Strawberry Syrup + Strawberry Soda
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Ingredients
  • 2 lbs strawberries, hulled and quartered (fresh or frozen)
  • 4 c water
  • 1 c agave nectar, to taste
  • Soda water (if making soda)
Instructions
  1. Place strawberries and water in a sauce pan over medium heat.
  2. Bring to boil and reduce, cooking and stirring occasionally until strawberries have lost most of their color and look what I'd describe as "naked". Skim off any foam that appears.
  3. Using a slotted spoon or a sieve, strain out strawberries (I recommend a fine sieve, but a slotted spoon will work if you're not afraid of seeds or very small pieces). Do NOT press down on strawberries or your syrup will be weird and cloudy.
  4. Return liquid to the saucepan, if necessary. Add agave (increasing slightly if you have a very strong sweet tooth). Cook until reduced to about 3 c.
  5. To make soda, cool and add to carbonated water (NOT tonic water, which is already sweetened), to taste. I liked mine with a squeeze of lemon.
Notes
This will NOT thicken up like a simple syrup, because you're not super-saturating the water. If you'd like it to be thicker, you can use a starch to thicken, but it will make the syrup cloudy.
To achieve a delicious 20 oz glass of soda, I settled around 50 mL (about 3½ tbsp)
The discarded strawberries will have lost most of their flavor, but they still taste good on top of ice cream if you don't want to waste them.
Recipe by Hidden Fruits and Veggies at https://www.hiddenfruitsandveggies.com/2014/02/21/strawberry-syrup/