I love the herb syrup technique we did for The Bar Book. It just makes the brightest, freshest, most vibrant mint (or any other herb)syrup you’ve ever had. In this collaboration between the book and Tanqueray, I show you how to make a mint syrup and then whip up a little Southside Fizz with Tanqueray Ten.
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I had the same issue as Arianna mentioned, my syrup still seems to have quite a few particles of mint in it and I even ran mine through a nut milk bag on top of the fine strainer. I know you say to blend it for a couple of minutes, but when I watch the video of you straining the syrup there seems to be some fairly large pieces of mint. Did you blend less time for the video? I also wonder if the issue was I used a Nutribullet versus a full size blender like in your video.
Very possible, I most likely said “minutes” when I meant “seconds”, or I was trying to account for crappy home blenders as opposed to my professional model. Either way, if you’re not happy with the results then definitely try blending for a shorter period of time.
This is fantastic, how long does the syrup last for?
If you’re using 1:1 simple syrup, about a week in the fridge. If you’re using a 2:1, it’ll last months in the fridge.
I made this for mint juleps for the Kentucky Derby. I think I must have used *way* more mint leaves than you did, because mine looks like pureed grass. I used about 1/2 cup of spearmint leaves, somewhat tightly packed. I also used 1-1/2:1 simple syrup. It tastes quite good.
Here’s a photo: https://imgur.com/a/vLYVas2
Haha yeah that’s way too much mint I’d say. It’s pretty powerful stuff so a little does indeed go a long way!
I think I discovered another way to make mint syrup with slightly less work—but it does require a piece of equipment. Using a vacuum blender where I blend the mint with simple syrup and then passing it through a fine chinois, I am able to get a syrup that is noticeable greener than a control syrup (that is without blanching).
That seems like a great option for anyone with a $1,000 blender at their disposal, but I would imagine that once you expose the syrup back into an oxygenated environment you’re still going to have the same problem with browning again.
This sounds like the solution I’ve been looking for!
How much mint to how much syrup?
Any clarification on measurements would be super helpful.
That’s up to you, and how minty you want your syrup. For a more detailed recipe take a look at The Bar Book.