If infusing oils with the fruits of your labor (foraged or farmed) isn't quite sweet enough, try syrup!
Syrups are versatile: good in sweet recipes, on top of pancakes, in cocktails, in homemade sodas, etc. They also have a relatively long shelf-life, especially if you take a few extra steps when making them. Pictured below is a fresh batch of nettle syrup: sweet and heavy, slightly stinging with a touch of spinach.
Here's a basic recipe for making syrup out of just about anything:
1 kg berries / nettles / rose hips / fruit / etc (see below for specifics)
1.5 liter water
500g white sugar (approximately)
Sterile glass bottles or jars
1. First sterilize your glass bottles or jars by washing them thoroughly with warm soap and water. Then put them (caps too if metal) in the oven for at least 30 minutes at 120°C (250°F) until they are dry. It's okay for them to sit in the oven while you make the syrup.
2. In a saucepan combine your chosen ingredient with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 15-30 minutes.
3. Carefully strain the resulting liquid using a clean cheesecloth or thin kitchen towel.
4. Strain your liquid again through a fine mesh sieve into a large saucepan. For every 500ml of liquid you are left with, add 350g of sugar. This will visually resemble a 1:1 ratio.
5. Heat this mixture slowly and gently stir to make sure the sugar is completely incorporated into the liquid before it boils. Let the mixture simmer on medium heat for approximately 10 minutes or until tiny bubbles begin to form and cover the top of the liquid. These tiny bubbles are a tell-tale sign of reaching ideal syrup consistency. Another good test is to set a small dollop on a plate and see if it gels after a minute in the refrigerator. If the dollop retains its shape, your syrup is finished.
6. Immediately decant your finished syrup into a warm sterilized container. Once cool, you can store it the fridge for up to four months.
7. To increase shelf life you have two options: the first is to immerse your sealed syrup container in a boiling water bath. Since I have a stand-alone electric water boiler, I will often fill the smaller part of my steel kitchen sink with jars, cover them with boiling water, and let the whole thing sit until the jars are cool enough to pluck out. If you re-used a container with a vacuum seal lid, it should now be sealed. Another option is to add a tiny amount of neutral spirit (or vodka) if you plan on using your syrup specifically in cocktails or baking.
Notes on various ingredients:
1. Rose hips (pictured above in two varieties) make for a delicious flowery syrup rich in vitamin C with a beautiful orange to ruby red color. Most Internet sources advise to pick after the first frost, but in Norway the picking season is more late summer / early fall. Look for fruits that are bright to ruby red that give slightly when squeezed but don't pop open. The beach rose (top) is very common in Scandinavia and it's fruits are the most highly prized, if not only because processing them is a lot easier than those of the common rose (bottom). Inside all rose hips are a large amount of white seeds covered in itchy hairs that need to be removed prior to making anything out of the fruit. When rose hips are perfectly ripe it's easy enough to cut them in half and scoop the seeds out using a small spoon, just time consuming. When using them to make syrup, chop finely or use a food processor.
2. Nettles can be made into syrup whole and without soaking them in cold water first, young stems and all. Just be sure not to use springs from plants that have flowered! This will result in a syrup that reportedly "itches on the way out". Same thing if you make syrup using rose hips without removing their seeds.
3. I haven't found an edible berry yet that I don't like and all of them are perfectly suited to syrup-making. For soft berries, chopping is irrelevant, but for berries slightly firmer (i.e. gooseberries) chopping them in half will do. We made an especially yummy gooseberry syrup earlier in the summer that was extra good on homemade sourdough pancakes.
4. Rhubarb also makes a good syrup, especially added to fresh juices or cocktails. Rhubarb is a bit tougher so it needs to be finely chopped or run though a food processor before making syrup.
5. As far as other ingredients to make syrup out of, use your imagination! Teas such as earl grey, pu-erh, or lapsang souchong add a complex smoky taste to cocktails. Mint is also a classic.
Syrups are versatile: good in sweet recipes, on top of pancakes, in cocktails, in homemade sodas, etc. They also have a relatively long shelf-life, especially if you take a few extra steps when making them. Pictured below is a fresh batch of nettle syrup: sweet and heavy, slightly stinging with a touch of spinach.
Here's a basic recipe for making syrup out of just about anything:1 kg berries / nettles / rose hips / fruit / etc (see below for specifics)
1.5 liter water
500g white sugar (approximately)
Sterile glass bottles or jars
1. First sterilize your glass bottles or jars by washing them thoroughly with warm soap and water. Then put them (caps too if metal) in the oven for at least 30 minutes at 120°C (250°F) until they are dry. It's okay for them to sit in the oven while you make the syrup.
2. In a saucepan combine your chosen ingredient with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 15-30 minutes.
3. Carefully strain the resulting liquid using a clean cheesecloth or thin kitchen towel.
4. Strain your liquid again through a fine mesh sieve into a large saucepan. For every 500ml of liquid you are left with, add 350g of sugar. This will visually resemble a 1:1 ratio.
5. Heat this mixture slowly and gently stir to make sure the sugar is completely incorporated into the liquid before it boils. Let the mixture simmer on medium heat for approximately 10 minutes or until tiny bubbles begin to form and cover the top of the liquid. These tiny bubbles are a tell-tale sign of reaching ideal syrup consistency. Another good test is to set a small dollop on a plate and see if it gels after a minute in the refrigerator. If the dollop retains its shape, your syrup is finished.
6. Immediately decant your finished syrup into a warm sterilized container. Once cool, you can store it the fridge for up to four months.
7. To increase shelf life you have two options: the first is to immerse your sealed syrup container in a boiling water bath. Since I have a stand-alone electric water boiler, I will often fill the smaller part of my steel kitchen sink with jars, cover them with boiling water, and let the whole thing sit until the jars are cool enough to pluck out. If you re-used a container with a vacuum seal lid, it should now be sealed. Another option is to add a tiny amount of neutral spirit (or vodka) if you plan on using your syrup specifically in cocktails or baking.
Notes on various ingredients:
1. Rose hips (pictured above in two varieties) make for a delicious flowery syrup rich in vitamin C with a beautiful orange to ruby red color. Most Internet sources advise to pick after the first frost, but in Norway the picking season is more late summer / early fall. Look for fruits that are bright to ruby red that give slightly when squeezed but don't pop open. The beach rose (top) is very common in Scandinavia and it's fruits are the most highly prized, if not only because processing them is a lot easier than those of the common rose (bottom). Inside all rose hips are a large amount of white seeds covered in itchy hairs that need to be removed prior to making anything out of the fruit. When rose hips are perfectly ripe it's easy enough to cut them in half and scoop the seeds out using a small spoon, just time consuming. When using them to make syrup, chop finely or use a food processor.
2. Nettles can be made into syrup whole and without soaking them in cold water first, young stems and all. Just be sure not to use springs from plants that have flowered! This will result in a syrup that reportedly "itches on the way out". Same thing if you make syrup using rose hips without removing their seeds.
3. I haven't found an edible berry yet that I don't like and all of them are perfectly suited to syrup-making. For soft berries, chopping is irrelevant, but for berries slightly firmer (i.e. gooseberries) chopping them in half will do. We made an especially yummy gooseberry syrup earlier in the summer that was extra good on homemade sourdough pancakes.
4. Rhubarb also makes a good syrup, especially added to fresh juices or cocktails. Rhubarb is a bit tougher so it needs to be finely chopped or run though a food processor before making syrup.
5. As far as other ingredients to make syrup out of, use your imagination! Teas such as earl grey, pu-erh, or lapsang souchong add a complex smoky taste to cocktails. Mint is also a classic.
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