Syrup of Pinks
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the flower infusion
Remove all green parts from the Pinks.
Place the flowers in a mortar and pound them with boiling water.
Strain the mixture through a cloth.
Make the syrup
Clarify the sugar and boil it to a ball stage.
Add the sugar to the decoction and boil it until it reaches a pearl stage.
Alternative method
Alternatively, boil the flowers with the sugar, then skim and strain through a cloth.
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
What each ingredient does
- Pinks
- Supplies the flower flavour and the pale pink colour of the syrup.
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and body, and thickens the syrup as it boils down.
The step that matters
Boiling the sugar to the pearl stage. Sugar syrup thickens as water evaporates and its concentration rises. Stopping too early leaves a thin syrup that may spoil sooner, while boiling too long makes it stiff and prone to crystallising as it cools.
“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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