Citrus Syrup Recipes

CITRUS SYRUP

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan combine the orange peel or lemon peel, orange juice, lemon juice, and sugar. Bring to boiling over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, about 15 minutes or until reduced to 3/4 cup, stirring occasionally. Serve warm or cool. Cover and refrigerate remaining syrup for up to 1 week. Makes 3/4 cup.

CITRUS SYRUP

Steps:

• In a 1 1/2-quart saucepan stir together sugar and juices and simmer, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes, or until sugar is dissolved and syrup is slightly thickened. Cool syrup. Syrup may be made 3 days ahead and chilled, covered. Makes about 1 1/4 cups.

LEMON SIMPLE SYRUP RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Using a sharp paring knife , cut off and reserve the zest, or bright yellow part of the peel, of 1 of the lemons. You can also use a Microplane zester, but then you'll have to strain the syrup at the end instead of simply lifting out the strips of zest-the choice is yours. Whichever way you zest the lemon, be sure to focus on the bright yellow part only and carefully avoid the bitter white pith below.
• Working with 1 lemon at a time, cut the lemons in half and juice them until you have 1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice (you may not need all the lemons-they vary greatly in how much juice they produce).
• Combine the juice with the sugar in a small saucepan and bring the mixture just to a boil over medium-high heat.
• Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the syrup is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
• Add the reserved lemon zest. Transfer the syrup to a small metal bowl and let it sit until cool, about 20 minutes. 
• Lift out the zest, letting any excess syrup drip off and back into the bowl, and discard the zest.
• If you ended up with lots of small pieces of zest, strain the syrup through a sieve. The zest can turn bitter if left to sit in the syrup while it's stored, so remove and discard it.
• If you want to use the syrup while it's still warm, now is the time. (Don't worry, you can always warm it back up if you need to.)
• Alternatively, cover the bowl and chill the syrup to add to cold beverages. Or transfer to a clean jar, screw on the lid, and store in the fridge for several months if you need to.

CITRUS SYRUP FOR SOFT DRINKS

Steps:

• Strain the citrus juices together into a small saucepan.
• Add the sugar, vanilla and pinch of salt. Heat until a gentle boil is reached. Then add the zest and turn off heat. Allow mixture to cool.
• Strain off the zest and refrigerate until needed.
• Mix citrus syrup with club soda or seltzer to desired strength for flavored soft drink.

CITRUS SPICE SYRUP

Steps:

• Bring ingredients to boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat; cover and let steep 1 hour. Strain syrup into small pitcher; discard solids in strainer. Cover and refrigerate syrup until cold, about 3 hours. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Keep chilled.)