What is Orgeat?
Orgeat is an almond syrup, super popular during the tiki drinks craze of the 1930s and 1940s. It's used in a lot of tropical style drinks, including one of our favourites, the Mai Tai. It's also used in a lot of pre-Prohibition classics like the Japanese Cocktail. There are some amazing flavours in here that transform your drinks. Commonly it's made with rose and orange blossom water, so you get a really perfumed, bright flavour complementing the toasty almonds.
Why should I make Orgeat?
Traditional recipes call for blanched almonds blended with water and then strained, which can get messy. We have a shortcut recipe below that's commonly used. We've been using it for years and it's amazing.
This recipe gives consistent results and flavours every time, and it's a lot quicker and easier. You just need to get hold of a quality almond milk.
You can buy orgeat. Our recommendation though is to make it yourself. It will last for months and months (stored properly!), it's cheap, and frankly it's better than most shop bought orgeat.
Once you've made it you can explore the world of tropical cocktails, and there are some amazing drinks to be tried.
Ingredients
- 2 cups unsweetened almond milk. Buy a quality unsweetened 100% almond milk, we'll add the sugar
- 3 cups plain white sugar
- 1/2 tsp rose water. It's very strong, add just a little, don't be tempted
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp orange blossom water
How to make it
- Prep time
- 1 minute
- Cooking time
- 3-4 minutes
- Total time
- 5 minutes
- 1Preheat a saucepan on a low heat.
- 2Add the almond milk and sugar.
- 3Stir to combine until all the sugar is dissolved.
- 4Keep it on a low heat and stir constantly. Don't let it boil or simmer.
- 5Keep going until all the sugar grains are gone.
- 6Once fully combined, take it off the heat and add the almond extract, rose water and orange blossom water. Give it a stir and you're done.
Storing your Orgeat
Store in the fridge in an airtight bottle that has been sterilised beforehand. Stored this way it will last about a month. The recipe above will make enough orgeat for a few months.
Our tip, freeze it! It will last for months and months in the freezer. Then decant a little syrup into a bottle in the fridge as you need it. Perfect, an indefinite supply of homemade orgeat. Time for a Mai Tai.
