Skip to main content
Dessert

Chocolate Syrup

A sweet chocolate syrup made by simmering chocolate, water, and sugar, then flavored with vanilla and served with milk and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Chocolate Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Combine grated chocolate and boiling water in a saucepan.

  2. Simmer slowly, stirring occasionally until dissolved.

  3. Add granulated sugar and stir until dissolved, then remove the spoon.

  4. Simmer for 7 more minutes.

  5. Strain the mixture.

  6. Add vanilla extract.

Bottle

  1. Pour into bottles and seal hermetically.

Serve

  1. Mix 1.5 cups of ice-cold milk with 2 tablespoons of syrup in a large, cold jar.

  2. Shake well for 3 minutes.

  3. Pour into chilled glasses.

  4. Top each with a teaspoon of whipped cream.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Grated chocolate
Provides the main chocolate flavour and body of the syrup once dissolved in hot water.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and thickens the syrup as it dissolves and simmers.
Ice-cold milk
Forms the creamy drink base that is chilled and shaken with the syrup.
Vanilla extract
Adds aromatic flavour that rounds out the chocolate.

The step that matters

Simmer slowly and stir. Simmering gently while stirring helps the chocolate and sugar dissolve evenly without scorching on the pan bottom, which would give the syrup a burnt taste.

“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.

You might also like

Chocolate CreamChocolate Cream171 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesChocolate CookiesChocolate Cookies76 recipesChocolate FudgeChocolate Fudge55 recipes