Sheila recently e-mailed the Kitchen Shrink to ask, “in making pancake syrup, how do I keep sugar from settling on the bottom in hard form?” If your syrup crystallizes in the bottom of the bottle either the proportion of sugar to water is too high or the mixture wasn’t heated long enough to dissolve every sugar crystal in the mixture. Any sugar crystals remaining in the syrup can cause others to crystallize. Adding a little corn syrup or an acid such as citrus juice will help to prevent this. Selecting a syrup recipe that includes a little brown sugar gives pancake syrup a warm color and the acid in brown sugar helps to prevent crystallization.
Thank you so much for this post, it was very informative
I make pancake syrup by putting 2 parts sugar and one part water at room temperature in a jar with a tight sealing lid and shaking it every few minutes at first, then less often. It takes many hours to dissolve but does not crystallize. Then I add concentrated flavors made by hypothermias.com in Tucson AZ. About 3/4 teaspoon per cup of syrup.
I used to boil the syrup in the microwave but it would crystallize after a few days. Doing it at room temperature makes all the difference.
But if you want to make sugar out of corn syrup could you? How would you?
Tracy,
I don’t think you can do that.