Marrion Berry Syrup
Goodness, I love ice-cream! But this post is about making a berry syrup... but this is where the need to make berry syrup for icecream started. And yes, I use it on my pancakes as well.
When I was little my mom would send us on these " ice cream runs" to these corner stands back in Ukraine. They were pre-frozen cones with the best vanilla ice cream I have ever had. The cones were level on top and all had a little square piece of paper covering them. We would run there with our change to pay for half a dozen of these things and run back before they melted ! I cherish those memories. One day, not for any special reason, my mom took me to a little café. The first café I have ever been to. She ordered us ice cream. I thought I was the most important person in her life that moment. You see, my mom never told me she loved me until I was an adult. She said she just showed me love in different ways. And this was one of those ways I will forever remember. The waitress came with these precious glass cups with just a scoop of ice cream and this berry syrup that absolutely took my taste buds into a different world. And so that moment is etched into memory - best ice cream I have ever had and that moment was with my mom, knowing she loves me and I am her special girl.
Growing up I always found my mom eating ice cream with some sort of berry syrup that she had made. Never store bought. Always fresh. What ever flavor ice cream we had in the fridge, rocky road, cookies and cream - she would always top it with berry syrup. Chocolate ice cream with strawberry home made syrup is pretty amazing.
I must say - I love making jam. I love going and picking the berries or fruit by hand and then coming home, waiting till everyone is in bed, and jam away. It therapeutic. I'll post a Jam therapy in the next post. But for now here is what I do about this syrup situation.
I have always read that sugar to berry or fruit ratio is 1:1. But, my mom used very little sugar in her jams and syrups. I had to experiment a few batches to get it to the sweetness I like.
- 1 cup berries
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of orange liquor ( I have always used Grand Marnier in all jams and cakes )
- 1 drop of Lemon essential oil.
- 1 Table spoon water
That's were I start. I usually have about 4 cups of berries ( I used marionberries and strawberries). I always prep my jars ahead of time because I don't cook the syrup long so I don't have that cooking time to sanitize the jars. with 5 cups of fruit I prep 5 (16 ounce) jars. Sugar helps preserve the syrup, and I don't use a whole lot so best be in small jars and not waste that goodness once its open.
Put all the berries, water, sugar, lemon essential oil, and orange liquor in a pot and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low. Cook for 10 min, scraping off that foam from the top. My mom always said that's the impurities coming to the surface and we need to get rid of them. So I scrape it off as much as I can right before I pour my syrup into jars.
As soon as I turn the heat off I start to ladle the syrup into jars and seal it right away and turn the jars upside down. Let them cool and enjoy, or store for a long time ( so far I have syrups and jams from three years ago and they are just as yummy as the day I jammed them).
K, so I'm done with this post and I'm going to go have some ice cream with my berry good syrup!
