[Sca-cooks] re: Lemon Syrup

[Pixel, Queen of Cats]

On Wed, 25 Jul 2001, Ted Eisenstein wrote:

> Having just made a batch of mint-flavored Rum Stuff, and
> having heated up the sugar/water stuff but not having simmered
> it for 20 or 30 minutes, I ask a really basic question:
>
> does heating the sugar/water solution for a long time really
> make a difference? Does it turn into a mild liquid caramel-type
> thing, or does it simply become hot sweet liquid, the same as
> what you'd get if adding sugar to cold water were *poof* suddenly
> hot?
>
> Alban, who'd really hate to have to reboil all that stuff, especially
> now that the rum's in it. . .


You'd have to heat the sugar syrup long enough to boil the water and
alcohol away for it to start to caramelize, so, simmering it for an hour
or longer isn't going to do much. What you will get, if you are simmering
it with the lid off and thus letting the water evaporate, is a syrup with
rum flavor, but not a whole lot, if any, alcohol.

By heating liquid with sugar in it, you can dissolve more sugar in it than
you could if the liquid were cold. By this method you can also make a
supersaturated solution, which is how rock candy is made. Make a
supersaturated solution and introduce a catalyst that will cause the sugar
to crystalize out.

What you have now is most likely a *very* light sugar syrup with rum
flavor and alcohol. If you are looking for a more concentrated syrup, you
will have to cook it down.

Margaret FitzWilliam