are solutions of sugar dissolved in water, or solutions of fruit juice and sugar. A knowledge of the properties of syrups at different concentrations and temperatures is basic to sugar boiling and confectionery, and they are also important in fruit preservation and in making soft drinks and cordials. Some substances which carry the name syrup, with qualification—golden syrup, glucose syrup, corn syrup—are products of the sugar and starch industries and are bought from refiners or specialist producers.
Plain syrup of sugar and water is sometimes called ‘stock syrup’; quantities are made up and stored for use in large kitchens, where it has many applications in dessert-making, especially as the basis for sorbets (see water ices). It can be made up to whatever strength the cook requires, the optimum being somewhere around the proportions of 1650 g (60 oz) sugar dissolved in 1 litre (1.75 pints) water just at boiling point, and then cooled; this is strong enough to keep well, but not so heavily saturated that the sugar will begin to crystallize out again. Whilst the domestic cook can generally rely on using measured quantities of sugar and water to produce syrup for a given recipe, it is important for chefs and those in the food industry to know the precise strength, which is ascertained by measuring the density at a specific temperature using a hydrometer. Originally, this was expressed in degrees on the Baumé scale; now a decimal system is used.
The word syrup derives from the same Arabic root as the word sherbet. They were known both in the kitchen and in medicine in Britain by the 14th century. Ever since then, syrups have been found useful as a vehicle for flavours, for cooking fruit or for preserving it by bottling or as candied fruit, for making up cooling drinks when diluted with water, and as a means of easing the passage of medicaments down a patient's throat; this follows a general European pattern of usage. Further east, syrups have an additional culinary role in the making of pastries such as baklava.
Laura Mason has written about several aspects of British food in books including Sugar Plums and Sherbet (1998), Farmhouse Cookery (2005), and Traditional Foods of Britain (1999), which she co-authored with Catherine Brown.
