Vanilla Cream Syrup – Old Fashioned Recipe

Sweet Cream Syrup
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Vanilla Cream Syrup

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

20

servings
Calories

80

kcal
Total time

15

minutes

Learn how to make an old-fashioned vanilla cream syrup. This recipe makes 3 cups (700 mLs) of syrup.

Ingredients

  • 1 cups 1 Whole Milk

  • 1 cups 1 Heavy Cream

  • 2 cups 2 Granulated Sugar

  • 2 tsp 2 Vanilla Extract

Directions

  • Combine all ingredients together.
  • Stir till the sugar fully dissolves and refrigerate.

Featured Video

Homemade Old Fashion Vanilla Cream Syrup.

Vanilla cream syrup is a fantastic addition to almost any soda. A small half-ounce of vanilla cream syrup adds wonderful texture and creaminess from colas to fruit-flavored sodas. Vanilla cream syrup is straightforward to make too. Two cups of milk, heavy cream, sugar, and two tsp of vanilla extract make a lovely syrup.

If you want to learn more about this topic and make your drinks better, check out De Forest Saxe’s 1894 book “Saxe’s New Guide Hints to Soda Water Dispensers.” and the 1906 book “The Standard Manual of Soda and Other Beverages.”

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Orange Syrup – Old Fashioned Recipe

orange syrup
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Orange Syrup

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

20

servings
Calories

80

kcal
Total time

15

minutes

An old fashion orange syrup made with real fruit juice. This recipe makes a little over 3 cups (750 mLs) of orange syrup.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups 1.5 Bitter or Sweet Orange Juice

  • 2 cups 2 Granulated Sugar

  • 1 tbsp 1 Orange Extract

  • Optional Ingredients
  • 1/2 tsp 1/2 Citric Acid (Flavor Enhancer)

  • 2 tsp 2 Lecithin (Foaming Agent)

Directions

  • Add orange juice to a stovetop pot and bring to a light simmer. Add the sugar and stir till dissolved.
  • Remove from the heat and stir in the citric acid.
  • Once the syrup has cooled moisten the lecithin powder with an ounce of water. Once the lecithin is fully dissolved, stir in the lecithin and orange extract.
  • Store in the refrigerator or freeze for storage.

Featured Video

Homemade Orange Syrup

Homemade Orange syrup has a wonderful flavor that store-bought orange syrup can’t match. The most common orange you will find is sweet oranges, which are your regular naval or mandarin variety. Another great orange to use is bitter oranges if you can find them. Some Asian markets will sell them; you can identify them by their bubbly and rough skin. Bitter oranges have a wonderful flavor; while they may be sour, they mix well into syrups with added sugar.

Making Fruit Syrups With Real Fruit Juices

It’s not always possible to make fruit syrup with actual fruit juice, but the ones made with real juice are much better. Many mass-produced syrups are simple syrups flavored with a combination of esters, essential oils, and extracts. Esters are acid and alcohol combinations whose byproducts taste like fruit to humans. For example, ethanol and butanoic acid bond into ethyl butanoate, which tastes like pineapples. Naturally occurring esters in beer production produce its characteristic fruit flavors. When esters are used to flavor foods, they are listed as artificial flavors. Flavors made from essential oils and extracts are listed as natural flavors. For example, those bright red, clear cherry syrups at stores are just simple syrup with bitter almond, cherry stone extract, and red food dye. No juice at all.

This isn’t a bad thing. Essential oils have a fantastic flavor and is the preferred method for making herb and spice flavored syrups; some prefer artificial ester flavors to real ones. I LOVE artificial grape flavor, which is methyl anthranilate. But these tend to be one-dimensional flavors, making them easy to recognize as unnatural. Real fruit juice has a complex flavor: water-soluble flavors, metals, salts, bitter flavors, acids, carbohydrates, etc. A syrup made with a combination of real fruit juice, essential oils, and extracts will have a rich, complex flavor that no average store-bought syrup can match. For the curious, orange ester is Octyl ethanoate.

When To Add Citric Acid To A Syrup.

Adding a small amount of citric acid will significantly enhance the flavor of your fruit-based syrups and make their flavor pop even when diluted. Here is a quick explanation of balancing flavors.

Traditional flavor structure is broken into four groups (ignoring umami as it’s not applicable here). The four groups are salty, sour, sweet, and bitter. And it is the interplay of these four groups that create a flavor profile. Flavor profiles can be balanced or unbalanced. Being unbalanced is not a bad thing. It’s just a choice, like adding a salted rim to a margarita or sweet and sour sauce, but a balanced profile is usually the goal. Salty, sour, and sweet all counter each other in a flavor triangle, with bitter being the odd one out as only sweet balances it. Now back to adding acids to syrups.

In the case of orange syrup, a little citric acid balances the sweetness and makes for a more noticeable orange flavor. if the only flavor is sweet then it overwhelms the taste buds and inhibits your ability to taste the orange. A little acid will cut through the sweetness and activate additional taste buds, resulting in a more complete tasting experience.

When To Add A Foaming Agent To Syrups.

Realistically all syrups should have a foaming agent. There are many drinks that should be cold, still, and foamless, but that can be controlled by how the drink is mixed. It was typical for high-end sodas in the late 1800s to have a nice foam on top. Similar to high-end molecular gastronomy restaurants today, a nice soda fountain would ensure that some drinks had an air or foam on top as you sipped your drink. The foam provides both a creamy texture and olfactory stimulation. These were called foaming agents, and in the 1800s, soap bark or other extracts were added to syrups to provide foam when shaken and mixed with soda water. A popular one today in the United States is propylene glycol, and while it is “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) in the US, it is banned for consumption in the EU. Another modern alternative, and the one I use, is adding lecithin to my syrups. Lecithin is flavor neutral, a natural emulsifier that provides a nice foam, and is often taken as a health supplement. It is also the foaming agent many high-end restaurants use to make foams for food. So I’ll add 0.5% of the total syrups weight of lecithin powder to my syrups as a foaming agent.

Again many drinks contain syrup that should be foamless, like a mint julep, an old-fashioned sazerac, etc., but that can be controlled by stirring the drink instead of shaking it.

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Lemon Syrup – Old Fashioned Recipe

lemon syrup
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How To Make Lemon Syrup

Lemon Syrup

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

20

servings
Calories

80

kcal
Total time

15

minutes

Learn how to make an old-fashioned lemon syrup. This recipe makes a little over 3 cups (750 mLs) of syrup.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups 1.5 Lemon Juice

  • 2 cups 2 Granulated Sugar

  • 1 tsp 1 Lemon Extract

  • Optional Ingredients
  • 1/2 tsp 1/2 Citric Acid (Flavor Enhancer)

  • 3 g 3 Lecithin Powder (Foaming Agent)

Directions

  • Add lemon juice to a stovetop pot over light heat. Add sugar and stir till dissolved.lemon syruplemon syrup
  • Remove from the heat and stir in the citric acid.lemon syrup
  • Once the syrup has cooled, moisten the lecithin powder with an ounce of water. Once the lecithin is fully dissolved, stir in the lecithin and lemon extract.lemon syruplemon syrup

Recipe Video

Homemade Lemon Syrup

Homemade lemon syrup is significantly better than store-bought lemon syrup. Most store-bought lemon syrups contain essential lemon oil, citric acid, simple syrup, and yellow food dye. Not that there is anything wrong with that, as those ingredients make good lemon syrup, but one made with real lemon juice as the base is more complex with a deeper and more flavorful taste. Remember, too, this is a syrup, so it should be sweet. The desire with lemon syrup is often to make it a little sour, but that can be done by adding lemon juice to a drink’s recipe.

Making Fruit Syrups With Real Fruit Juices

It’s not always possible to make fruit syrup with actual fruit juice, but the ones made with real juice are much better. Many mass-produced syrups are simple syrups flavored with a combination of esters, essential oils, and extracts. Esters are acid and alcohol combinations whose byproducts taste like fruit to humans. For example, ethanol and butanoic acid bond into ethyl butanoate, which tastes like pineapples. Naturally occurring esters in beer production produce its characteristic fruit flavors. When esters are used to flavor foods, they are listed as artificial flavors. Flavors made from essential oils and extracts are listed as natural flavors. For example, those bright red, clear cherry syrups at stores are just simple syrup with bitter almond, cherry stone extract, and red food dye. No juice at all.

This isn’t a bad thing. Essential oils have a fantastic flavor and is the preferred method for making herb and spice flavored syrups; some prefer artificial ester flavors to real ones. I LOVE artificial grape flavor, which is methyl anthranilate. But these tend to be one-dimensional flavors, making them easy to recognize as unnatural. Real fruit juice has a complex flavor: water-soluble flavors, metals, salts, bitter flavors, acids, carbohydrates, etc. A syrup made with a combination of real fruit juice, essential oils, and extracts will have a rich, complex flavor that no average store-bought syrup can match.

When To Add Citric Acid To A Syrup.

Adding a small amount of citric acid will significantly enhance the flavor of your fruit-based syrups and make their flavor pop even when diluted. Here is a quick explanation of balancing flavors.

Traditional flavor structure is broken into four groups (ignoring umami as it’s not applicable here). The four groups are salty, sour, sweet, and bitter. And it is the interplay of these four groups that create a flavor profile. Flavor profiles can be balanced or unbalanced. Being unbalanced is not a bad thing. It’s just a choice, like adding a salted rim to a margarita or sweet and sour sauce, but a balanced profile is usually the goal. Salty, sour, and sweet all counter each other in a flavor triangle, with bitter being the odd one out as only sweet balances it. Now back to adding acids to syrups.

In the case of lemon syrup, a little citric acid balances the sweetness and makes for a more noticeable lemon flavor. if the only flavor is sweet then it overwhelms the taste buds and inhibits your ability to taste the lemon. A little acid will cut through the sweetness and activate additional taste buds, resulting in a more complete tasting experience. In the case of lemon syrup, it’s not quite as necessary as with cherry syrup, orange syrup, etc. but so much sugar is added and the syrup is reduced enough that a little additional citric acid helps. But again, it’s not fully necessary.

When To Add A Foaming Agent To Syrups.

Realistically all syrups should have a foaming agent. There are many drinks that should be cold, still, and foamless, but that can be controlled by how the drink is mixed. It was typical for high-end sodas in the late 1800s to have a nice foam on top. Similar to high-end molecular gastronomy restaurants today, a nice soda fountain would ensure that some drinks had an air or foam on top as you sipped your drink. The foam provides both a creamy texture and olfactory stimulation. These were called foaming agents, and in the 1800s, soap bark or other extracts were added to syrups to provide foam when shaken and mixed with soda water. A popular one today in the United States is propylene glycol, and while it is “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) in the US, it is banned for consumption in the EU. Another modern alternative, and the one I use, is adding lecithin to my syrups. Lecithin is flavor neutral, a natural emulsifier that provides a nice foam, and is often taken as a health supplement. It is also the foaming agent many high-end restaurants use to make foams for food. So I’ll add 0.5% of the total syrups weight of lecithin powder to my syrups as a foaming agent.

Again many drinks contain syrup that should be foamless, like a mint julep, an old-fashioned sazerac, etc., but that can be controlled by stirring the drink instead of shaking it.

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Cherry Syrup – Old Fashioned Recipe

cherry syrup
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Cherry Syrup

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

20

servings
Calories

80

kcal
Total time

15

minutes

Learn how to make an old-fashioned cherry syrup. This recipe makes a little over 3 cups (750 mLs) of syrup.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups 1.5 Tart Cherry Juice

  • 2 cups 2 Granulated Sugar

  • 1 tsp 1 Bitter Almond Extract

  • Optional Ingredients
  • 1/2 tsp 1/2 Citric Acid (Flavor Enhancer)

  • 3 g 3 Lecithin Powder (Foaming Agent)

Directions

  • Add cherry juice to a stovetop pot and bring to a light simmer. Add the sugar and stir till dissolved.
  • Remove from the heat and stir in the citric acid.
  • Once the syrup has cooled moisten the lecithin powder with an ounce of water. Once the lecithin is fully dissolved, stir in the lecithin and bitter almond extract.
  • Store in the refrigerator or freeze for storage.

Featured Video

Home Made Cherry Syrup

Home-made cherry syrup is miles better than anything sold in stores and does not require much effort. Making cherry syrup with sweet cherry juice is fine, but for the best results, use tart or sour cherry juice. These cherry juices have a fantastic flavor, and the sour taste is balanced well with the high amount of added sugar.

Making Fruit Syrups With Real Fruit Juices

It’s not always possible to make fruit syrup with actual fruit juice, but the ones made with real juice are much better. Many mass-produced syrups are simple syrups flavored with a combination of esters, essential oils, and extracts. Esters are acid and alcohol combinations whose byproducts taste like fruit to humans. For example, ethanol and butanoic acid bond into ethyl butanoate, which tastes like pineapples. Naturally occurring esters in beer production produce its characteristic fruit flavors. When esters are used to flavor foods, they are listed as artificial flavors. Flavors made from essential oils and extracts are listed as natural flavors. For example, those bright red, clear cherry syrups at stores are just simple syrup with bitter almond, cherry stone extract, and red food dye. No juice at all.

This isn’t a bad thing. Essential oils have a fantastic flavor and is the preferred method for making herb and spice flavored syrups; some prefer artificial ester flavors to real ones. I LOVE artificial grape flavor, which is methyl anthranilate. But these tend to be one-dimensional flavors, making them easy to recognize as unnatural. Real fruit juice has a complex flavor: water-soluble flavors, metals, salts, bitter flavors, acids, carbohydrates, etc. A syrup made with a combination of real fruit juice, essential oils, and extracts will have a rich, complex flavor that no average store-bought syrup can match. For the curious, cherry ester is Isobutyl acetate.

When To Add Citric Acid To A Syrup.

Adding a small amount of citric acid will significantly enhance the flavor of your fruit-based syrups and make their flavor pop even when diluted. Here is a quick explanation of balancing flavors.

Traditional flavor structure is broken into four groups (ignoring umami as it’s not applicable here). The four groups are salty, sour, sweet, and bitter. And it is the interplay of these four groups that create a flavor profile. Flavor profiles can be balanced or unbalanced. Being unbalanced is not a bad thing. It’s just a choice, like adding a salted rim to a margarita or sweet and sour sauce, but a balanced profile is usually the goal. Salty, sour, and sweet all counter each other in a flavor triangle, with bitter being the odd one out as only sweet balances it. Now back to adding acids to syrups.

In the case of cherry syrup, a little citric acid balances the sweetness and makes for a more noticeable cherry flavor. if the only flavor is sweet then it overwhelms the taste buds and inhibits your ability to taste the cherry. A little acid will cut through the sweetness and activate additional taste buds, resulting in a more complete tasting experience. granted the tart cherries are already sour but so much sugar is added and the syrup is reduced enough that a little additional citric acid helps.

When To Add A Foaming Agent To Syrups.

Realistically all syrups should have a foaming agent. There are many drinks that should be cold, still, and foamless, but that can be controlled by how the drink is mixed. It was typical for high-end sodas in the late 1800s to have a nice foam on top. Similar to high-end molecular gastronomy restaurants today, a nice soda fountain would ensure that some drinks had an air or foam on top as you sipped your drink. The foam provides both a creamy texture and olfactory stimulation. These were called foaming agents, and in the 1800s, soap bark or other extracts were added to syrups to provide foam when shaken and mixed with soda water. A popular one today in the United States is propylene glycol, and while it is “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) in the US, it is banned for consumption in the EU. Another modern alternative, and the one I use, is adding lecithin to my syrups. Lecithin is flavor neutral, a natural emulsifier that provides a nice foam, and is often taken as a health supplement. It is also the foaming agent many high-end restaurants use to make foams for food. So I’ll add 0.5% of the total syrups weight of lecithin powder to my syrups as a foaming agent.

Again many drinks contain syrup that should be foamless, like a mint julep, an old-fashioned sazerac, etc., but that can be controlled by stirring the drink instead of shaking it.

Recipe Resources

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Red Fassionola Syrup Recipe

Red Fashionola
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Red Fassionola

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

15

servings
Calories

200

kcal
Total time

10

minutes

How to make a homemade Red Fassionola

Ingredients

  • 2 oz 2 Guava Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Papaya Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Apricot Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Passion Fruit Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Apple Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Pineapple Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Orange Juice

  • 6 oz 6 Cherry Juice

  • 6 oz 6 Strawberry Puree/Juice

  • 3 cups 3 Granulated Sugar

  • 1/2 tsp 1/2 Citric Acid (Flavor Enhancer)

Directions

  • Combine all the juices together.
  • Run juice through a jelly bag to remove small particles.
  • In a stovetop pot, over low heat, add the sugar and stir till fully dissolved.
  • Bottle and store it in the refrigerator or in the freezer for long-term storage.

Featured Video

The History Of Jonathan English Fassionola

Fassionola was a line of tropical syrups made by the San Diego-based Jonathan English company. Jonathan English made Gold, Red, and Green fassionola syrup, each with a unique flavor. The gold was primarily passion fruit flavored, the red was fruit punch, and the green was mainly lime and guava. It is widely rumored that the Jonathan English company went out of business, and it was, but before the company went entirely out of business, it was bought by a new owner. I learned this from a Reddit post. The new owner still makes the classic Jonathan English red, green and gold fassionolas. As of writing this, there is an eBay seller who ships these original fassionolas, and here is the website of the distributor of Johathan English, but it seems distribution is limited to the San Diego area.

It’s not uncommon to find individuals who want fassionola to make their own. I’ve made my own, and it turns out pretty good. Again considering there is no definitive recipe for fassionola, make something fun and tropical. I built my recipes knowing that red is supposed to be fruit punch, gold is passion fruit, and green is lime and guava.

How I Came To This Recipe.

Like any food or drink, there is no single recipe, and most have their own variation. While Johnathan English fassionola was the go-to for most tiki bars back in the day, it doesn’t mean you can’t make your own or that it has to be 100% like Johnathan English. I made this recipe up entirely out of what sounded good while trying to highlight the primary flavor for each color of fassionola. With red fassionola in mind, I looked at the classic Red Hawaiian Punch ingredient list, saw what juices it had listed, and made those the ingredients.

Specific to red fassionola, I made half the volume cherry and strawberry juice and the other half the mixture of other tropical juices. The resulting syrup is a beautiful red color with a complex flavor and a clear cherry strawberry taste. The nice thing about cherries is they have a strong red color. This lets the red fassionola be colored red more naturally than using dye. Red dye would be fine, too, if you want to make red fassionola without a cherry flavor. Strawberries have a weak red color that quickly oxidizes, so the cherries provide all the color.

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Gold Fassionola Syrup Recipe

Gold Fashionola
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Gold Fassionola

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

15

servings
Calories

200

kcal
Total time

10

minutes

How to make a homemade Gold Fassionola

Ingredients

  • 2 oz 2 Papaya Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Apricot Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Apple Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Pineapple Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Orange Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Guava Juice

  • 12 oz 12 Passion Fruit Juice

  • 3 cups 3 Granulated Sugar

  • 1/2 tsp 1/2 Citric Acid (Flavor Enhancer)

Directions

  • Combine all the juices together.
  • Run juice through a jelly bag to remove small particles.
  • In a stovetop pot, over low heat, add the sugar and stir till fully dissolved.
  • Bottle and store it in the refrigerator or in the freezer for long-term storage.

Featured Video

The History Of Jonathan English Fassionola

Fassionola was a line of tropical syrups made by the San Diego-based Jonathan English company. Jonathan English made Gold, Red, and Green fassionola syrup, each with a unique flavor. The gold was primarily passion fruit flavored, the red was fruit punch, and the green was mainly lime and guava. It is widely rumored that the Jonathan English company went out of business, and it was, but before the company went entirely out of business, it was bought by a new owner. I learned this from a Reddit post. The new owner still makes the classic Jonathan English red, green and gold fassionolas. As of writing this, there is an eBay seller who ships these original fassionolas, and here is the website of the distributor of Johathan English, but it seems distribution is limited to the San Diego area.

It’s not uncommon to find individuals who want fassionola to make their own. I’ve made my own, and it turns out pretty good. Again considering there is no definitive recipe for fassionola, make something fun and tropical. I built my recipes knowing that red is supposed to be fruit punch, gold is passion fruit, and green is lime and guava.

How I Came To This Recipe.

Like any food or drink, there is no single recipe, and most have their own variation. While Johnathan English fassionola was the go-to for most tiki bars back in the day, it doesn’t mean you can’t make your own or that it has to be 100% like Johnathan English. I made this recipe up entirely out of what sounded good while trying to highlight the primary flavor for each color of fassionola. With red fassionola in mind, I looked at the classic Red Hawaiian Punch ingredient list, saw what juices it had listed, and made those the ingredients.

Specific to gold fassionola, I made half the volume passion fruit juice and the other half the a mixture of other tropical juices. The resulting syrup is a beautiful gold color with a complex flavor and a clear passion fruit taste.

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Green Fassionola Syrup Recipe

Green Fashionola
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Green Fassionola

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

15

servings
Calories

200

kcal
Total time

10

minutes

How to make a homemade Green Fassionola

Ingredients

  • 2 oz 2 Papaya Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Apricot Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Passion Fruit Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Apple Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Pineapple Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Orange Juice

  • 6 oz 6 Guava Juice

  • 6 oz 6 Lime Juice

  • 4-5 drops 4-5 Green Food Dye

  • 3 cups 3 Granulated Sugar

  • 1/2 tsp 1/2 Citric Acid (Flavor Enhancer)

Directions

  • Combine all the juices together.
  • Run juice through a jelly bag to remove small particles.
  • Add green food dye to color and then add 1 or 2 extra drops to concentrate the color for mixing.
  • In a stovetop pot, over low heat, add the sugar and stir till fully dissolved.
  • Bottle and store it in the refrigerator or in the freezer for long-term storage.

Featured Video

The History Of Jonathan English Fassionola

Fassionola was a line of tropical syrups made by the San Diego-based Jonathan English company. Jonathan English made Gold, Red, and Green fassionola syrup, each with a unique flavor. The gold was primarily passion fruit flavored, the red was fruit punch, and the green was mainly lime and guava. It is widely rumored that the Jonathan English company went out of business, and it was, but before the company went entirely out of business, it was bought by a new owner. I learned this from a Reddit post. The new owner still makes the classic Jonathan English red, green and gold fassionolas. As of writing this, there is an eBay seller who ships these original fassionolas, and here is the website of the distributor of Johathan English, but it seems distribution is limited to the San Diego area.

It’s not uncommon to find individuals who want fassionola to make their own. I’ve made my own, and it turns out pretty good. Again considering there is no definitive recipe for fassionola, make something fun and tropical. I built my recipes knowing that red is supposed to be fruit punch, gold is passion fruit, and green is lime and guava.

How I Came To This Recipe.

Like any food or drink, there is no single recipe, and most have their own variation. While Johnathan English fassionola was the go-to for most tiki bars back in the day, it doesn’t mean you can’t make your own or that it has to be 100% like Johnathan English. I made this recipe up entirely out of what sounded good while trying to highlight the primary flavor for each color of fassionola. With red fassionola in mind, I looked at the classic Red Hawaiian Punch ingredient list, saw what juices it had listed, and made those the ingredients.

Specific to green fassionola, I made half the volume a mix of lime and guava and the other half the a mixture of other tropical juices. The resulting syrup is not green, so I added green food dye. Green is almost impossible to make flavorless and naturally, so green food dye is your best option. There is nothing wrong with using food dye to enhance color when appropriate.

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Vanilla Syrup Recipe – Flavorful & Easy

vanilla syrup
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Vanilla Syrup

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

20

servings
Calories

90

kcal
Total time

10

minutes

The easiest way to make vanilla syrup. This recipe makes a little over 3 cups (750 mLs) of syrup.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups 1.5 Water

  • 2 cups 2 Granulated Sugar

  • 1 tbsp 1 Vanilla Extract

Directions

  • Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and under gentle heat stir till the sugar is fully dissolved.
  • Once the syrup has cooled add the vanilla extract and stir till it is fully combined. Bottle and refrigerate.

Featured Video

How To Make Vanilla Syrup.

The most common sugar to water syrup ratios are 1:1, 3:2, and 2:1. A equal part of sugar and water, 1:1 is a bit thin, doesn’t last as long from mold as the others, and offers less sweetening potential. I don’t care for 1:1, and it’s usually just made this way because it doesn’t need to be heated and is cheap. The next one is 3:2. so three parts sugar to 2 parts water. This is perhaps the best ratio as it offers a similar sweetening potential as 2:1 without any of the issues 2:1 has. This syrup ratio does need to be heated to dissolve the sugar fully, but once it is dissolved, it will not recrystallize. Most of the classic late 1800s and early 1900s syrups were 3:2. The last ratio is 2:1. This syrup ratio needs to be heated to dissolve the sugar too fully. Unfortunately, once it cools, the sugar crystals can reform and form hard clumps of sugar crystals in your syrup. 2:1 syrups’ best feature is their very long shelf life. There is a high enough concentration of sugar that most bacteria are killed, and mold won’t form for a few weeks.

Once you have picked the syrup ratio you want and made it, add the vanilla extract and stir till fully incorporated. It’s that simple. Be aware that the standard extract to syrup ratio is 1:30. So for every 30 oz of syrup, add 1 oz of extract. That ratio can be easily scaled for different volumes. For example, for 2 cups of syrup (16 oz/480 mLs), add around a half ounce (15 mLs) of extract.

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Gum Syrup (Gomme Syrup) Recipe

Gum Syrup
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Gum Syrup

5 from 1 vote Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

4

servings
Calories

300

kcal
Total time

10

minutes

The easiest way to make gum syrup. This recipe makes a little over 3 cups (750 mLs) of syrup.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups 1.5 Water

  • 2 cups 2 Granulated Sugar

  • 2.5 oz 2.5 Liquid Gum Arabic

Directions

  • Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and under gentle heat stir till the sugar is fully dissolved.
  • Once the syrup has cooled, pour it into a blender, add the liquid gum arabic, and blend for 1 minute. Bottle and refrigerate or freeze to store for an extended period of time.
  • To make liquid gum arabic combine equal parts by the weight of powdered gum arabic and water. Stir, there will be clumps, but let it sit for several hours and it will fully dissolve.

Featured Video

How To Make Gum Syrup (Gomme Syrup).

Gum syrup is straightforward to make. It just takes a little time to reconstitute the dried gum arabic powder. To begin with, mix dried gum acacia powder with equal parts of water. Mix the two until there are only a few clumps left, then let it sit for a couple of hours. The lumps will dissolve after a couple of hours. Once the gum is fully dissolved you will have a good working liquid gum arabic. The typical amount of liquid gum arabic to add is 20% of the volume you are adding it to. So if you plan to make 2 cups (480 mLs) of syrup, then you would add 80 mLs of liquid gum arabic to 400 mLs of simple syrup, which will result in desired 480 mLs of syrup. Also, know that gum arabic and gum acacia are the same thing. Gum arabic is just the older name for it.

The next thing to prepare is your syrup. The most common sugar to water syrup ratios are 1:1, 3:2, and 2:1. 1:1 is equal part of sugar and water. It’s a bit thin, doesn’t last as long from mold as the others, and offers less sweetening potential. I don’t care for 1:1, and it’s usually just made this way because it’s fast, doesn’t need to be heated, and is cheap. The next one is 3:2. so 3 parts sugar to 2 parts water. This is perhaps the best ratio as it offers a similar sweetening potential as 2:1 without any of the issues 2:1 has. This syrup ratio does need to be heated to dissolve the sugar fully, but once it is dissolved, the sugar will not recrystallize. Most of the classic late 1800s and early 1900s syrups were 3:2. The last ratio is 2:1. This syrup ratio needs to be heated to dissolve the sugar fully. Unfortunately, it’s so concentrated that once it cools, the sugar crystals can reform into hard clumps of sugar crystals in your syrup. 2:1 syrups’ best feature is their very long shelf life. There is a high enough concentration of sugar that most bacteria are killed, and mold won’t form for a few weeks.

Once you have made the syrup ratio you want, combine the syrup and liquid gum arabic in a blender and blend for 1 minute. Transfer to a container, and that is it.

Gum Syrup vs. Simple Syrup.

The only difference between gum syrup and standard simple syrup is the addition of gum arabic. Gum arabic, or gum acacia, is the dried sap of the acacia tree and is a thick, insoluble fiber. It adds no significant flavor to the syrup but it adds a more viscous mouthfeel to cocktails. If you are downing the cocktail, the mouthfeel can be hard to notice, but it’s equatable to a red wine mouth feel vs. a white wine mouthfeel. When comparing wines, people usually talk about a thick or thin body. What they are really talking about malolactic acid vs. malic acid (gum syrup does not have malolactic or malic acid, I’m just using this as an example). Malic acid is more commonly associated with white wine, has a thin body, and feels like holding a sip of apple juice in your mouth. Malolactic acid is most associated with red wines, has a thicker body, and feels like holding a sip of milk in your mouth. So if you make a cocktail with gum syrup, that is the mouth feel to look for. Hold a sip in your mouth and notice if it feels like milk or apple juice. The mouth feel gum syrup adds is the same as red wines mouthfeel, and standard syrup without a gum is the same as white wines mouthfeel.

Gum Arabic has a high acidity (4-4.5), so it offers preservative properties I will mention below. Still, outside a small change to mouthfeel/body, it’s not that different from the standard simple syrup. The two can easily be substituted for the other with almost no noticeable difference.

Does Xanthan Gum Work For Making Gum Syrup?

Long story short. Not really. The idea is appealing, though. Xanthan gum is cheap, mixes very quickly, and you need much less xanthan gum to get similar results to gum in Arabic. Both xanthan gum and gum Arabic are stabilizers that prevent the merging of oil and water molecules. Still, they behave differently once diluted beyond their effective range and even do a few unexpected things. I’ll explain how this relates to making cocktails.

Stabilizers such as starches, gums, pectin, and gelatins work by separating smaller oil and water molecules and preventing them from reforming together. Which makes them looked mix. These large stabilizer molecules don’t change the surface tension of water or oil, they just stop the water and oil molecules from having any space to coalesce. This is also why they are used as thickeners for foods. Because they work by separating oil and water, they must constitute a certain percentage of the volume of the final mixture. Gum Arabic is an effective stabilizer between 10% and 20% of a mixture’s volume. So if you have 400 grams of water and oil you are trying to emulsify; you would need to add 40 – 80 grams of gum arabic. Xanthan gum is effective at 0.01% and 0.02%. Xanthan gum is used in tiny amounts. So using the above example, you would only need around half a gram to 1 gram of xanthan gum for 400 grams of water and oil. Again these stabilizers work great until they are under, or over, their effective range. Like how a cocktail mixed with 1 oz of 20% gum syrup, 2 oz gin, and 1 oz lemon juice will have a final percentage of gum arabic of 3%. Well below the 10% minimum. I did a few experiments on this with gum arabic, xanthan gum, and a control syrup with no gum, and here is what I found.

Even with the low gum arabic percentage, cocktails with particulate, like from the juice of a lemon, stayed in a decent suspension longer than my controlled standard simple syrup and gum syrup with xanthan gum. The xanthan gum syrup would sometimes clarify the cocktail. I couldn’t get it to do this consistently or even understand why this happened, but some drinks clarified. I made hot buttered rum to test the syrups in a warm fat rich drink, and soon after mixing, all the butter and spices bonded together and solidified at the top. This happened with other cocktails too, but not all the time, or in a way, I could find a pattern. There was also no mouthfeel with the xanthan gum the same way there was with gum acacia.
All in all, xanthan gum syrup performed worse than my control simple syrup without gums. Every cocktail I made with gum arabic performed very well. The hot buttered rum’s oil stayed emulsified for a long time, with less fat settling at the top than the control simple syrup. Foams that formed on top from shaking lasted longer too with gum acerbic syrup. I also did an experiment where I mixed pure cinnamon oil in gum arabic and xanthan gum. I then added a large amount of water to see how each handled the mixing of oil and water. The gum arabic oil mixture stayed perfectly emulsified even after several hours while the xanthan gum oil mixture instantly separated, and the oil all floated to the top.

All in all, gum arabic simple syrup improved the emulsification and looked of every drink I used it in. I love xanthan gum for cooking and think it’s one of the best gums available. Still, specifically to cocktails, it is detrimental to the quality of the drink.

TLDR is gum arabic made every cocktail better while xanthan gum somehow made them worse. No gum was better than using xanthan gum in a mixed drink. When the xanthan gum was diluted to a level far lower than its effective percentage of 0.01 or 0.02, it behaved oddly and even clarified some drinks. Don’t use xanthan gum for gum syrup.

The Purpose Of Adding Gum Arabic to Simple Syrup.

People often talk about the mouthfeel gum syrup adds, but it also works as a preservative. Gum syrup isn’t as common as it was in the past, and refrigeration is the main reason for that. Commercial refrigeration was invented in the 1850s, but it didn’t become scaled-down and more common till much later. Preservation of food was more difficult, and syrups would spoil very quickly. one way to preserve a syrup while not changing the quality of it too much was to add gum arabic to it. Gum arabic has an acidic PH of around 4 to 4.5, enough to kill most germs. Another method to lengthen the life of syrups was to add tartaric acid (cream of tartar) and lower the PH even more. By combining gum syrup with tartaric acid, the syrup PH could be lowered to that ideal 4.5 PH range and it would keep for quite some time without refrigeration.

Gum arabic also modified the mouthfeel of cocktails and gave a desirable full-body texture similar to red wine. The easiest way to describe it is gum syrup gives a red wine mouthfeel, while standard simple syrup gives a white wine mouthfeel. The red wine’s full body mouthfeel is compared to the mouthfeel of milk, while the white wine’s thinner mouthfeel is compared to the mouthfeel of apple juice. So if you ever want to experience that texture, hold a sip of a cocktail in your mouth and notice if it feels like milk or apple juice.

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Orgeat – Recipe & History

Orgeat Syrup
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Orgeat

5 from 1 vote Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: French
Servings

15

servings
Calories

80

kcal
Total time

1

hour 

Learn how to make flavorful orgeat.

Ingredients

  • 2.5 oz 2.5 Fine Ground Sweet Almonds

  • 2 cups 2 Water

  • 2 cups 2 White Sugar

  • 1 tsp 1 Bitter Almond Extract

  • 1.5 tsp 1.5 Lemon Juice

  • 1.5 tsp 1.5 Rose Water

  • Optional Ingredients
  • 1.5 oz 1.5 Liquid Gum Arabic

  • 2 tsp 2 Lecithin (Foaming Agent)

Directions

  • First blanch the almonds to remove the skin, then using a food processor or blender, grind the almonds into a fine flour.
  • Combine the almond flour and water in a saucepan. cover the top and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Add more water if needed. 
  • Over a large bowl, line a mesh strainer with cheesecloth and pour the mixture in. Let it sit for a bit to cool.
  • Once the mixture has cool, so as not to burn yourself, squeeze and press the cheesecloth to remove any additional almond fat.
  • Measure the amount of fluid. The goal is to have 1.5 cups. There will likely be less since water evaporated and soaked the almonds during the cooking process. Add more to bring it up to 1.5 cups.
  • Add the remaining ingredients and whisk together. Optionally add gum syrup and blend everything in a blender. Bottle and refrigerate or freeze to store for an extended period of time.

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The History Of Orgeat.

Orgeat began as barley water. Its name comes from the Latin word hordeaceus, which translates to “of barley” or instead made of barley. Over time the barley water became sweeter, and variations emerged. One of these variations is the Spanish tiger nut horchata and the almond orzata/orgeat. The English word orgeat comes from the word orge, Which is French for barley. In parts of northern Africa, “rozata” is an almond drink typically prepared for weddings or special occasions. Most countries along the Mediterranean Sea have some barley/nut drink whose romantic name is derived from the Latin word hordeaceus. Over time, these nut juices were sweetened and concentrated into a syrup that could be used in many different drinks.

The earliest reference to orgeat in the Americas that I can find is from a 1779 newspaper article detailing the goods sold in a shop in Newport, R.I. The particular store owner was a man named Nathan Hart, and he even had orgeat listed under the “Liqueurs” section and not the standard grocery. This shows that orgeat was used in alcoholic drinks even in the 18th century, predating Jerry Thomas’s early use of it by 80 years. Orgeat’s use as a sweetener in American-style mixed drinks most likely originated in the late 18th century.

The Dangers Of Bitter Almonds

Bitter Almonds are very poisonous. Each seed contains around 4 mg of cyanide. Depending on body weight and size, just ten bitter almonds (or less) are enough to kill a grown man. The formation of hydrogen cyanide in bitter almonds is a defensive measure from the plant to ensure that animals do not eat its seeds. Many plants do this, and it would surprise you to find out how many plants we regularly eat contain cyanide. Specific to almonds, though, all plant seeds in the Rosaceae family contain high amounts of cyanide. This includes apples, cherries, apricots, pears, peaches, etc. A bitter almond seed contains a carbohydrate called Amygdalin and an enzyme called Emulsin. Hydrogen Cyanide (HCN) is formed when the seed’s cell walls are broken, the emulsin and amygdalin mix, and the amygdalin is broken down. The byproducts of amygdalin breakdown are Benzaldehyde (the bitter almond/cherry flavor) and Hydrogen cyanide (The poisonous gas part). It is essential to have a cyanide test kit to know precisely how much cyanide is present, and if you are unfamiliar with working with bitter almonds, then it is best to leave them out.

How To Make An Amazing Orgeat

The desirable qualities of a good orgeat are to be rich and creamy with a high amount of emulsified almond fat and to have a distinctive bitter almond/cherry flavor. There are several ways to achieve this.

It needs to be cooked for a bit to get a creamy high-fat orgeat. It takes heat and time to melt the almond oils out of a nut, so a few minutes of cooking isn’t going to cut it. The mixture should simmer for at least 30 to 45 minutes to adequately heat the oils out. Seeping/infusing the nuts in water doesn’t work either because water does not dissolve oil. Sweet almonds have 50% more fat than bitter almonds, so a blend of sweet and bitter almonds is traditionally used to achieve the desired fat to flavor ratio. It helps to grind the nut down as small as possible, but it still takes heat and time to melt the fat, swell the cells with hot water, and push the almond fat out. A stick blender helps break down the pieces to their smallest size.

To get a pleasantly bitter almond cherry flavor, bitter almonds are traditionally used, but bitter almond extract is a safer way to get the same taste. The chemical responsible for that flavor is Benzaldehyde. The breakdown of amygdalin creates Benzaldehyde, but Hydrogen Cyanide is also made in that process. Hydrogen Cyanide needs to be boiled off to ensure the mixture is safe, and testing must be done to validate its safety. I’ll be honest. I was thinking about publishing a traditional North African orgeat recipe, but I have decided not to as the risk is greater than zero. If not prepared properly, it can be dangerous. Keeping bitter almonds around can be dangerous if children are present as they could find them and try to eat them; they need to be ground up and cooked correctly (evaporating the cyanide while minimizing the oxidation of benzaldehyde takes a gentle touch), and proper testing must be done of the syrup. It needs to be cooked in a well-ventilated area. That is asking too much of the casual mixologist who wants to make some at home. Alternatively, bitter almond extract can be used to add bitter almond flavor without the risk. Therefore that will be the recipe I will provide. The result is similar enough that it’s hard to tell the difference, it’s easy to add bitter almond extract, and it has none of the same risks.

It is also preferable to blanc the seeds and remove the almond skins. The almond seeds’ outer skin is bitter and offers no desirable flavor. Almond skins can also cause nettle rash in some individuals when eaten. It is easy to find blanched almonds and preground almond flour, but removing the skins yourself is easy. Pour boiling water on top of the seed and let them sit for a few minutes. The skins quickly absorb the hot water and swell up. This detaches the skins from the seeds and makes the skins easy to rub off with just your fingers.

Recipe Resources

NOTE: The book linked below is an amazing resource. If cooking, baking or making your own drink ingredients is something, you want to get into or improve your knowledge of I highly recommend it.

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