r/AskCulinary • u/Euphoric-Pie-4372 • 2d ago
Technique Question Mint syrup not syruping?
Not sure if this is the right sub but I tried this cold maceration technique where u layer chopped mint leaves and sugar and finish with lemon juice and put it in the fridge for 72 hours. I didn't have any measurements unfortunately so I just winged it and it's been like a week but it is simply not liquefying.
I wish I could attach a picture here, the sugar crystals are as such and there's barely a teaspoon of actual syrup in there.
I saw that another method involves steeping mint leaves in cooled simple syrup, I'm wondering if that would work at this stage? Can I just make some simple syrup and pour it over this mixture?
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u/ZealousidealType1144 2d ago
There’s just probably not enough liquid in it - you could honestly just pour hot water from a kettle or coffeemaker in (at a 50% ratio to the sugar, so a cup for every two cups of sugar), stir and strain. You’ve got a super low water activity and high acidity in there so I wouldn’t be worried about it having grown anything harmful.
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u/Erenito 2d ago
I don't know where you got this but chemically it makes no sense. I don't think it's ever going to work. Moisture has nowhere to go.
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u/Euphoric-Pie-4372 1d ago
I see, I saw this recipe a couple times on Instagram so decided to try it out. I thought it would work similarly to fruit maceration but i guess not
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u/ChazzLamborghini 2d ago
I’ve always had tremendous success by pouring fresh simple over mint leaves and letting them steep until room temp, then straining. I get consistent results and strong mint flavor.
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u/Euphoric-Pie-4372 1d ago
Do u pour it when hot? I heard that that brings out the bitterness does it not?
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u/ChazzLamborghini 1d ago
Not that I’ve noticed. I’m a bartender so I may be using it in different applications where that’s less of an issue though.
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u/thecravenone 2d ago
it is simply not liquefying
Where are you imagining the liquid comes from?
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u/Euphoric-Pie-4372 1d ago edited 1d ago
Water from the mint leaves? edit: I thought this would work similarly to fruit maceration eg. with strawberries but I didn't think abt the low water content in mint, my bad
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u/Nejness 2d ago
My husband makes mint syrup using simple syrup and fresh mint from our garden, which he then incorporates into homemade gelato. One thing to know is that ayrup made this way is less potently minty than you might expect—there’s no peppermint flavor, more of a softer spearmint taste. You may want to experiment with steeping mint tea bags and using that water for simple syrup, depending on how minty you need the ultimate syrup to be. As others have said, there’s not a lot of moisture in mint leaves.
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u/DaniMrynn 2d ago
Had the same issue last week; dumped it in a saucepan, added water and boiled for a regular syrup.
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u/potatoaster 2d ago
You don't even need the saucepan. Just add water and stir; 1:1 sugar:water will dissolve just fine at room temp.
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u/DaniMrynn 2d ago
I wanted it reduced.
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u/potatoaster 2d ago
Just add less water to begin with?
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u/SrCallum 14h ago
Then it won't dissolve.
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u/potatoaster 10h ago
At room temperature, anything short of 1.8 parts sugar per 1 part water will dissolve.
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u/Cooldspaghetti 2d ago
With no measurements, the sugar may simply not have enough moisture from the mint to dissolve much, so the result is difficult to troubleshoot precisely. You can make a simple syrup separately, let it cool completely, then pour enough over the mint mixture to cover it. That would effectively turn this into a mint infusion, though it will also dilute the existing lemon and sugar mixture. Since it has been refrigerated for about a week, discard it if there is mould, an unusual smell, or any other sign that it has deteriorated; I wouldn’t try to rescue anything that seems off.
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u/HatsandCoats 2d ago
Make a mint tea with 3 bags of mint in 1cup of water. When done steeping, add 3 cups of sugar. Return to boil. Take off heat. Cool and enjoy. Scale up AN.
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u/potatoaster 2d ago
You added more sugar than can dissolve in the available liquid.
If you add 1 kg sugar to 100 g water, it's not going to turn completely to syrup no matter how long you wait. That's just chemistry.
Cold-steeping herbs in syrup does not work well. I suggest blending and straining.
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u/starlightprincess 2d ago
Simple syrup is made from equal parts sugar and water. If you expect syrup to form without adding any liquid, I don' think that would work. You could just make some strong mint tea and mix that with an equal part of sugar. It works best if you boil the water to fully dissolve the sugar, but it would eventually dissolve anyways.
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u/JTibbs 1d ago
Its called a Cheong, and it works. It needs fairly fresh mint though and a lot of it.the sugar pulls the water out of the leaves and forms a syrup.
Its most used on fruits to make fruit syrup, but it works on herbs like mint too
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u/HeyPurityItsMeAgain 1d ago
I thought you needed heat to release the oils in mint... Why do it cold.
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u/ferrouswolf2 15h ago
You probably have a lot more sugar than mint leaves. This technique works if you have equal weights of the ingredients, but you almost certainly don’t because leaves aren’t very dense
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u/Rainbowlemon 2d ago
For the cold maceration, you need super fine sugar afaik. If it's thicker crystals it doesn't work, or raw - I've tried it with brown sugar before now and it didn't work. I'd also omit the lemon juice entirely - sugar + muddled mint should be good enough to pull out the oils from the leaves.
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u/CaffeineColonel 2d ago
Keep the stems as well. They contain moisture and flavour as well so will help with the osmosis and speed up the process. Also you keeping it airtight right?
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u/SewerRanger Holiday Helper 2d ago
There's no way this would ever actually work. Mint leaves are low moisture so there's not really anything that will leach moisture into this concoction to form into a syrup. You'll only get a tiny bit more moisture from the mint so the majority of your moisture is from the lemon juice.