What is Demerara syrup?
Demerara syrup is a mix of you guessed it, Demerara sugar and water. It’s an incredible syrup for cocktail making. It provides toffee and caramel notes in your drink from the molasses that you cannot get from simple syrup. It’s a brilliant little swap with simple syrup in Rum and Whisky drinks. The oaky barrel notes of those spirits are complemented by the toffee and caramel from the Demerara, we love it!
Why should I make Demerara syrup?
It’s super easy to make and cheap. Yes you can buy it, our recommendation though is to make it yourself, you know exactly what’s in it, it lasts for months and months (stored properly!), It’s cheaper and has a better texture – convinced yet?
It will unlock a whole menu of cocktails you can make. It takes minutes to make, you can put it in cocktails or over pancakes for the months that follow!
Our recommendation is to make a rich Demerara syrup – thats 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. We like the texture it adds, it’s more syrupy and adds a silky texture to your drinks. The Demerara is an indulgence, and a rich syrup just ups that sweetness and decadence – in a boozy drink like an Old Fashioned it works really well. Or take a drink everyone knows, an Espresso Martini. Commonly, its sweetened with a sweet coffee liqueur. We, however love Mr Blacks cold brew coffee liqueur for its intense and rich coffee flavour – if you love coffee, try this liqueur. It’s much less sweet than those commonly used in Espresso Martinis, so combine it with this Demerara syrup and you have a chocolaty, toffee-y and intense Espresso Martini unlike any you’ve had before.
One more thing, in tropical style drinks it holds up really well against all that crushed ice.
Ingredients
Got your shopping list to ready? You’ll need:
- Demerara sugar
- Water
How to make it
Prep Time | Cooking Time | Total Time |
Like, 30 seconds – let’s say 1 minute | 5-6 minutes | 6-7 minutes |
- Preheat a saucepan on a low heat
- Measure out double the amount of sugar to water by volume – two mugs of sugar to one mug of water
- Add them to the saucepan and stir to combine, stir constantly
- Keep it on a low heat and stir it constantly, don’t let it boil or simmer or you’ll begin to make caramel!
- As soon as the sugar is dissolved, remove it from the heat. If you keep going it will get thinner and too sweet. We’re looking for a thick texture here
- Once the grains are gone, you’re done
Storing your Demerara syrup
Store in the fridge in an airtight bottle that has been sterilised beforehand. Stored this way, it will last about a month.
Our tip, freeze it! It will last for months and months. Then decant a little syrup into a bottle in the fridge as you need it. Perfect, an indefinite supply of homemade Demerara syrup!