Simple Syrups

For those who don’t do gifts until next week, it is not too late to put a homemade gift under the tree.
Simple syrups for flavoring coffee or pouring over ice cream are so very quick and simple to make, especially if you make smaller batches.

To make a  vanilla simple syrup:

Mix a 2 cups of filtered water with  2 cups  of organic sugar (or honey),  one eighth of a teaspoon of sea salt and a seeded vanilla bean.   Bring it to a boil and allow it to boil for seven to ten  minutes.  You can also add additional flavor by adding 2 tablespoons of some sort of extract, after it has boiled.

If you want to experiment with other flavors, without using the extracts, you can start with some very strongly brewed coffee in place of the water.   Or you can add 1/4 cup coarsely ground cacao nibs to the water and then strain the syrup before you bottle it.

For those of you out there who  have herbs on hand,  you can start by making an infusion and use that in place of the water.     There is  is really no limit to what you can do.   Rose-vanilla syrup is lovely to have on hand.   Chocolate-mint is also popular.   Calendula-orange is  popular around here to put in tea.

In the space of a half an hour you can make up a few varieties, bottle them up and give out sampler packs to your friends and family.

You can also use these syrups in place of corn syrup in your family holiday recipes.   Coffee caramels, anyone? Tomorrow, I will share a couple of homemade liqueur recipes that can be made quite quickly by starting with a simple syrup base.

Here is  free apothecary label download that you can use to make gift tags and bottle labels.