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Coffee Syrup

A sweet syrup made from brewed coffee, sugar, water, and rum.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Coffee Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the coffee

  1. Boil ½ gallon of water and add ½ lb. of coffee.

  2. Let it steep for 20 minutes.

  3. Strain the mixture through cheesecloth.

Make the syrup

  1. In a separate pot, combine ¼ gallon of water and 12 lbs. of sugar.

  2. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

  3. Add 1 oz. of good rum to the syrup.

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.

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 + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Coffee + rumtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together138 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,908 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Coffee + syruptop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together318 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Syrup + rumtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together367 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Coffee
Provides the bitter, roasted flavor that defines the syrup.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and body, thickening the liquid into a syrup.
Good rum
Adds aroma and a warm alcoholic flavor to the finished syrup.

The step that matters

Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Undissolved sugar crystals can remain in the syrup and make it grainy. Sugar dissolves fully only when the mixture is stirred enough while the water is warm, so the syrup turns smooth and clear.

“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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