by Erica Lee
Really, this is a recipe and another recipe within a recipe. Yes, really! The sour mix itself plus the simple syrup make sweet & sour mix.
So good news, simple syrup is very versatile and great to have on hand (as is sour mix). You can even add different elements to infuse their flavor. For example, if you scroll back to January's cocktail, it includes a homemade rosemary syrup! That's simple syrup with a rosemary infusion. Anyway, on to the standard simple syrup.
Simple Syrup:
Add one cup of sugar to one cup of water in a small saucepan. Stir over heat to ensure sugar fully dissolves in the water, and bring to boil. Personally, I wire whisk this baby just to have full confidence that it's completely integrated. Once boiling, and the sugar has fully assimilated into the water, remove from heat, and allow to cool.
Now, for the Sour Mix:
Squeeze your fresh lemons to make one cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice. Squeeze your fresh limes, to make three quarters of a cup of lime juice. Combine your fresh squeezed citrus juices together. Now, pour in your simple syrup, once cooled, and give it a good shake. I like to combine the lemon and lime juices in a quartz size mason jar, then add the simple syrup. It will nearly fill the glass, but not quite. This is good news, because when you screw on the cap it will leave just enough room to give it a good shake.
This is an awesome (and very simple!) sour mix recipe. I LOVE it. Once made it will last approximately ten days to two weeks in the fridge, but it never lasts that long in MY fridge. This is my love gift to you, because you can even keep this sweet-and-sour mix recipe by itself to use for so many other concoctions! It's not only good for this particular concoction, it works beautifully as a homemade margarita mix, or in a bourbon sour, or for any Collins drink. It's a good versatile cocktail staple, and useful in our mocktail too.
One note, if you want to cut corners and buy sour mix, please only get Rose's. That's the one sour mix that is surprisingly tasty in a variety of cocktails. Many if not most of them have a chemical taste, and a kind of hyper quality. When I say hyper I can't tell you if they're too sweet or too sour, but they're definitely extra, and I don't mean that in a good way. Let alone, with all the added chemicals, they're not the healthiest additions to your secret sauces. Don't get me wrong, I am in full observance that being able to access fresh citrus fruits for your cocktail and have the time to make your own sour mix from scratch is a bit of a privilege. So if you can't, or don't want to, go the whole hog and make your own stash of sour mix, there's a better shortcut than the bottled stuff! I'd really rather that you, instead of buying bottled stuff, just squeeze three lemons and two limes into your individual cocktail glass, add a teaspoon of sugar, and give it a shake along with the rest of the ingredients. This is a special secret to bypass making a batch of sour mix and also avoid the bottled crap, too. That's a per drink shortcut.
