Delicious and sticky homemade apple syrup. This is a great way to preserve excess apples.
Homemade apple syrup makes a perfect drizzle over pancakes and waffles. It is great when mixed into drinks or used in sauces. This is an easy apple syrup recipe to use up your apple glut.
Pure Apple Syrup
That's really all that's in here! Pure apples. They are juiced and simmered down until a lot of the water has evaporated. What's left is sticky concentrated, sweet apple syrup that's a healthy alternative to refined sugar.
What Apples to Use
Calling all unloved apples! All the bird-pecked apples, the bug-bitten, and the ugly apples. This simple, sugar-free apple syrup is a brilliant way to use them.
Though most apples can be used, the largest and sweetest apples will make the sweetest syrup. Cooking apples won't make as sweet of a syrup.
If you use apples that are under-ripe and very starchy, sometimes the syrup can become more like jelly once cooled. It's best to use ripe, sweet apples.
How To Make Syrup from Apples - The Method
First, you'll need apple juice which is made with a fruit juicer. 3kg of apples makes approximately 1.5litres of apple juice. Once this is simmered down it makes around 200ml pure apple syrup.
If you've made fresh juice with a juicer before, you know that there is a lot of foam that forms on the top. Let it sit for 5 minutes so the foam splits from the juice, then use a spoon to scoop it off.
Pour the juice through a cheesecloth into a wide frypan or saucepan. The cheesecloth is going to hold back more of the foam. Don't worry if some get into the pan though. As it cooks, later on, the foam will accumulate around the sides of the pan when you make the syrup so you can scrape the bits you missed off then.
The wider the pan you use, the faster you will have syrup as more water can evaporate. If you juice a lot, you can divide it over two saucepans to speed things up. I use a cast iron pan which holds the heat really well.
Bring the juice to a simmer and keep it simmering, on medium heat. Stir it occasionally and use a spoon to scrape off the dregs that accumulate around the sides of the pan.
Simmering the Syrup
After about an hour the juice should have reduced considerably. Pop a plate in the freezer for 5 minutes to test if the syrup is ready.
Pour a dollop of syrup onto the cold plate and leave it for a few seconds then run a finger through it. If it leaves a line that doesn't run back right away the syrup is ready.
The longer you leave the syrup simmering, the thicker and stickier the syrup will get. Don't leave it too long or it will become too thick.
Storing Apple Syrup
The apple syrup can be poured into a clean bottle and stored in the refrigerator for up to three months. Alternatively, it can be frozen by pouring it into ice cube molds and freezing it in small portion sizes.
Use for Apple Syrup
Homemade apple syrup and other natural syrups make a great refined sugar replacement. Drizzle it over sourdough pancakes or homemade waffles, or swirl it through yogurt.
Add it to water and make your own apple juice from concentrate or use it to add sweetness to dressings and sauces.
Related recipes
Try these other apple recipes and preserving ideas!
Full Recipe
Homemade Pure Apple Syrup
Delicious, sticky syrup made from pure apples.
Makes approximately 200ml syrup.
Ingredients
- Equipment - A fruit juicer
- 3 kg apples - A sweet variety will make the sweetest syrup.
Instructions
- Using a juicer, juice the apples. Allow the juice to sit for 5 minutes so the foam rises to the top. Scrape off as much of the foam as you can so you are left with only juice.
- Pour the apple juice through a cheesecloth into a wide frying pan or saucepan. Bring it to a simmer.
- Let it simmer on low-medium heat, stirring occasionally. Scrape off any dregs accumulating on the sides of the pan with a spoon.
- After about an hour or two the syrup should have reduced by a lot (about ⅚ths) but it should still be still runny. The exact timings of this will depend on the number of apples and the saucepan used.
- Drop a spoonful onto a cold plate and leave it to sit for a few seconds. Run a finger through the syrup on the plate. If it leaves a line that doesn't run back right away, the syrup is ready.*
- Leave the syrup to cool for 10 minutes then pour it into a clean jar. The syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three months. Alternatively, it can be frozen. You can also pour it into ice cube molds and freeze it in small portion sizes.
Notes
*Don't let the syrup reduce for too long or it will become too thick (or become apple toffee!)
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 200 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 29Total Fat: 0.1gUnsaturated Fat: 0gSodium: 1mgFiber: 1.4gSugar: 5.8gProtein: 0.2g
Pam says
Ugh! I took it too far and my syrup became pretty thick
Can I thin it out?
Kai says
Months late, but I did the exact same thing and transferred it into a bowl while it was still hot and mixed it with room temperature water and it was perfect.
Jo says
Have tried this today, but despite simmering for hours and reducing the juice to a fraction of the original quantity, there is no change in consistency, and no suggestion of 'syrup' qualities. I dont want to waste the juice, so I am going to look for a recipe with added sugar.
Koby says
Hey Jo, I think I may know why your syrup didn’t turn out.
Apples have varying sugar contents, this is very important for the making of candies and syrups from the juice, if an apple has very low sugar content it won’t matter how much you reduce it, there won’t be enough sugar there, so going for an apple like honey crisp or Galla apples is a good idea. But, if you are in a pinch and know you won’t be able to get Special apples for the project, you can simple add sugar to your juice, this can be any sugar other than artificial sweeteners( no. I have not tried that type of sweetener so maybe they would work, I’ve just never seen it done)
Hopefully this helped
Jo says
Well, I almost gave up when I simmered the juice away for what seemed like ages, and although it reduced, the consistency was still thin and not syrupy. I gave it one more go at boiling/ simmering, and hey presto, lovely appley syrupy gorgeousness. Thank you! To others trying this - keep going, you will get there!
Home Grown Happiness says
I'm so happy you gave it another simmer and that it worked for you! 😀
Stephanie says
Can you do this with berries and other fruit?
Home Grown Happiness says
I haven’t tried it but if you got enough juice from a sweet fruit then I think so! 🙂
Jean Harris says
I have puréed my apples (didn’t have a juicer). I now have a lot of pulp. Very small amount of juice! Two questions: what do I do with the pulp—seem a waist to toss! Should I simply add water and honey to stretch the juice I have? Help!!
Koby Henderson says
Hey Jean, few solutions here,
For the purée, if you like yogurt it goes very well on top of that with granola, you can use it as a fertilizer or add it to dog food (check the apples used, not sure on the toxicity of some apples to dogs) or use them in recipes that require apple bits
So second thing here, if you don’t have a juicer you can do it by hand, you need a grater and some type of cloth, preferably a cheese cloth, but whatever you have on hand as long as it can let water seep through is fine, you want to grate the apples and then place the grated apples on the cloth, and squeeze over a bowl, that should produce a good amount of juice and you can do that with your purée apples too,
Happy cooking!