The peak of strawberry season is simply begging for this homemade strawberry syrup recipe! Pour it over waffles and parfaits, drizzle on delicate angel food cake, stir into drinks for sweet strawberry flavor in all of your delicious recipes this spring and summer.
Does your family have any spring and summer traditions? Ever since we moved to the Virginia countryside, we have been trying to find more and more ways to create memories taking advantage of all the beautiful events and places around us.
We've gone to local farms, walked the nature trails and visited plenty of old towns here. We live on the outskirts of one and really enjoyed watching the cherry blossom trees bloom all over our neighborhood and into town square, where strawberry lemonade is now given out freely during the farmers' market every sunday during fresh strawberry season.
Of course, I had to buy a few pints of local strawberries to make my own strawberry syrup to keep on hand. Strawberries are Grey and Bear's favorite fruit, and we go through many pints every year, even picking our own at the u-pick farms nearby.
Making your own fresh strawberry syrup is incredibly easy, using 3 basic ingredients: sugar, water, and strawberries.
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Equipment Needed
Medium Saucepan - you'll need this to simmer your simple syrup in!
Strawberry Huller - I mean, you could use a knife to cut the tops off the strawberries, but if you want to get the kiddos involved, a strawberry huller is safer and more more fun!
Fine Mesh Sieve - strain the slumped strawberries through a fine mesh strainer to get a smooth syrup.
Ingredients
Granulated white sugar.
Water - It's a 1:1 ratio of water and sugar for simple syrup. So easy.
Strawberries - what I love about this recipe is that you can use fresh or frozen strawberries. No need to wait for strawberry season with frozen strawberries!
Choosing the Best Fresh Strawberries
Finding great fresh strawberries is really easy when you know what you're looking for at the grocery store. Here are my tips on finding a nice batch of fresh strawberries for your fruit syrup.
You're going to look in those berry boxes, don't be afraid to pop it open and investigate (carefully!) if you're unsure about what you're looking at.
- The redder the better. When strawberries are picked, they don't ripen further afterwards like a banana does. Once picked, that's it! So find strawberries that are very red with minimal white or green on the berry for optimal ripeness and sweetness.
- No shrivelled skin. If you notice a berry that's darker red and dry looking, it's on its way out. Probably won't be any good by tomorrow and might start molding, don't risk it. Choose berries that are plump and shiny, instead.
- Check every berry. We all know the devastation that happens when you bring home a box of berries to find some rotting, molded berry that was hiding stealthily between the beautiful ones. So make sure you can see every berry in the box before buying it.
- Look at the freshness of the leaves. The older the strawberries, the more dull and wilted their green leaves will be. Look for fresh, lively looking leaves because that means that is a newer box of berries!
How to Make Strawberry Syrup.
Get the strawberries, sugar, and water in your saucepan, bring it to a boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes.
The strawberries will start losing color and getting mushy while the syrup turns almost like cartoon-y red and the sugar dissolves.
Now get a fine mesh strainer over a heat-safe mason jar or container with a lid and strain out the strawberries. Don't press it down, you want it to just drain through the strainer.
Storing Instructions
Cool your simple syrup to room temperature and keep in an airtight container like a mason jar in the fridge for up to one month. Sugar basically acts as a preservative here, so your syrup will last pretty long.
My Favorite Drinks to Use Homemade Strawberry Simple Syrup in
I have options for non-alcoholic drinks and a couple of my favorite strawberry imbibes.
The BEST Strawberry Lemonade - I really mean 'the best'. This stuff will make you drink the whole glass without putting it down and ask for another! For the adult version, vodka strawberry lemonade is just as amazing.
Strawberry Iced Tea - my favorite variation on classic southern sweet tea! It's so pretty and delicious.
Strawberry Matcha Latte - think homemade strawberry milk mixed with your favorite creamy green tea latte, it's so creamy and full of strawberry flavor!
Homemade Strawberry Soda - this is a well loved recipe in the summer, my son really loves mixing the syrup with club soda or ginger beer.
Strawberry Mojitos - if you like the classic mojito, you'll love this strawberry spin on it. A fave!
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Easy Strawberry Simple Syrup
Ingredients
- 1 pint fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups white granulated sugar
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring granulated sugar, water, and hulled strawberries to a gentle boil.
- Bring the pot down to medium heat and allow to simmer for 5 minutes, until the color of the strawberries has drained out of them and into the liquid.
- Using a fine mesh sieve, strain the strawberries from the liquid into a medium sized bowl or heat safe mason jars. Do not press strawberries for a clear syrup.
- Cover simple syrup with lid or plastic wrap and let cool in the fridge for an hour to an hour and a half.
- Keep in the fridge for up to a month.
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