Prickly Pear Syrup

Felt a little jibbed on one of these fruits, but still had enough to give this recipe a try.

Taking notes from the Hibiscus Syrup Recipe this is a Prickly Pear syrup using the same recipe, but with one or two slight changes. If you're not familiar with the Prickly Pear this is a cactus fruit. It's quite delicious however it's not a fruit that you can chew, as the seeds are very hard, and as it is a cactus fruit it is as its name suggests - prickly. This is something to be wary of as though the large spines will already be removed from the fruit the small, hair like spines will still be on the pear's skin and are great at getting into your hands(I managed to come out with only three of them, although still uncomfortable, having attacked my hands and I call that a win). Much like with the Hibiscus recipe, I managed to misplace the original Prickly Pear recipe I had so I copied the floral syrup recipe to see if it would work.


Ingredients:

 4 ~ Prickly Pears
1c. ~ Sugar
1c. ~ Water
1oz. ~ Vodka(optional)

Kitchen tools needed:

~ knife and cutting board
~ table spoon
~ small pot
~ whisk
~ measuring cup
~ fine mesh strainer
~ jigger cup(optional)

Four Prickly Pears gave me about a cup of fruit after they were cut into chunks.

It's fairly easy to get the fruit out of your Prickly Pears. Cut the pears in half and they should easily come out with a table spoon. The fruit came out whole with almost zero effort, save for the lone pear that wasn't quite as full of fruit as the other three. With the skins removed cut up the fruit into small chunks(not quite dicing them) and place in your small pot with a cup of water.

This is where the recipe changes slightly from the floral syrup. Bring the Prickly Pear fruit and water to a boil before adding your sugar. Since the fruit is juicy you'll want to boil it down a bit before adding the sugar and thicken it. Once the fruit and water came to a boil add your sugar and whisk the mixture until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved(the mixture should still be at the temperature for boiling). After the sugar has dissolved lower the heat and allow the mixture to simmer. It'll take longer for the fruit syrup to thicken than it did for the floral syrup, around 30minutes, but like with the floral syrup this too will get darken in color as it cooks. The fruit chunks will also get small, as you've cooked them down. When your syrup is ready pull it off the heat and allow it to cool to room temperature.

When your syrup has cooled you have the option to add in an ounce of vodka to use as a preservative. You don't want to add the alcohol in before the syrup has cooled as you don't want the heat to cook it out. Without the vodka expect this to be good for a week or two, and with it expect it to last three to four weeks(remember to keep this stored in the refrigerator). The Prickly Pear syrup will also be lighter in color after you've strained it(a fine mesh strainer will be your bff for this) than it was in the pot as the remaining fruit chunks will have been removed from it. If you don't have a fine mesh strainer for this the seeds will be the trickiest part to get out, but doable with patience. It should also be noted that without the mesh strainer there may still be very small bits of fruit in the syrup as I noticed a lot of it had broken down and lost its color while boiling. This should be fine in the syrup, however do take care on getting those seeds out as again they are very hard and can be painful for your teeth.

This is the side by side comparison of both syrups; Hibiscus syrup on the left and Prickly Pear syrup on the right. The Prickly Pear syrup is a little lighter in person but the Hibiscus syrup is still a rich, dark purple that isn't transparent like the other is.




Both syrups are tasty but some things to note on the Prickly Pear syrup: Like the Hibiscus syrup this is a syrup intend for mixing in small amounts with drinks, This recipe is also very, very sweet! I would have adjust and used more Prickly Pears but the selection at the store was not good so I ended up with only four, however I would recommend trying this with five or six Prickly Pears instead, The recipe as is made a cup and a half of syrup, so with the addition of at least two more pears it would make about two cups.

Hibiscus Syrup

I thought I would give flavored syrup making a try as I intend to get seeds started early this year so I can have a more bountiful harvest from the herb garden and in turn create more with my plant cuttings. One of the projects I want to do, and will probably make for Christmas gifts next year as this was a very simple recipe to follow, is to make garden syrups. With a stash of dried Hibiscus flowers hidden in the cupboard I figured this would be a great chance to give the recipe a try. Unfortunately I cannot remember where I first read this recipe(most likely in a borrowed herb gardening book from our local library) but none the less it is very simple and most likely a common recipe as it's easily adaptable.

Three ingredients are all you'll need to create this syrup: dried herbs, sugar, and water, or more specifically:

Ingredients:

1/2c. ~ Dried Herb/Flowers
1c. ~ Sugar
1c. ~ Water
1oz. ~ Vodka(optional)

Kitchen tools needed:

~ small pot
~ whisk
~ measuring cup
~ fine mesh strainer
~ jigger cup(optional)

For this recipe you'll be placing all ingredients(sans the optional vodka as you don't want to cook the alcohol) together in a small pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk the mixture as it cooks to ensure the sugar is thoroughly dissolved. The mixture will start to darken as it cooks and will slightly thicken when it's ready to cool. Keep in mind that the syrup won't properly thicken while still hot, that will happen as it cools, yet it will be slightly thicker than water when it's ready to be removed from the heat and left to cool at room temperature. This took about 10 minutes for the syrup to reach the desired consistency; don't be fooled by cooking floral petals as they made the mixture look thicker than it really was. Mostly they hang out at the top of the cooking syrup so you'll need to stir occasionally to check that the syrup is ready.

When the syrup is cooled(I let it get to room temperature, so not cold and slightly warm) you'll need to strain it before bottling it. This is where a fine mesh strainer would really be handy, I unfortunately had misplaced mine so removing the Hibiscus petals took more time than I wanted to give but in the end it was worth the effort so as not to having floating plant bits in the syrup.

I keep old juice bottles on hand(if they're glass), the more interesting the better and in this case these small glasses were perfect for storing my homemade syrup.

When your syrup is completely strained you have the option to add in an ounce of vodka which will serve as a preservative for your syrup(also you can store your syrup in the freezer if you add the vodka to it). Without the vodka you may only have a week or two to use your syrup but with it you should be able to keep it three to four weeks, but in either case remember to store your syrup in the refrigerator.

 This recipe ended up making a little over a cup of syrup, so not a lot but really a great amount to start with if you haven't made your own syrup before. It's a simple recipe that is easy to double or triple if you want to make a larger batch.

Some things to consider here as well(for the health conscience reader and those who may just be interested): While a cup of sugar may look and sound bad this recipe is intended for mixing in drinks, a little should go a long way. I haven't mixed it in anything yet but am looking forward to using it to make my own Hibiscus soda drink.

One more thing to note, if you plan on doing this with Hibiscus(as I'm not certain with other herbs/florals) this floral is STRONG. With as much sugar as this recipe took it's still very tart but tasty. Now this may be because my dried Hibiscus petals were intended for brewing tea but this floral does have a very unique flavor(great when paired with green tea by the by) that comes out strong. Really looking forward to trying this again with Lavender from the garden.

You can find an alternative to this recipe here using Prickly Pears.