Simple Syrup

Ingredients

• 237 g water (1 cup)
• 200 g granulated sugar, or turbinado for cocktails (1 cup)
• 19 g food-safe vegetable glycerine (1 Tbsp)

Directions

1. Dissolve the sugar: In a saucepan over medium heat, stir the water and sugar together. Bring to a boil and adjust the heat to a simmer. Add glycerin and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool completely.
3. Store the syrup: Pour the syrup into a glass jar or bottle, and refrigerate until needed. The syrup will last for about 1 month in the refrigerator and almost indefinitely in the freezer.

Notes

Once you have a bottle of simple syrup in the fridge, you’ll find so many uses for it. Iced coffee is my special pick-me-up on a sleepy afternoon. (I never put sugar in my coffee, but iced coffee with a little sugar is almost like ice cream!) A few drops of this syrup in my glass give me the boost I am craving. Simple syrup is also great in homemade iced tea and lemonade!

On weights. The quantities above are the same syrup as the original 1 cup : 1 cup : 1 Tbsp — just weighed, because a cup of sugar is not a reliable measure and a scale is.

🔴 Watch out: 1:1 BY VOLUME is not 1:1 BY WEIGHT. A cup of granulated sugar is about 200 g and a cup of water is about 237 g, so this syrup is roughly 46% sugar by mass, not 50%. If I ever want round numbers, a true 1:1 by weight (237 g : 237 g) is about 18% more sugar — a sweeter, thicker syrup — and I would have to re-balance the 1/3 oz in my Old Fashioned to match. Worth doing deliberately or not at all.

The glycerine works out at about 4% of the finished syrup, by weight or by volume (they land in the same place here). That is well above the 1–2% most sources suggest, and it is deliberate — it is what gives this syrup its body.

⚠ Turbinado is coarser than granulated and packs differently, so a cup of it is not 200 g. Weighing removes that problem too.