I guess this is how madness strikes as I get older. I ended up making flavored syrups, three versions actually: vanilla, raspberry, and tangerine.
I made the raspberry and tangerine without boiling them and boiled the vanilla. They turned out quite successful on their own, but maybe not quite what they are often used for, or rather, I can’t use them in coffee. I don’t use sugar in coffee, and the syrup is almost just sugar. Coffee tastes bad with sugar to me. It might go really well in some kind of latte-type specialty coffee or in a cold drink, but I haven’t had time to try it or even own an espresso machine for lattes. I’ve used the syrups with unflavored yogurt and vanilla in milk. They work really well this way! Vanilla would probably work well with cocoa too.
Vanilla Syrup
1.5 dl water
1.5 dl sugar
1 vanilla pod
Put water and sugar in a saucepan on the stove to heat. Split the vanilla pod and scoop out the seeds. Add the pod and seeds to the sugar syrup. Boil the mixture slowly for 5-10 minutes. Bottle in a suitable container from which the syrup is easy to use. It is also worth putting the vanilla pod in the bottle. Most of the pod’s flavor has already been released during the cooking stage, but perhaps not all.
Raspberry and Tangerine Syrup
Put the raspberries/mandarins in a container with a lid. It is worth cutting the fruit into smaller pieces. Then add the same amount of sugar in grams as there is fruit/berry. Crush the berries/fruit with a suitable tool and mix with the sugar. Leave in the refrigerator to set overnight. Strain out any leftovers and bottle. Syrups will last in the fridge for couple weeks. I haven’t had a chance to test how long they last. They tend to disappear from the fridge too fast :-).
I also made a short video of how to make syrups. (Sorry, it is only in Finnish.)Apparently, making flavored syrups isn’t that difficult. You should try making syrup from harder fruits at some point. For example, apples would require boiling in liquid. Strawberries would work without boiling. You could probably make quite a few different looks and flavors with the same recipe! You can also change the taste by using different sugars. Brown sugar, muscovado cane sugar, coconut sugar, and Indian sugar come to mind as things you could try. There is quite a list of different types of syrups. Vanilla syrup is a simple syrup, meaning you dissolve the flavoring in a broth with the same amount of water and sugar. Basically, raspberry and tangerine syrups are something else.
