Vintage American Cocktails

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.