Herb Sugars and Syrups
Herbs are not just for savoury dishes, they lift the
flavour of fruits and add to the appeal of puddings. Sugars and syrups
are also a good way of preserving their flavour: sugars will keep, in a
screw topped jar, for several weeks in the fridge and syrups should keep
for months. You only need to put them in the fridge once the bottle or
jar has been opened.
Herb Sugars
One of the most useful is made with Peppermint,
preferably the fantastic Chocolate Peppermint which
really does smell and taste like After Eights.
Herb sugars are incredibly simple to make: put some granulated, or
caster, sugar into a bowl, finely chop the herb and mix the two
together.
For the Peppermint sugar use the younger leaves from the ends of the
stems which will have the best flavour. Sprinkle it over strawberries or
fresh peaches, both absolutely delicious.
The sweet, green, aniseedy flavoured seeds of Sweet Cicely
also make a good sugar. Use the seeds while they are still young and
tender, as they get older they get more stringy. They also loose their
flavour and the dry seeds have hardly any flavour left. Chop the green
seeds very finely and sprinkle over anything made with rhubarb; stewing
rhubarb or gooseberries with leaves of Sweet Cicely helps to reduce the
acidity and the amount of sugar you have to add.
Herb Syrups
Robust flavoured herbs like Rosemary and Hyssop
can be boiled with the syrup, but delicate flavoured ones like
Rose Petals are best infused with the hot syrup once it has
been made.
For a basic sugar syrup which will allow you to make a few different
flavoured syrups you will need
500 ml water
500g sugar
juice of 1 lemon
Put the sugar and water in a pan over a low heat and stir until the
sugar is dissolved. Add the lemon juice and boil rapidly for 5-7 minutes
until the syrup starts to thicken.
If using Rosemary or Hyssop add a small bunch of stems to the
sugar/water mix, about 5 twigs of Rosemary or 10 twigs of Hyssop.
Rosemary syrup is
excellent with oranges or a winter citrus fruit salad, it also goes very
well with anything gingery.
Hyssop has a special
affinity with peaches and apricots: a Hyssop syrup is glorious added to
a dish of fresh peaches and if you poach either peaches or apricots in
Hyssop syrup you can transform some not very flavoursome bought fruit
into a mouth-watering dessert.
A flan case filled with apricots poached in Hyssop syrup, with extra
syrup poured over is really delicious, and a few of the beautiful blue
Hyssop flowers sprinkled on top at the last minute looks stunning.
Rose Petal Conserve
This fragrant and pretty syrup can be used in lots of ways: to pour over
strawberries or vanilla ice cream, to swirl into yoghurt or whip with
cream and to make ice cream and syllabub. The conserve will keep for
months in the fridge - but is usually used up long before.
1 litre measure of rose petals, lightly pressed down
1 litre water
juice 1 lemon
1 kg sugar
Pick the rose petals on a dry, sunny day when their fragrance is at its
best. Choose red or pink heavily scented roses for the best result. Put
the petals into a saucepan with the water and bring gently to a simmer.
Add the lemon juice which will turn the petals a deep pink, they go
disappointingly grey without, then add the sugar. Bring to the boil,
stirring until the sugar has dissolved and boil fast for 10 minutes.
Pour into jars and seal.
To Make a Whipped Syllabub,
half a pint of whipping cream 1 tablespoon brandy
5 tablespoons Rose Petal Conserve or other herb syrup
Pour the cream into a bowl and whisk lightly, add the brandy and
continue to whisk until the cream thickens. Fold in the conserve and
pile into 6 glasses. Chill before serving.