Jalapeno Simple Syrup
 
Cook time
Total time
 
A sweet + spicy cocktail or mocktail mixer, perfect for making a zippy, homemade watermelon agua fresca.
By:
Makes: 1 cup
Ingredients
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ cup organic raw sugar or coconut sugar (coconut sugar will make a slightly muddier drink)
  • 1-2 jalapeños, halved lengthwise
Instructions
  1. Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat to a simmer, stirring or swirling until sugar is dissolved. Add halved jalapeños and simmer, covered, for an additional 5 mins. Remove from heat and allow jalapeños to steep in syrup until cooled, about 10 mins. Remove peppers before using syrup (and put them to use in your favorite salsa recipe -- or top off some tacos!).
Notes
Typical simple syrups are 1:1 sugar to water. I like a lighter hand here, especially since watermelon, in season, is ridiculously sweet. Since you still need enough liquid volume to steep the peppers, I've just reduced the sugar by half (rather than reducing the quantity of syrup, itself, in the agua fresca). And a note on peppers: I tend to err on the side of hot (2 peppers) and just use the resulting syrup judiciously. Always taste your syrup for heat before adding it to your agua fresca. This is also great for spicing up cocktails!
Recipe by the pig & quill at https://thepigandquill.com/jalapeno-watermelon-agua-fresca/