Rich Simple Syrup by Weight, and the Daiquiri That Tests It
Rich simple syrup is two parts sugar to one part water, weighed rather than measured in cups, and it is the syrup to learn first because flavored syrups and cordials are built on it. Ginger, rose, passion fruit and a lime cordial all start as this: sugar fully dissolved in the least water that will hold it, with flavor added. Get the base wrong and every drink it goes into is off in a way that is hard to name.
The ratio comes from chemistry. Two to one sits right at the limit of what water can carry: The Merck Index gives sucrose as "1 g dissolves in 0.5 ml water," and the international chemical safety card for sucrose puts its solubility at 200 g per 100 ml at 25 °C. A 2:1 syrup is therefore close to saturated at room temperature, and that one fact sets the method. It needs gentle heat to dissolve in reasonable time. It must not boil, because water lost pushes it further past the limit, and a syrup past the limit is prone to throwing crystals as it cools. In Denver, where water evaporates faster, the pan goes back on the scale before the syrup goes in the bottle.
Ingredients
Rich simple syrup (about 600 g, roughly 20 drinks)
- 400 g granulated cane sugar
- 200 g water, plus a little hot water for the weigh-back
The daiquiri, for one
- 60 ml (2 oz) white rum
- 30 ml (1 oz) fresh lime juice, squeezed within the hour
- 20 ml (3/4 oz) rich simple syrup
Method
- Weigh, do not measure. Set a small saucepan on a kitchen scale, note its empty weight, and tare it to zero. Add 400 g sugar, then water until the scale reads 600 g. Cups vary with how the sugar is scooped and settled; grams do not.
- Warm it, gently. Set the pan over medium-low heat and stir. The syrup will go from cloudy and gritty to clear. Keep it below a simmer, with no bubbles breaking at the surface. The goal is dissolved sugar, not reduced syrup. When there is not a single crystal on the spoon or the pan floor, it is done.
- The weigh-back. Off the heat, weigh the pan again and subtract the empty weight noted in step 1. The syrup should come to 600 g. If it comes to less, water has evaporated; stir in hot water a spoonful at a time until it reads 600 g again. This one step is what keeps the ratio true at any elevation.
- Cool and bottle. Let the syrup cool in the pan, then funnel it into a clean glass bottle, cap it and refrigerate. It should be glass-clear. Haze or crystals point to one of the problems in the table below.
- Test it in a daiquiri. Put the rum, lime juice and 20 ml of syrup into a shaker, fill with ice, and shake hard for about ten seconds. Double-strain into a chilled coupe or Nick & Nora glass. Taste. The drink should be bright and cold, neither sour nor syrupy. If it tips one way, adjust the syrup by 5 ml at a time and write down the number that suits your lime and your rum.
Why the daiquiri is the test
A daiquiri is three ingredients and no garnish that matters, so the syrup has nowhere to hide. Too thin a syrup makes a drink that tastes sharp and watery. A syrup that crystallized in the fridge had more sugar in it than the cold water could hold, and once the sugar dropped out it was weaker, so the same pour gives a different drink from one week to the next. Pass the daiquiri and the syrup can be trusted in an Old Fashioned, a sour, a lemonade or a glass of iced tea.
Why it went wrong
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Crystals on the bottom of the bottle | More sugar than the cold syrup could hold, from water boiled off or an undissolved grain that started crystals | Warm it gently until every crystal dissolves, then weigh back to 600 g net |
| Gritty, cloudy syrup | The sugar never fully dissolved | Back on low heat, stirring, until no crystal shows on the spoon |
| Daiquiri tastes sour and thin | Syrup made by volume, or a 1:1 syrup poured at the 2:1 measure | Weigh the next batch; with 1:1 syrup, pour about 30 ml instead of 20 |
| Daiquiri tastes flat and sweet | Too much syrup for the lime, or old lime juice | Drop to 15 ml; squeeze limes fresh, within the hour |
| Faint caramel color and taste | The pan ran too hot and the sugar began to brown | Fine for a whiskey drink; for a clear syrup, lower the heat next time |
Notes and variations
In Denver. Colorado State University Extension notes that liquids "evaporate faster and boil at lower temperatures" at elevation, and that at 5,000 feet water boils at 203 °F rather than 212 °F. For a syrup that is already near its limit, faster evaporation is the whole problem, which is why the weigh-back is in the method rather than in a footnote. The same Extension guide advises lowering candy temperatures about 2 °F per 1,000 feet for the same reason: to keep water in the sugar. Our altitude guide covers the rest of the kitchen.
Rich or 1:1. A 1:1 simple syrup is easier to make and more forgiving, but it is half water, so it dilutes the drink more. Rich syrup delivers the same sweetness in a smaller pour. As a working rule, 20 ml of rich syrup does the job of about 30 ml of 1:1.
Darker sugars. Swap half or all of the white sugar for an unrefined cane sugar such as Burlap & Barrel panela (shop Burlap & Barrel panela) and the syrup turns amber and molasses-deep. It belongs in rum and whiskey drinks and in coffee. Give it the full warm stir, until no grain shows on the spoon, and weigh back just the same.
Flavored syrups and cordials. A flavored syrup is this base plus an infusion: ginger slices, citrus peel, spices, dried rose. A cordial goes one step further and adds fruit and acid. Those builds, and the question of when a bought bottle beats a homemade one, are in Cocktail Syrups and Cordials: The Complete Guide. For finished syrups ready to pour, the Bacanha range covers elderflower, ginger, passion fruit and more. Maple syrup can stand in straight from the bottle, and it makes the maple Old Fashioned guide. Rich syrup, whiskey and two dashes of Angostura (shop Angostura) make the classic Old Fashioned, per the bitters guide.
Keeping it. Refrigerate in a clean, capped bottle and pour with a clean jigger. A syrup that turns cloudy, smells off or shows any mold goes down the drain. How long each kind of syrup keeps, and why, is the subject of Cocktail Syrups and Cordials, Answered.
The Japanese-style jigger (shop Japanese-style jigger), the citrus juicer (shop citrus juicer), the Nick & Nora glasses (shop Nick & Nora glasses) and the panela are at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, and at theambrosianpantry.com. Before buying a bottled syrup, How to Buy Syrups explains what the label can and cannot tell you.
