How to Make a Fruit Syrup

A classic ingredient used in a number of the most delicious classic cocktails.

A fruit syrup is not only good for cocktails, but can also be poured over desserts, cake, ice cream or anything else you might want to turn into a delicious sticky mess.

It really is easy to make. All you need to do is replace the water in your Simple Syrup or Rich Simple Syrup with fresh fruit juice, pressed ginger juice or the like. As always, we prefer the ‘rich’ style, but the choice is yours.

As an example, let’s look at what is probably the most classic fruit syrup:

Raspberry Syrup

This should take… 5 minutes.

Press fresh raspberries
Press fresh raspberries through a sieve or cheesecloth to extract the juice and leave behind all seeds, leaves and any other debris.
Measure
Measure the amount of raspberry juice you have squeezed, and pour into a pan. This measurement will dictate the amount of sugar you need, and therefore how much syrup you’ll yield.
Measure some more
Clean and dry the measuring device you used for the raspberry juice, then use it again to measure out twice as much white sugar. Keep in mind caster or bakers sugar dissolves more easily and we would highly recommend it for fruit syrups, so that you do not need to apply too much heat in the process.
(You can make it at a 1:1 ratio if you prefer, but we recommend making ‘Rich’ syrups. See here for our reasons why).
Warm ingredients
Warm, don’t boil, and stir the mixture of raspberry juice and sugar together in a pan over a medium heat until it turns bright pink, shiny and glossy.
Bottle
Skim any white foam off the top and pour into a sterilised glass bottle or jar while still warm.
Pour into bottle
Skim any white foam off the top and pour into a labelled sterilised glass bottle or jar while still warm.
Bottle and Store
Store with a lid on and in the fridge to maximise shelf life.