Simple Syrup- Tangerine
I did not know that simple syrup was so, well… simple. On a recent March morning, as my two boys sat at the breakfast bar watching me prepare French Toast, my oldest announced, “Mom, we should make our own syrup. Healthy syrup like apple syrup.” This got my wheels turning and so I went off in search of simple syrup recipes.
It didn’t take long to find a really simple recipe for blueberry syrup, and as I thought about my own back yard. I have a mature fruit tree that I thought was a loquat tree. I went outside to check out the fruit, and discovered that they were tiny tangerines. I couldn’t wait to try out the recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Of Tangerines
- 1 Cup Of Sugar
Equipment: 5qt pot, flat bottom coffee cup, stirring spoon, strainer, creamer jar…
For the record, we just moved in to this house, so some ‘improvisation’ was necessary. The coffee cup replaces a food processor, potato masher or blender, and the creamer jar replaces the Ball jars used for canning. * My lack of canning supplies is also the reason I only made 1 cup of syrup.
First, the kids picked the tangerines right from our tree, and then peeled them. We wound up with a total of 4 cups of tangerines, but we only used 1 cup to make our syrup. The rest got ‘munched.’
Now, I made a few ‘mistakes’, (I didn’t quite read the directions on the blueberry syrup recipe all the way through,) and I started to ‘mush’ the tangerines down in a strainer with the bottom of a coffee cup (my blender, potato masher and food processor were not yet unpacked), and into a bowl. I didn’t really care for that, so I started to try juicing them by hand… I didn’t particularly enjoy that either, so then I went back and read the directions on the blueberry recipe.
This is when I put a fresh cup of tangerines in the 5qt pot, and ‘mooshed’ them again with the coffee cup.
I then brought the fruit to a rapid boil
Next I strained the remnants into a bowl and mixed in the sugar- (another mistake: I was supposed to put it back in the pot, and stir the sugar in, bringing it to a rapid boil again.)
Finally… I poured the contents into the creamer jar…
We all tried a tiny taste on our fingers and it was good. I poured a little bit into a Ramakan (sp?) and dipped a Saltine cracker in it… also good. Then I made some French Toast and put it on that… it was a bit tart.
Next time, I plan to use a Agave sugar, and possibly a little brown sugar, and add cinnamon, nutmeg, and/or a little lemon juice, and maybe persimmons, to cut down on the tartness.