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Simple Syrup

A clear sugar syrup made by boiling sugar and water, optionally with egg white for larger batches.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Simple Syrup

Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Simple Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Combine 1 pound sugar with ½ cup water and stir occasionally until partially dissolved.

  2. Beat 1 egg white and stir into 3 pounds sugar for larger batch.

  3. Heat mixture in a preserving kettle until it boils.

  4. Add ⅓ cup cold water and boil again.

  5. Remove from heat, let sit until scum rises, then skim off.

  6. Boil until syrupy consistency, test by cooling a spoonful.

Cold syrup

  1. For cold syrup, mix equal parts sugar and water until clear, adjust with fresh water to taste.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides sweetness and the body of the syrup as it dissolves and concentrates.
Egg white
Its proteins rise to the surface as scum when boiled, helping to clarify the syrup.

The step that matters

Skimming off the scum. Impurities in the sugar rise to the surface as the syrup boils and cools. Removing them before the syrup reaches its final consistency keeps it clear and prevents cloudiness.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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