Clear Ice Cubes – Easy Trick To Make Perfect Ice

Clear Ice Cubes
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Quick Step-by-Step Video On How To Make Clear Ice Cubes

Clear Ice Cubes

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

1

servings
Calories

0

kcal
Total time

15

minutes

Learn the easy way to make perfectly crystal clear ice cubes

Ingredients

  • 2 Gallon 2 Water

  • 1-3 Silicon 1-3 Ice Molds

  • 1 9 qt. 1 Insulated Cooler

Directions

  • Punch 2-3 small holes in the bottom of the ice molds for dissolved air to move through.
  • Position molds at the top of a small insulated cooler.
  • Fill the cooler with water to the top of the ice molds and place in the freezer.
  • Let the water slowly freeze for 24 – 48 hours till the molds are completely frozen.
  • Remove the Ice molds and remove the crystal clear ice cubes.

Recipe Video

How To Make Clear Ice.

The only way to make clear ice is to freeze water in one direction so that the dissolved oxygen is pushed back. Water put in an ice tray will freeze from the outside in. This traps the dissolved air in the cube’s center, which gives it a cloudy look. By freezing in one direction, air never gets stuck in the ice.

The easiest way to freeze in one direction is to freeze the water slowly from the top down in an insulated cooler. An insulated cooler prevents the sides and bottom from freezing and forces the water to freeze from the top down. It can take a day or two to freeze the top layer, but the result will be a nice transparent thick layer of ice on the top. It’s just that simple.

The reason water freezes from the top-down have to do with its density at different temperatures. Water, like anything else, gets denser as it gets colder, but once it freezes, it crystallizes and expands, becoming less dense. This is why icebergs and ice cubes float. At 15°C, water has a density of 999.1 kg/m3. At 1°C, it gets heavier at 999.9 kg/m3, but once it freezes at -1°C, it expands to a weight of 998.12 kg/m3. As a result, cooler water will always drop, and warmer water will always rise to the top. The top layer of water will cool and fall, and the next layer will rise to the top to cool till it drops. This cycle continues until all the water in the cooler drops to 1°C. At this point, there is no more warm water to replace the dropping cold water, and the top layer will crystalize and freeze. Each new layer of ice will expand and freeze to the topmost layer of ice. The water’s expanding and freezing cycle continues from the top-down, forming a crystal transparent top layer of ice. Air will not crystalize or bond to the other ice, so it is pushed down. Air Will continue to get pushed down till it has nowhere else to go, thus forming cloudy-looking air bubbles.

What Type Of Mold Makes Clear Ice?

No ice mold makes clear ice. The only way to get clear ice is to freeze it from the top down. Any mold can be placed at the top of an insulated cooler filled with water to make clear ice. The mold needs a hole in the bottom for the dissolved air to be pushed through.

What Are The Benefits Of Clear Ice?

The two main benefits of clear ice is it melts slower and is visually more appealing. The truth is that clear ice melts at the same rate regardless of whether it is clear. It seems to melt slower because clear ice is all frozen water, while cloudy ice is a mix of frozen water and cold air. For this reason, a clear cube will weigh more than a cloudy cube, and extra water keeps its temperature longer. The trapped cold air will not hold at all, and once it is freed from the ice, it releases into the atmosphere. To provide numbers, water requires 4,200 joules of energy to change a kilogram of water by 1°C. Air-only requires 1,006 joules of energy to change the same air mass by 1°C. It’s not that the ice is melting slower. There is more of it to slow down the melting process.

Does Distilled Water Makes Clear Ice?

The mineral content has nothing to do with the clarity of the ice. Again the main cloudiness comes from the trapped air bubbles. If the water is frozen slowly in a large insulated container, the dissolved minerals are pushed down as the water freezes, similar to the dissolved gas. Using distilled water would only make and if the ice cubes were made the usual way by placing an ice tray in the freezer with the whole cube freezing. Technically there should be a difference, but I have personally never noticed a difference between using distilled and regular water, even when making regular cubes.

I have noticed a big difference between ice cubes made from the water straight from the tap and water that rested on the counter for an hour. This is because while in the pipe, water is under 4x the pressure it would be under in a typical atmospheric environment. This increased pressure results in more dissolved gas in the water. Similar to how carbonated beverages are bottled under pressure to maintain their carbonation, most of that carbonation escapes once they are opened. Water that has rested on the counter for an hour is more effective than distilled water. You’ll even see the dissolved bubbles reforming and concentrating inside the glass.

Should I Boil Water To Make Clear Ice?

If you are freezing the water slowly, then hot water does not matter. Although if you are freezing the water rapidly, like in a typical ice tray, starting with hot water will result in a clearer cube. This has to do with internal and atmospheric pressures: the more significant the relative atmospheric pressure, the more dissolved gas in the water. Typical water pipes are around 60PSI (41kPa), 4x atmospheric pressure at sea level. For this reason, there will be 4x the amount of dissolved air in water from the tap than in the water left on the counter for a few hours. This can be observed by filling a glass of water from the tap and then leaving it on the counter to decompress. After an hour, air bubbles will form inside the glass due to atmospheric pressure.

Boiling is loosely related to temperature and results from when the vapor phase pressure equals atmospheric pressure. This is why 100°C and 212°F are measured at sea level. Water boils at lower temperatures at higher elevations and higher temperatures when under increased pressure. More dissolved gas is dispersed by increasing the internal pressure relative to the atmospheric pressure. If the hot water is quickly added to an ice tray and placed in the freezer, the outside of the cube quickly freezes, sealing out the atmospheric gas. It’s not perfect, but it will result in a more transparent cube than a cube made from room temperature water. Then again, if frozen slowly in a large insulated container, the temperature makes no difference.

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Cream of Coconut – Easy Flavorful Recipe

Cream of Coconut
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Cream of Coconut

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

20

servings
Calories

130

kcal
Total time

10

minutes

Make the best cream of coconut.

Ingredients

  • 1 can 1 Coconut Milk

  • 2 cups 2 White Sugar

  • 1/2 tsp 1/2 Salt

  • Optional Ingredients
  • 1 tsp 1 Coconut Extract (Flavor Enhancer)

  • 2 tsp 2 Lecithin (Foaming Agent)

Directions

  • Combine the coconut milk and sugar in a pan. If using lecithin, first blend coconut milk with Lecithin and whisk together till the lecithin is fully incorporated, and then combine the coconut milk and sugar in a pan.
  • Turn on low heat and whiskey together till the sugar is fully dissolved.
  • Remove from heat and let the cream of coconut cool. If adding salt and coconut extract, add once the cream of coconut has cooled and mix them in.
  • Refrigerate cream of coconut or freeze to store for an extended period of time.

Featured Video

Should I Buy Cream Of Coconut Or Make It?

Always make your own syrup. Never buy syrup, but it’s ok to buy this one if you want to. Coco Lopez and Coco Real are both pretty good products, but the homemade stuff is better. The ingredients in a homemade cream of coconut are much better too. If you have the ingredients and 10 minutes, make your own. If you need to go to the store to buy cream of coconut anyway, you can purchase the ingredients instead and make a much better product.

The Difference Between Cream Of Coconut, Coconut Cream, Coconut Milk, and Coconut Water.

While they all sound similar, coconut water, coconut milk, coconut cream, and cream of coconut are very different. Exactly what coconuts are processed into depends on how mature the coconut is. Coconuts are only harvested when they are young or old. Young green coconuts are sweeter and have more sweet tasty water and less fatty meat. Older brown coconuts have less sweet delicious water and more fatty meat. Check out the differences below to know what each one is used for.

1). Cream Of Coconut

Cream of coconut is coconut syrup like the white coconut syrup used on top of pancakes, in desserts, and in drinks. Making cream of coconut with coconut cream results in a dense and overly fatty syrup. Coconut milk works better for making cream of coconut.

Your standard cream of coconut is just equal parts coconut milk and sugar. If you are making this at home, a normal-size can of coconut milk is about 400 grams (≈ 1.5 Cups). So combine 400 grams of coconut milk and 400 grams of sugar. Gently heat the mixture and stir till the sugar is fully dissolved.

If you want to take it a step further, try adding an emulsifier, a little salt, and a small amount of coconut extract. An emulsifier will make the coconut fat water soluble, which helps it mix better and stay evenly suspended in the final mix drink. Not as noticeable in blended drinks, but it does help for shaken and strained drinks like the Acapulco or Coco Loco. And a little bit of salt and coconut extract helps intensify the coconut flavor without adding volume.

2). Coconut Cream

Coconut cream is made from just older brown coconuts. It’s mostly coconut fats; it is unsweetened and has a deep rich coconut flavor. They are usually used for cooking and thickening soups or curries. This is a bit too fatty to be used to make the sweetened cream of coconuts for cocktails. Coconut milk is better for that.

3). Coconut Milk

Coconut milk is made from both green and older brown coconuts. Coconut milk is made by combining the water of green coconuts with the fatty meat of older brown coconuts. I used to think the coconuts were just harvested at the halfway point, but that’s not the case. Coconuts are harvested either young or old, and coconut milk is a mix of the two. Coconut milk is excellent for cooking and making drinks. It’s sweet and fatty, so it’s a perfect middle ground between the two. Use coconut milk to make a cream of coconut. It’s the right balance of fat and water.

4). Coconut Water

The coconut water you buy at a store to drink is the fluid inside a coconut and is processed from only young green coconuts. Coconut water is usually harvested from 6-month-old green coconut. Coconut water is pretty Healthy. It’s high in potassium, magnesium, and manganese, suitable for your bones, blood pressure, heart, hydration, etc. Most everyone knows coconut water is a healthier alternative to sugary beverages but Google it for more exact information. If you drink too much, the worst is that you get diarrhea. Also, you can not make a cream of coconut with this.

What Are Some Cream Of Coconut Substitutes?

The two main store-bought cream of coconuts are Coco Lopez and Coco Real. Coco Real has slightly better ingredients, but Coco Lopez is the original. For the most part, though, they are pretty similar, and so are all the other smaller brands. If you have coconut cream but don’t feel like making a whole thing of cream of coconut (I know the names are too similar), then split the cream of coconut volume between coconut cream and simple syrup. Pew, that was difficult to write, so I imagine it was hard to read. Here is an example of what I am saying. If your pina colada recipe calls for 4 oz cream of coconut, then add 2 oz coconut cream and 2 oz of simple syrup.

As far as substituting cream of coconut entirely, try using evaporated milk. It’s very similar to cream of coconut and can be substituted 1:1 directly. The other option is to leave it out entirely if the drink still works. It can’t be left out of a pina colada (you can’t make the drink without it), but an Acapulco is just as good with cream of coconut as it is without.

The Benefits Of Adding An Emulsifier.

Cream of coconut can be made by adding sugar and coconut milk together, which would be great. Unfortunately, It will separate from the rest of the liquid in a cold drink. Coconut fats start to solidify at a pretty warm 75f (24c), which needs to be kept above that to stay liquid. Cocktails are much cooler than that, so once a cocktail is chilled, the fats will turn solid and clump together. That’s not a big deal in blended drinks, but it’s pronounced in shaken drinks or stirred ones. This is why drinks like the pearl diver, pina colada, blue Hawaiian, etc., are all blended.

The solution to this is to add an emulsifier. Common emulsifiers in food are lecithin and casein. These are naturally present in foods like eggs and milk but can be bought online as purified powders. Lecithin powder is pretty easy to get and easy to work with. Use 1% of lecithin to the amount you are looking to emulsify. So to emulsify 400g of coconut milk or butter, add 4g of lecithin and thoroughly mix. Bonding lecithin to the fats (or water) will ensure that the fats stay evenly suspended and incorporated in the final drink. It makes the fats water soluble and opens these ingredients to use beyond just being blended.

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Simple Syrup – Easy Recipe

Simple Syrup
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Simple Syrup

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

20

servings
Calories

90

kcal
Total time

1

minute

A quick and easy simple syrup recipe.

Ingredients

  • Clear 3:2 Simple Syrup
  • 2 cups 2 White Sugar

  • 1.5 cups 1.5 Water

  • Optional Ingredient For Foaming Simple Syrup
  • 2 tsp 2 Lecithin (Foaming Agent)

Directions

  • For stirred cocktails use non-foaming Simple Syrup
  • Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and under gentle heat stir till the sugar is fully dissolved.
  • Bottle and refrigerate or freeze to store for an extended period of time.
  • For shaken cocktails use foaming Simple Syrup
  • Moisten lecithin and add it to the syrup, mix to combine. This will make a foaming simple syrup.

Featured Video

What Is Simple Syrup And Why Should You Use It.

Simple Syrup is sugar dissolved in water. That’s it. It’s no more complicated than that. The only thing to remember when making simple syrup is there are two kinds of simple syrup. Standard 1:1 syrup and rich 2:1 syrup. 1:1 is just that, 1 part sugar to equal part water, and rich is two parts sugar to 1 part water. The clear winner between the two is rich simple syrup, it’s sweeter, last refrigerated longer, and most of the old recipes used rich syrup. Standard 1:1 is kind of the lazy man’s simple syrup, IMO. Advantages to standard simple syrup are it’s easier to make and pours a bit better. Although both taste good, simple syrup is a great way to add sweetness to a drink without changing its flavor.

The reason for using simple syrup, instead of just adding granulated sugar or sugar cubes, is it helps sugar incorporate into other liquids easier and much faster. Don’t use powdered or confectioners sugar as those are mixed with corn starch to prevent clumping. Some use sugar cubes in their drinks, and while they look fantastic and many old books call for using them, they don’t dissolve well and end up making a sugary crystal sludge on the bottom of the drink. Simple syrup solves many of the issues of regular white sugar by mixing easily with alcohol. It is easily measured in a jigger, is a consistent ingredient, and helps you work faster with less effort. There are no downsides to using simple syrup, but many use sugar cubes or granulated sugar.

Do You Need To Use Hot Water To Make Simple Syrup?

It depends on whether you are making rich or standard simple syrup. Rich simple syrup requires hot water to make it, and standard simple syrup does not. It all comes down to the concentration of sugar. Hot water can be saturated more than colder water. At room temperature, 1000 mLs of water becomes completely saturated with around 2000 grams of sugar, which is 2:1 and even though it is technically possible with water in a perfect environment. Even with filtered water, the sugar fights back and competes with other dissolved minerals in a typical environment. To reasonably combine sugar and water in a real-world setting, the water has to be able to hold 2x the sugar you are asking it to keep at a particular temperature. Near boiling temperatures, 1000 mLs of water can contain around 4000 grams of sugar. Thus it’s reasonable to dissolve equal parts sugar and water at room temperature and 2:1 sugar and water at near-boiling temperatures. Check out this handy chart for the solubility of sugar in water at various temperatures.

Should I Buy Simple Syrup Or Make It?

Always make your own simple syrup. Never buy this. It is just two ingredients: water and sugar. On top of that, most store-bought simple syrups are the cheaper standard simple syrup. Not even the better rich simple syrup. Most folks already have sugar at home, which saves a trip to the store, but if you need to go to the store, buy a bag of sugar instead of a bottle of syrup and make it at home. Simple syrup can only really be used as simple syrup, but sugar can be used to bake or cook. There are countless things you can make with a bag of granulated sugar.

What Is The Shelf Life Of Simple Syrup?

Again that depends on the kind of simple syrup and whether it is standard or rich. Always refrigerate simple syrup but even refrigerated, it goes bad pretty fast, so make it the same day you plan to use it instead of ahead of time. Standard simple syrup will last about one week in the fridge, and rich simple syrup will last 3 to 4 weeks in the refrigerator. Toss it out once you start to see any cloudiness, regardless of how old it is. That’s mold growing, and the syrup has gone bad. Take it from some who had multiple food poisoning and even salmonella once. Don’t mess with turned food.

Simple Syrup Substitutes.

While simple syrup is the gold standard in adding a clean natural sweetness to drinks, there can be reasons you want to use something else. Whether to impart additional flavors or for dietary reasons, here is a list of simple syrup substitutes.

  • Honey Syrup: Honey is about 1/2 sweeter than regular sugar. Try mixing this 2:1 (200 grams of honey to 100 grams of water) to get a syrup similar to a rich simple syrup. Try this recipe here for simple honey syrup.
  • Maple Syrup: Maple syrup is around 3x as sweet as regular sugar. Try mixing this 3/4:1 (75 grams maple syrup to 100 grams water) to water to get a syrup similar to rich simple syrup.
  • Stevia: Stevia is around 100x sweeter than regular sugar. Try mixing this 1 teaspoon (5 g) powdered stevia or 2 teaspoons (10 mLs) liquid stevia to 2 cups (500 mLs) of water to get a syrup similar to rich simple syrup.
  • Monk Fruit sweetener: Pure monk fruit is around 200x sweeter than regular sugar. Try mixing this 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 g) Monk fruit sweetener to 2 cups (500 mLs) of water to get a syrup similar to a rich simple syrup.
  • Agave syrup: Agave is around 1.5x sweeter than regular sugar. Try mixing this 1:1 agave syrup to water to get a syrup similar to a rich simple syrup.
  • Coconut sugar: Coconut sugar is the exact same sweetness as regular sugar. Try mixing this 2:1 coconut sugar to water to get a syrup similar to a rich simple syrup.

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Honey Syrup – Delicious & Easy Recipe

Honey
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Honey Syrup

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

10

servings
Calories

150

kcal
Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a simple Honey syrup.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups 2 Honey

  • 1 cup 1 Water

Directions

  • Simply combine the honey with warm water and stir till the honey is completely dissolved.
  • Bottle and use like regular syrup.

Featured Video

What Is The Difference Between Honey Syrup vs. Regular Honey?

Honey is SUPER sweet and a bit richer than simple syrup, so you want to dilute it. Trying to get honey to dissolve in a drink is like getting regular sugar crystals to dissolve. It takes a while and is somewhat difficult. So to make cocktails, you’ll want to make honey syrup. Just mix honey and water at a 2 to 1 ratio. 2 oz honey to 1 oz water. This dilutes the honey enough so that it will blend easily but still be sweet.

There are tons of different kinds of honey, all with subtle variations based on the flowers used, environment, and bee. However, it doesn’t matter once it’s mixed into drinks with citrus, liqueurs, and spirits. So pick get any kind and go with it.

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Raspberry Simple Syrup – Easy & Flavorful Recipe

Raspberry Syrup
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Quick Step-By-Step Raspberry Syrup Recipe Video

Raspberry Syrup

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

10

servings
Calories

150

kcal
Total time

20

minutes

A Simple and delicious raspberry syrup recipe for drinks.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups 2 Sugar

  • 1.5 cups 1.5 Water

  • 5 oz 5 Raspberries

  • Optional Ingredients
  • 1 tsp 1 Raspberry Extract (Flavor Enhancer)

  • 2 tsp 2 Lecithin (Foaming Agent)

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

Directions

  • Over low heat combine the water and sugar together and stir till the sugar is dissolved.
  • Add the raspberries and smash them into hot syrup and let the mixture simmer for 5 – 10 minutes.
  • Filter the syrup through a mesh strainer and press the juice out of the raspberries. While the syrup is still warm add the citric acid, and once the syrup has cooled ad the raspberry extract and moistened lecithin. Bottle and refrigerate or freeze to store for an extended period of time.

Recipe Video

The History Of Raspberry Syrup For Cocktails.

Raspberry syrup is one of the oldest red fruit syrups for cocktails. Raspberry syrup, along with strawberry syrup, was being used regularly when the first actual cocktail book, Jerry Thomas’s Bartenders guide, was published in 1862. Raspberry syrup stayed a popular cocktail syrup in the United States till about the 1910s, when grenadine, pomegranate syrup, took over much of its role. Grenadine, or Rob-e-anar as it is called in Persian, made its way through Europe during the later part of the 1800s from Persia, where it is an ingredient in some traditional dishes. Raspberry syrup still retained some users in America, but grenadine became very popular in Europe and replaced raspberry syrup in many recipes. Comparing cocktails recipes between the US, England, and France shows how the European versions changed. The clover club in the United States calls for raspberry syrup, but they use grenadine in the Savoy cocktail book. Same for the rose, and in the East India cocktail, all syrup is removed entirely. A few new recipes that came out after the 1910s used raspberry syrup but its importance and prevalence were greatly diminished.

Should I Buy Raspberry Syrup Or Make It At Home?

Always make your own syrups unless it’s gum syrup, tonic syrup, or orgeat. Gum and orgeat you can make; it is just a pain in the butt and tonic I would never make from scratch. Raspberry simple syrup is super easy to make, is cheap to make too, results in a much better product, and is hard to find. You can find it as a syrup for waffles and such, but those do not taste that good and are too thick.

This is super easy to make and takes no more than 10 minutes. Simmer 2 cups (240g) of sugar, 1 cup (120mls) of water, and 1 cup (120g) of raspberries together for 10 minutes, strain, and you’re done!

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Passion Fruit Syrup – Recipe

Passion Fruit Syrup
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Quick Step-By-Step Passion Fruit Syrup Recipe Video

Passion Fruit Syrup

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

10

servings
Calories

150

kcal
Total time

20

minutes

Easy passion fruit syrup for drinks

Ingredients

  • 2 cups 2 Sugar

  • 1.5 cups 1.5 Water

  • 100 grams 100 Passion Fruit Pulp

  • Optional Ingredients
  • 2 tsp 2 Lecithin (Foaming Agent)

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

Directions

  • Over low heat combine the water and sugar together and stir till the sugar is dissolved.
  • Add the passion fruit pulp and let the mixture simmer for 5 – 10 minutes.
  • Filter the syrup through a mesh strainer and press the juice out of the passion fruit pulp. Optionally Add the moistened lecithin and citric acid.

Recipe Video

What Is A Passion Fruit?

Passion fruit natively comes from South America, and in Hawaii, it is called lilikoi. It’s a very flavorful tart little fruit that comes from the passionflower, and it can be used in any dessert or other sweet item. I can’t think of any use of passion fruit in savory food. It’s primarily used in desserts and drinks. Passion fruit also has a bit of vitamin C and vitamin A, but that’s kind of it. It just tastes perfect.

Should I Buy Passion Fruit Syrup Or Make It?

Always make your own syrups unless it’s gum syrup, tonic syrup, or orgeat. Gum and orgeat you can make, but it’s just a pain in the butt and tonic I would never make from scratch. Passion fruit syrup is super easy to make, cheaper than buying it, and a much better product.

What Are Passion Fruit Syrup Substitutes?

There are no substitutes for passion fruit syrup as it has such a unique taste. There is no single fruit it tastes like, but if I were to try and recreate it, I would try combining a few flavors. I would try mixing a Meyer Lemon juice, some kiwi juice, and pineapple juice. Again there is nothing like passion fruit but those flavors could get you pretty close.

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Dark Simple Syrup Recipe

Dark Simple Syrup
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Dark Simple Syrup

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

8

servings
Calories

150

kcal
Total time

3

minutes

A simple brown simple syrup for drinks.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups 2 Brown, demerara, or other non-bleached sugar

  • 1.5 cups 1.5 Water

Directions

  • Combine the sugar and water in a heat proof container and microwave on high for 30 seconds or heat on the stove. Stir to combine
  • Once the syrup has cooled bottle and refrigerate or freeze to store for an extended period of time.

Featured Video

What Is The Difference Between Brown Sugar And White Sugar?

So, believe it or not, white sugar is bleached to make it white. Bleaching sugar produces a completely uncolored and clean sweetener that only adds sweetness and no additional flavor. Non-bleached but still refined sugar will always have a little molasses left behind. Molasses can only be wholly removed chemically. Regardless most manufactured sugar is bleached. To produce brown sugar, many companies will mix a little extracted molasses back into the bleached refined sugar. Natural, non bleached brown sugars are: turbinado sugar, demerara sugar, muscovado sugar, and piloncillo sugar. These sugars vary in how refined the molasses content is. These will make a simple dark syrup with a similar enough taste. Sure there will be some differences, but if you can’t find piloncillo or demerara, then turbinado or regular brown sugar will do.

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Grenadine – Traditional Recipe

Grenadine
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Quick Step-By-Step Grenadine Recipe Video

Grenadine – Pomegranate Syrup

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

10

servings
Calories

150

kcal
Total time

10

minutes

A simple easy grenadine recipe for cocktails.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups 2 White Sugar

  • 1.5 cups 1.5 Pomegranate Juice

  • 1 oz 1 Orange Blossom Water

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

  • 2 tsp 2 Lecithin Powder (Foaming Agent)

Directions

  • Combine sugar and pomegranate juice in a stove top pot and bring to a light simmer.
  • Stir till the sugar is fully dissolved and let the syrup simmer 5 minutes or till it has thickened a little. This give the syrup a more velvety texture and lets the flavors caramelize, giving the syrup a deeper more develop flavor.
  • Remove the grenadine from the heat and while still warm add the cream of tartar and stir to combine. Let it cool and then stir in orange blossom water. Optionally add the citric acid and moistened lecithin.
  • Bottle and refrigerate.

Recipe Video

What Is Grenadine?

Grenadine is a simple pomegranate syrup, and it originated in Persia (modern-day Iran), where it is called Rob-e-anar and is a traditional ingredient in some Persian dishes. In Persian cooking, it is boiled down to a molasses-like thickness, but when used in cocktails, the thinner syrup viscosity mixes easier. The word grenadine comes from the French word for pomegranate, grenade. During the 19th century, pomegranate syrup was mainly unknown in the United States, yet syrups made from raspberries and strawberries were much more common in drinks. Grenadine starts to get popular as a cocktail ingredient in the US around the 20th century. Some of the first grenadine cocktails appear in George Kappeler’s (Of the New York’s Holland House Hotel) 1895 Modern American Drinks and Louis Fouquet’s 1896 Bariana. Grenadine most likely started as a European syrup that quickly made its way to the United States and by the 1910s became a much more common syrup in mixed drinks. It’s around this time that cocktails like the Jack rose and ward 8 come about. Regional variations of some drinks still exist, though; these result from Americans having a long history of using raspberry or strawberry syrups. For example, the rose cocktail in American cocktail books often used raspberry syrup, and English cocktail books used grenadine. Another example is the clover club cocktail, wherein the United States is made with raspberry syrup, but in English books like the savoy, it’s made with grenadine.

Should You Buy Grenadine Or Make It?

Always make your own syrups unless it’s gum syrup, tonic syrup, or orgeat. Gum and orgeat you can make, but it is just a pain in the butt and tonic I would never make from scratch. Grenadine is super easy to make, cheap to make and results in a much better product. The recipe below is a standard grenadine recipe, but an ounce of pomegranate molasses adds richness to the syrup.

If you don’t have orange blossom water, that’s fine, but it adds a fantastic flavor and aroma to the syrup. Its importance shouldn’t be understated, but don’t let not having it keep you from making your own. Pomegranate juice and sugar are good, but it is traditional to add orange blossom water. Remember, grenadine originated from the Middle East as a culinary ingredient, and orange blossom water is also a common ingredient in Persian cooking. If you want to make a grenadine that tastes similar to what early French and English mixologists were using, add a little orange blossom water. If middle eastern markets are not common in your area, order them online. It’s worth it.

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Gardenia Mix – Classic Tiki Recipe

Gardenia Mix
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Gardenia Mix

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

4

servings
Calories

150

kcal
Total time

15

minutes

Make gardenia mix for a classic pearl diver.

Ingredients

  • 4 oz 4 Honey

  • 4 oz 4 Unsalted Butter

  • 4 dash 4 Vanilla Extract

  • 1 tsp 1 Ground Cinnamon

  • 1 tsp 1 Ground Allspice

  • Optional Ingredient
  • 1 g 1 Lecithin (as an emulsifier)

Directions

  • On very low heat or using a double boiler, just melt the butter and then turn off the heat. Don’t cook and separate the butter, just melt it. (Optionally blend the butter with Lecithin and whisk together till the lecithin is fully incorporated.)
  • Next simply add all the other ingredients to the melted butter.
  • Stir till the honey has fully mixed in. Cover gardenia mix and refrigerate to store it. Let it come room temperature before you use it.

Featured Video

Gardenia Mix Recipe.

A Google search for gardenia mix will yield a few recipes, and most are variations of Jeff “Beachbum” Berry’s recipe. Jeff Berry’s recipe is:

  • 1 oz honey
  • 1 oz unsalted butter
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla syrup
  • 1 tsp cinnamon syrup
  • 1/2 tsp allspice dram

You heat it a little, just enough to melt the butter, and then blend it all. Easy enough. I don’t have cinnamon or vanilla syrup around all the time or feel like making it, so a recipe without those would be:

  • 2 oz honey
  • 2 oz unsalted butter
  • 2 dash vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground allspice

I also doubled the volumes as the normal recipe makes too little batter. There are other variations for emulsifying the butter fats better, so they don’t clump, and others to be different and “improve” the recipe.

What Is Don The Beachcomber’s Original Gardenia Mix Recipe?

The issue for everyone alive today wanting to make Pearl Divers is Donn Beach never published his recipes and went to great lengths to make sure no one ever knew them. He even named it gardenia mix, even though the mixture has nothing to do with a real gardenia flower. It was all to throw people off. There is also a high likelihood that he even slightly changed his recipes several times during his career and ultimately took those recipes to the grave in 1989. (read my general tiki description for more information) During the mid-90s, Jeff Berry met with former bartenders, gathered information, and tested recipes with people familiar with how the cocktails tasted and were constructed. All that hard work ultimately paid off in giving us the Donn the Beachcomber recipes we have today.

The Benefits Of Adding An Emulsifier.

Gardenia Mix can be made by combining the butter and spices together, which will taste great. Unfortunately, It will separate in a cold drink from the rest of the liquid. Butter fats solidify around 65f (18c), which needs to be kept above that to stay liquid. Obviously, cocktails are much cooler than that, so once a cocktail is chilled, the fats will turn solid and clump together. That’s not a big deal in blended drinks, but it’s pronounced in shaken drinks or stirred ones. This is why drinks like the pearl diver, pina colada, blue Hawaiian, etc., are all blended.

The solution to this is to add an emulsifier. Common emulsifiers in food are lecithin and casein. These are naturally present in foods like eggs and milk but can be bought online as purified powders. Lecithin powder is pretty easy to get and easy to work with. Use 1% of lecithin to the amount you are looking to emulsify. So to emulsify 400g of coconut milk or butter, add 4g of lecithin and thoroughly mix. Bonding lecithin to the fats (or water) will ensure that the fats stay evenly suspended and incorporated in the final drink. It makes the fats water soluble and opens these ingredients to use beyond just being blended.

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Mulling Spices – Easy Cocktail Spice Mix

Mulling Spices
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Mulling Spices

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

1

servings
Calories

5

kcal
Total time

5

minutes

A list of common mulling spices. Only pick 4 or 5 spices from this list. Using all the listed spices would be overwhelming.

Ingredients

  • 3-4 whole 3-4 All Spice Berries

  • 4-5 whole 4-5 Cloves

  • 1 stick 1 Cinnamon Stick

  • 2 peels 2 Orange Peels

  • 1-2 whole 1-2 Star Anise

  • 5-6 whole 5-6 Coriander Seeds

  • 1 small chunk 1 Ginger

  • 2-3 whole 2-3 Cardamom Pods

  • 5-6 whole 5-6 Black Peppercorns

Directions

  • Select 4 or 5 of the above spices depending on the flavors you want to infuse into your drink.
  • Use the suggested amounts listed above to avoid overwhelming the drink. A little goes a long way.

Featured Video

What Are The Best Spices For Mulling?

Mulling spices can be whatever you want them to be. There is no actual recipe, just a group of ingredients to select from that will give you the flavor profiles you want from your mulled drink. Are you looking to make it more dry and spicy, or are you looking for more herbal flavors? Your traditional mulling spices are:

  1. All Spice Berries
  2. Cloves
  3. Cinnamon Stick
  4. Orange Peels
  5. Star Anise
  6. Coriander Seeds
  7. Ginger
  8. Cardamom
  9. Black Peppercorns

What Are The Right Amount Of Mulling Spices?

Think Christmas or Indian spices, or something like chai tea. Don’t put all of those in, though. You want to pick 4 or 5 tops; otherwise, the spices overwhelm the drink. Almost all mulling spices I’ve ever seen have cinnamon sticks, cloves, and orange peels. Not that you have to stick to that, but those three are almost always used. Pick one more item to add or two if you’re feeling crazy. Word of caution, do not add too much spice. It’s straightforward to toss in a bit too much. How much is reasonable? Very little. Alcohol effectively extracts oils and emulsifies fats (hence why wine is commonly used to deglaze a pan). As a result, what will feel like too few spices is the right amount since more of the oils locked inside are being extracted.

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