What is Simple Syrup?

Simple syrup is sucrose dissolved in water so that sugar will mix in a cold drink. Granulated sugar in a shaker dissolves incompletely and leaves grit. The MixWise default is 1:1 — equal parts sugar and water by volume or by weight; pick one convention and stay with it, because they are not identical (weight-based 1:1 is slightly less sweet by volume than volume-based 1:1).

Rich syrup is 2:1 sugar to water. It is denser, so recipes written for 1:1 must be cut (often to about two-thirds the volume) if you substitute rich. Bottled sour mix is syrup plus processed citrus plus preservatives; it is a different product and will not reproduce a fresh sour.

Nearly pure sweetness when made from white cane or beet sugar. Demerara or turbinado syrups add light molasses. Rich syrup (2:1 sugar to water) is denser, sweeter by volume, and more resistant to spoilage in the refrigerator because of lower water activity.

Punch and sours have always required dissolved sugar; cold water will not take up crystals fast enough in the glass. Nineteenth-century bartenders used gum syrup (gomme: sugar plus gum arabic) as well as plain sugar syrup. The 20th-century sour-mix bottle industrialized the sweet-and-acid half of the template at the expense of fresh citrus.

Contemporary practice separates the two: make the syrup, squeeze the fruit.

Stir sugar into hot water until the solution is clear; cool; refrigerate. 1:1 lasts on the order of a few weeks; 2:1 lasts longer because lower water activity slows spoilage. Label the bottle with ratio and date.

Honey syrup and demerara syrup are the same technique with different sugars. If a recipe specifies rich syrup, do not pour 1:1 at the same volume or the drink will be thin and under-sweet.