How do I make sugar syrup?

Granulated sugar doesn't dissolve in cold liquid, which is why cocktails, iced tea and cold coffee drinks use syrup instead. It takes five minutes to make and there's no reason to buy it.

What you'll need

• Sugar
• Water
• Kettle or saucepan
• Clean bottle or jar
• Scales (optional)

Step by step

1. Weigh equal amounts of sugar and water for simple syrup — 200g of each is a useful batch.By weight, not volume. Weight is the standard and gives a consistent result.
2. Heat the water — boiling from the kettle is fine — and pour it over the sugar.You don't need to boil the mixture. Hot water dissolves sugar perfectly well.
3. Stir until completely clear with no crystals.Hold it up to the light. Undissolved crystals will settle and can seed crystallisation in the bottle.
4. For rich syrup, use two parts sugar to one part water instead.Sweeter per millilitre, so use less, and it keeps considerably longer because of the higher sugar concentration.
5. Cool completely before bottling.Hot syrup in a sealed bottle creates a vacuum and can crack glass.
6. Store in a clean sealed bottle in the fridge.Simple syrup about a month; rich syrup two to three months. Cloudiness means throw it away.
7. Infuse flavours by adding them to the hot syrup and straining once cool.Mint, ginger, citrus peel, vanilla, chilli, rosemary all work. Taste as it cools.

Tips

• A splash of vodka (about 15ml per 500ml) extends the fridge life noticeably by inhibiting mould.
• Demerara syrup, made the same way with demerara sugar, is excellent with dark rum and whisky.
• Label the bottle with the type and date — simple and rich syrup look identical and are twice as sweet as each other.
• Squeeze bottles are much easier to pour accurately than jars.

Common mistakes

• Measuring by volume — Sugar volume varies with how it's packed. Weight is consistent.
• Boiling the syrup hard — It evaporates water, changing the ratio, and can start caramelising.
• Bottling while hot — Creates a vacuum that can crack the bottle, and condensation on the inside.
• Not labelling — Simple and rich syrup are indistinguishable by eye and very different in use.

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