Ingredients
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300 grams of almonds
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300 grams of water
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600 grams of sugar syrup
Directions
Orgeat syrup is a fabulous ingredient for making great cocktails like the Mai Tai, but finding a good product on the market is impossible. The industrial products are a concentrate of cheap sugar and aromas when in reality orgeat syrup is a simple almond syrup, made with only almonds, sugar and water. Of course, you can flavor it with a lot of “botanicals” like flowers and spices, adding rose water, vanilla, whatever you like, but the base must be made by hand, at home.
If you’re preparing the Mai Tai with trivial industrial orgeat syrup, you’re not making a real cocktail, but a drink that has nothing to do with the real Tiki culture. If you want to make amazing cocktails, don’t compromise on quality or just don’t be lazy: it is not permissible that the quality of a fundamental ingredient such as the orgeat syrup is entrusted to an industrial supplier.
To help you, today we are going to make orgeat syrup with our hands: it’s a simple recipe, but it will elevate the taste of your cocktails to the nth degree. Even if you are a simple enthusiast you can try it and then keep it in the fridge for a couple of days.
Ingredients and doses to make orgeat syrup
300 grams of peeled almonds
300 grams of water
600 grams of sugar syrup
How to make the perfect orgeat syrup like a pro mixologist
Buy some peeled almonds. If you buy them with the peel, cook them for 15 minutes in the oven at 170 degrees and then peel them.
Chop them in a food processor until you get a fairly fine flour.
Put the almond flour in a bowl.
Heat the water up to 80 degrees, then pour it over the flour, stir and cover. Leave to infuse for 20 minutes.
Take a paper filter and pour the mixture into a sieve to filter it, collecting the liquid in a clean bowl.
Crush well with a wooden spoon to extract until the last drop of almond juice.
Now weigh the liquid and add twice the dose of sugar syrup, shake and bottle.
If you want, add 6 drops of almond essence.
If you want a more explosive, but philologically less precise syrup, add a pinch of pepper or a few drops of vanilla essence or dried lavender or chili pepper or rose water or whatever you want, this is the beauty of homemade mixology for desperate husbands.
It is a fresh product, without industrial preservatives, if not sugar, then keep it cool and use it within the day.
What can I use in place of orgeat syrup?
Nothing, the recipe to make the real orgeat syrup is blind monkey proof, so make it by yourself!
Is orgeat syrup the same as almond syrup?
Yes, you can add floral or orange blossom water, but the basic recipe is the same.
Does orgeat syrup need to be refrigerated?
You should, but you can keep it at 18 degrees too. If you keep it in the refrigerator you can store it also for a month, but the problem is that it will lose all its aromatic power, so consume it within 2 days, no more.
Does orgeat have alcohol?
No, it doesn’t: it’s a simple mixture of water, almonds and sugar.
What are the best cocktails made with orgeat syrup?
Mai Tai and Scorpion.
