Make a Bright Syrup Using Liquid From a Fruit Jar

I come from the land of frozen salads, the land of cool whips and canned fruit. While the original recipe for ambrosia called for fresh citrus and coconut, its offspring rely heavily on canned goods, so I’ve always had a soft spot for peaches, pineapples and cherries swimming in syrup.

Canned fruit also comes in handy in the bakery aisle. Most recipes that use it require you to pour the liquid out of the jar, and I’ve always felt bad about pouring it down the drain, especially when it’s beautiful like the garnet-colored water you find in a jar of cherries. In addition, this material makes an excellent syrup.

There are three types of liquid found in a jar of fruit: water (which takes on the color and flavor of the fruit), juice, and syrup. You might think that the syrup doesn’t need any adjustments to be used as such, but you’d be wrong. The syrup in a jar of fruit is rarely sweet enough to be mixed into smoothies, drizzled over ice cream or topped on cakes, and it simply doesn’t have the right viscosity (or, frankly, enough sugar).

However, making syrup from canned fruit liquid is a little different than making simple syrup from plain water, which adds nothing in the way of flavor and is completely devoid of sweetness. Here’s how to do it.

Light fruit syrup from canned fruit (using liquid from any can of fruit)

Ingredients:

• Liquid from a jar of fruit (the fruit is strained and used for something else)
• Sugar

Pour the strained liquid into a measuring cup and record the volume. Add the liquid to a small sauce pan. Measure out half the liquid from the sugar. For example, if you have 1 cup of liquid, measure out 1/2 cup of sugar. Add the sugar to the pan and heat over medium heat until it dissolves, then let it simmer until the syrup is as thick as you like.

Give it a taste. If it’s sweet and thick enough, stop there and let it cool. If it’s not sweet enough, add a little more sugar and continue heating until it dissolves, then try again. (For the water drained from the jar of cherries, I used a ratio of 3 parts sugar to 4 parts liquid by volume.)

Once you reach your desired viscosity and sweetness, let the drink cool completely before pouring it into a fancy bottle or jar. Stir the syrup into cocktails, seltzer or full-strength sodas (make your own cherry cola anyone?), spread it on cakes or other baked goods, or drizzle it over ice cream or pancakes. The syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for about a month.