Once you get into the exciting world of making your own rum cocktails at home, you will be scouring many recipes and notice an ingredient called for in many of these recipes, called simple syrup. So what is this wondrous ingredient? It’s a simple water and sugar mix. Most people when they make their own simple syrup do so using a 1:1 ratio of sugar to water.
Most people will also use white sugar, but in the rum world we like things to be golden. You can of course use white sugar, but Demerara sugar or even palm sugar or coconut sugar may add that wonderful warming toffee taste and colour that perfectly compliment many rum cocktails. Experiment and see what your palette enjoys most.
So, why use simple syrup, well if you are crafting cocktails, and you want to add sweetness to heighten the flavours, if you add sugar out the box it will not dissolve readily in the glass as most cocktails tend to use cold ingredients so you won’t get the desired taste or feel you may be going for. Sugar syrup is already in a liquid form, thus easier to mix.
So how do we make the syrup. Real simple, just get your sugar of choice with water in a ratio of 1:1, and on a low heat, warm them together till the sugar dissolves. Let mixture cool and put in a glass jar and store in fridge overnight. You can make thicker syrup by doubling your sugar with a one ratio of water. Just play around and see what works for you. Enjoy.