Experimental simple syrups

The latest Beachbum Berry blog post about his visit to the Smugglers Cove inspired me to attempt a crack at the SG simple syrup he mentioned. Tonight I tried out that syrup using the three sugars that Berry mentioned: cane sugar, golden turbinado, and dark muscovado.

My proportions are 1 cup water, 1 cup cane, 1/2 cup turbinado, and 1/2 cup muscovado. The results taste good so far but I'll have to refrigerate it and try it in a SG-style Mai Tai. I know that the bar uses an exclusive El Dorado rum but I believe that its closest equivalent is the 12-year ED.

I'd like to know other experimental syrups that my fellow Tiki Centralists are tinkering with. Next up for me is rock candy syrup made with Filipino cane sugar.

Here's that Berry post: http://beachbumberry.com/2010/09/27/platos-cove/

aloha
It is easy to make syrups using fruits that do not juice well, like bananas. When you make your sugar syrup (I like to use 1:1 organic cane sugar and filtered water) add the sliced fruit. I made banana syrup with two bananas and a spoonful of home-made vanilla (rum infused with a vanilla bean sliced open). You can strain out the fruit and eat it with oatmeal.
I also make syrups with seasonal fruits like calamansi (like limes) and lilikoi. Then keep in the frig or freezer for use off season.
that banana syrup is delightful mixed with rum and served either over ice, warm, or hot with cream.

I make all my own syrups except for passion fruit as I can't find a good base here in tiki flatland.

My favorite is demerara sugar syrup in my drinks. I don't care for dark muscovado syrup however. More molasses than I care for. Except on pancakes!!

I made some simple earlier this year with "Thai palm sugar", it was nasty.

Chris

On 2010-10-05 13:35, WestADad wrote:

I made some simple earlier this year with "Thai palm sugar", it was nasty.

Nasty how? Color, taste, texture? I've never had palm sugar so I'm curious. What did it taste like to you? Bitter? Sickly sweet? An ashtray?

On 2010-10-05 13:59, arriano wrote:

Nasty how? Color, taste, texture? I've never had palm sugar so I'm curious. What did it taste like to you? Bitter? Sickly sweet? An ashtray?

It's been a few months but as I recall it would never fully dissolve so it looked like it had floaties in it (yuck) and it wasn't as sweet as I figured it would but rather woody tasting. My ratio was only 1:1, might be better if the sugar content was higher. The final syrup was very watery also and it went right down the drain after I sampled it.

No ashtray though. :)

I had bought it for Thai cooking and had plenty left over which prompted the experiment.

Where can we find some of these sugars, such as muscovado and demerara? I'd love to experiment with some of these. My local high end grocery store has pure cane sugar, and turbinado sugar, and that's about it!

On 2010-10-06 00:58, Mai Tai wrote:
Where can we find some of these sugars, such as muscovado and demerara? I'd love to experiment with some of these. My local high end grocery store has pure cane sugar, and turbinado sugar, and that's about it!

Got my demerara and muscovado from http://www.indiatree.com/ by way of Amazon.

On 2010-10-06 00:58, Mai Tai wrote:
Where can we find some of these sugars, such as muscovado and demerara? I'd love to experiment with some of these. My local high end grocery store has pure cane sugar, and turbinado sugar, and that's about it!

A few brands of both kinds of sugar are available on http://www.amazon.com

"I am Lono!" -- Hale Ka'a Tiki Lounge

[ Edited by: arriano 2010-10-06 08:35 ]

Do we need to have coffee syrup and ginger syrup and cinnamon syrup and mint syrup and whatever? It's simple syrup and flavor. Instead of a 1/2 oz of X syrup, I can add 1/2 oz of simple syrup and 1/4 oz of X flavor. It seems what is really needed is some way to get these flavor extracts to put in with the syrup. I sure do not want to have all these bottles around I use once a year and throw out after they go bad over and over.

Someone come up with extracts of these flavors and make our lives easier.

But, more on topic, I have made syrup with Demerara sugar and others and all I notice is a different color. No real taste difference. On the tongue, they dissolve differently and so they hit your differently, but I am not sure they really taste differently.

On 2010-10-06 10:17, Swanky wrote:
I have made syrup with Demerara sugar and others and all I notice is a different color. No real taste difference.

I guess I must taste different than you. :)

Chris

B.T.W: I just ordered some gum arabic powder to make some gomme syrup, when I receive it and get the syrup made, I'll report here.

http://www.westadad.blogspot.com

[ Edited by: westadad 2010-10-06 13:00 ]

On 2010-10-05 13:35, WestADad wrote:

I made some simple earlier this year with "Thai palm sugar", it was nasty.

Chris

Indeed, I made some palm simple syrup as an attempted substitute for honey mix and it turned a Navy Grog into an EPA-banned atrocity.

On 2010-10-06 10:31, WestADad wrote:

B.T.W: I just ordered some gum arabic powder to make some gomme syrup, when I receive it and get the syrup made, I'll report here.

---

http://www.westadad.blogspot.com

Just a heads up on the gomme syrup. The gum arabic powder clumps very easily and then sinks to the bottom and scalds if you're not careful. Big mess. I found this out the hard way. I still have some gum arabic left and next time I make it I'll know better than to just dump it in and try to stir it around. I was playing with the idea of either using a powdered sugar sifter to gradually add it...or using a blender to really get the powder dissolved into some water before I add it to my pot.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

On 2010-10-06 21:08, Trader Tom wrote:

Just a heads up on the gomme syrup. The gum arabic powder clumps very easily and then sinks to the bottom and scalds if you're not careful. Big mess. I found this out the hard way. I still have some gum arabic left and next time I make it I'll know better than to just dump it in and try to stir it around. I was playing with the idea of either using a powdered sugar sifter to gradually add it...or using a blender to really get the powder dissolved into some water before I add it to my pot.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

Thanks for the info Trader Tom, I have a flour sifter so I'll run the powder through that first.

Chris

I tried out my experimental simple syrup (cane, turbinado, and muscovado) in a TV Mai Tai and the result is quite close to the Mai Tai that the Smugglers Cove serves. I used 12-year El Dorado in place of their exclusive ED.