Simple syrup
Prep time:
The ingredient that fixes the most cocktails and the easiest one to make. Granulated sugar does not dissolve in a cold liquid: it sits at the bottom of the glass, and that is where half the sweetness you thought you added goes.
Ingredients
- 200 g white sugar
- 200 ml water
Preparation
- Put the water and sugar in a pan over medium heat. The ratio is 1:1 by weight and by volume, so you do not need scales: use the same cup for both.
- Stir until the liquid is clear and you cannot see a single grain. That is it — it must not boil. If it boils, water evaporates, the ratio drifts, and the syrup comes out thicker than the recipe says.
- Take it off the heat and let it cool completely before bottling. Bottled warm, the steam condenses inside, and that extra water is exactly where mould starts.
- Keep it in a clean jar in the fridge. It lasts a good month; if it ever turns cloudy or stringy, throw it out without a second thought.
Bartender’s notes
1:1 or 2:1?
Simple syrup is 1:1 — one part sugar to one part water — and it is what nearly every classic recipe means. Rich syrup is 2:1, with twice the sugar. The practical difference is not sweetness, since they sweeten much the same: it is how much liquid they add. Rich syrup sweetens equally while adding half the water, so the drink does not turn watery — it is part of the difference between a bar Daiquiri and a home one. It also keeps longer: the more sugar, the less room for anything to grow.
Do you need to boil it?
No, and it is better not to. Just heat it until the sugar disappears and the liquid runs clear: over medium heat that is two or three minutes. If it boils, water evaporates and the ratio you measured stops being the one you measured, so the syrup comes out thicker than the recipe says. In fact 1:1 can be made cold, shaken in a jar, though it takes considerably longer to dissolve.
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