Strawberry Syrup

My church had a summer picnic this past Sunday and I struggled a lot with what I wanted to bring.  So I decided to bring drinks!  But it's not my style to just bring some store bought pop.  I have to put my culinary spin into it.  So I made strawberry syrup, home made unsweetened lemonade, home made unsweetened iced tea, home made simple syrup along with store bought club soda.  The idea is that people can make strawberry soda by combining strawberry syrup and club soda, or strawberry freckled lemonade, or strawberry iced tea.  For the non-strawberry people the simple syrup was for them.

Strawberry syrup is actually really easy.  I saw it on a youtube video by Food Wishes' Chef John.

Take 2 lbs of fresh strawberries.

Then using a pairing knife cut out the green stems and quarter the strawberries.

In a pot with 2.5 cups of water dump in the strawberries and bring to a boil.  Then simmer on low for about 15-20 min.  Afterwards strain the strawberries out of the water.  You'll see most of the colour gone from the strawberries.  Dump in 2 cups of sugar, bring to a boil again, then simmer at medium for 5 min.

I then put the pot in a sink full of cold water to cool.

Then bottle up the syrup - yay you're done!























To make strawberry soda, fill a cup with about 1/3 of the way with the syrup and then fill the rest with club soda.  It's refreshing and delicious!