1919 Home made beverages

Chapter

II.

SYRUPS

Preparation

IN the preparation of syrups, which are solutions of sugar, more or less strong according to the object for which they are used, care should be taken to employ only the best refined sugar, and either distilled or filtered rain water, as they will be rendered much less liable to spon- taneous decomposition and become perfectly transparent without the trouble of clarifying. When, however, im- pure sugar is employed, clarification is always necessary. This is best done by dissolving the sugar in the water or fruit juices cold, and then beating up a little of the cold syrup with some white of egg and one or two ounces of cold water, until the mixture froths well. This must be added to the syrup in the boiler, and when the whole is frisked up to a good froth, heat should be applied and the scum which forms removed from time to time with a clean skimmer. As soon as the syrup begins to simmer it must be removed from the fire and allowed to stand until it has cooled a little, when it should again be skimmed, if necessary, and then passed through a clean flannel. By using refined sugar, however, all this trouble of clarification can be avoided. When vegetable infusions or solutions enter into the compositions of syrups, they should be rendered perfectly transparent by filtration or clarification before being added to the sugar. The proper quantity of sugar for syrups will, in general, 24