Strawberry syrup is not only tasty and healthy, but versatile. Easy to make, it can be then used for everything from a topping for morning cereal or pancakes to part of the mix for an evening cocktail. There are slight variations between strawberry syrup recipes, but most involve sugar, corn starch or corn syrup and lemon juice. And, of course, strawberries.
These ingredients are similar to those used in making strawberry jam, with one important difference. The jam always uses crushed berries, while strawberry syrup can be produced using only the extracted juice from those berries.
After that juice is extracted, it is combined in a saucepan with the sugar and syrup and cooked over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. The mixture us then boiled for two minutes, after which the foam is skimmed from the tip of the liquid and lemon juice is added.
Another version is to include the strawberries themselves, but run the mixture through a blender after it is cooked to make the liquid uniform. A form of strawberry syrup can also be made with strawberry-flavored gelatin.
The Nestle's company came out with Nesquik® strawberry powder in the 1950s, and Hershey's unveiled a strawberry syrup in 1989. Two tablespoons in a glass of milk will effect the transformation. A higher strawberry percentage goes into milkshakes and a mixture that can be frozen to form popsicles.
The website Drinknation lists a number of drinks that can be used with strawberry syrup. Apparently, the alcoholic partners are almost limitless, including vokda, rum, tequila, kahlua, amaretto, gin and Bailey's Irish Creme. A number of commercial strawberry syrups are available as mixers, both for cocktails and mocktails, but homemade syrup can work just as well.
Strawberries are low in saturated fats, cholesterol and sodium, high in Vitamin C and manganese. The downside, especially for diabetics, is that they are also high in sugar.
