloncillo dissolve? Maybe there were some impurities floating at the surface that ended up growing mold?

It was completely dissolved, from what I could tell.

In a Wondrich recipe in Beta Cocktails, piloncillo (or maybe it's gula jawa?) sugar syrup is an ingredient, and there's a note saying that it must be refrigerated, as it will ferment on you. I imagine that these unrefined sugars are a lot less microbiologically stable than white sugar is.

Ah, crap. Hah.

I should note that all my other syrups a) go straight in the fridge and b) get a shot of vodka, and I've had zero problems with them, and they've been in their for months and months and months. I figured 2:1 was invincible....

Edited by Hassouni, 01 June 2012 - 09:47 AM.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Ok, here's a question. Obviously Apricot syrup belongs in sidecars, and I can find any number of uses for cherry, passionfruit, and citrus. I currently am working on a batch of lemon that came out tasting like the best lemon curd ever; I'll be quite sad when the bottles are empty.

However! I have recently ended up with quite a large supply of both Mirabel-vanilla (black plum), Peach with Cinnamon, and Mango syrups (they're byproducts of jam, fruit in spiced syrup of their own juices, and chutney, respectively). Does anybody have any good recipes that might work with these? Or should they be relegated to the soda fountain? The Mirabel is sweet but still has quite a nice tang to it; the vanilla comes in as an aftertaste - it's in there to round off the edges of the plum. The Mango is very sweet with a mild pine finish (I started with Reina mangoes, which are very sweet even on their own.) Peach with Cinnamon is exactly as advertised.

[slkinsey]

Apricot syrup belongs in Sidecars?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I think it does, and so do many of my mixologist acquaintances. Not very much of it, mind - about 1/2 to 1/4 part.

[Dan Perrigan]

Apricot syrup belongs in Sidecars?

I just asked my computer screen the exact same thing

[Panaderia Canadiense]

To each their own. For me, since I generally use an Apricot brandy in my Sidecars, a little hit of Apricot syrup serves to round off the aggressive orange-ness of the drink (particularly since Cointreau is more than $200 a bottle here, so I'm generally using triple sec in its place). It's how I learned to mix them, and I don't care that it's not strictly traditional. It's better.

I'll generally only indulge in a Sidecar if I know I'll be drinking Champagne or similar spumante wines later in the evening, I find that the extra hint of apricot will help my tastebuds ignore the fact that what I'm drinking is most likely a bit rotten (I have yet to have a good glass of Champagne in Ecuador - most of it is at the very least bruised if not outright bad.)

And none of this addresses my question, which was what to do with Mango, Spiced Peach, and Plum-Vanilla syrups, cocktail-wise.

[Tri2Cook]

And none of this addresses my question, which was what to do with Mango, Spiced Peach, and Plum-Vanilla syrups, cocktail-wise.

Maybe not but when you make the statement "Obviously Apricot syrup belongs in sidecars" it's not surprising if someone points out that apricot syrup does not in fact "belong" in a Sidecar. That's not saying that it's not tasty or that you shouldn't put it in yours if you prefer it that way... but then the argument may arise that it's no longer a Sidecar.

Anyway, in my non-expert opinion, the mango syrup could probably find a home in tiki-land stepping in for mango nectar with a little tweaking to compensate the extra sweetness and spiced peach sounds like a nice fit in something bourbon based. I have no idea about the plum-vanilla other than it sounds tasty.

[Mjx]

. . . .

And none of this addresses my question, which was what to do with Mango, Spiced Peach, and Plum-Vanilla syrups, cocktail-wise.

Keeping in mind I'm about as far from having any sort of cocktail knowledge as is possible without growing up in some sort of stringent anti-alcohol community, would a riff on a daiquiri be an option? I had (please, please don't laugh) what was described as a rhubarb daiquiri the other night, and it was quite good (although my boyfriend and his friend exchanged amused looks). The syrup in it was vanilla, but I could definitely see doing something similar using a fruit syrup.

[Yojimbo]

. . . .

And none of this addresses my question, which was what to do with Mango, Spiced Peach, and Plum-Vanilla syrups, cocktail-wise.

Plum/vanilla sounds like it might be an excellent match with gin, particularly with something sour or bitter (citrus, vermouth/amaro) to balance out the sweetness of the fruit.

Keeping in mind I'm about as far from having any sort of cocktail knowledge as is possible without growing up in some sort of stringent anti-alcohol community, would a riff on a daiquiri be an option? I had (please, please don't laugh) what was described as a rhubarb daiquiri the other night, and it was quite good (although my boyfriend and his friend exchanged amused looks). The syrup in it was vanilla, but I could definitely see doing something similar using a fruit syrup.

It's kinda hard to go seriously wrong by adding rum and lime to almost any fruit juice or puree, but that begs the question (as folks raised above with regard to sidecars) of whether the result is any more a "true" daiquiri than those abominable flavored vodka creations that are called "martinis."

If it tastes good to you, it IS good, so don't let orthodoxy get in the way of having fun with mixing drinks!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Oh, I never do, Yojimbo! I'll definitely be trying some rum-based fruity concoctions (if you want to get down to brass tacks, it's not even technically a Daiquiri if you're using anything other than Bacardi White - which means that anything I'm going to be making with be a "bastard" version since BW is over $80 a bottle here, so I tend to use Aguardiente Reposado....)

Here's a question for those of you who mix Caipirinhas - do you think that a shot of fruit simple in place of the sugar would be advisable, if I were to want to create a fruitier version of the cocktail? I've got access to some truly excellent cachaça pura and I'm kind of itching to try this to celebrate the Fiesta de Frutas y Flores, which is currently going on in my city.... Brass tacks, though, I don't want to waste a single drop of the pura, so if this doesn't sound completely awful to y'all I'll whip one up and let you know the results.

[Tri2Cook]

If it tastes good to you, it IS good, so don't let orthodoxy get in the way of having fun with mixing drinks!

I actually agree with this. If I like a drink, I really don't care what the guy down the bar looking down his nose at it thinks. But I also don't mind if I'm mistaken about something and someone steers me the right way. In fact, I prefer they do. I'd rather know what is correct even if I choose to vary from it for my own purposes. There's never shame in gaining knowledge.