Let’s talk sugar and syrups. Cocktail recipes often call for Demerara syrup, which many people don’t happen to have handy. It’s tempting to use simple syrup and call it “close enough,” but what are you missing out on? A lot of flavors, for one thing!
In the first picture, the left bottle contains simple syrup made with refined white sugar. The right bottle contains rich (2:1) Demerara syrup made with real Demerara sugar from Guyana. (Demerara is a region in Guyana.)
That dark color is from the molasses remaining on the unrefined Demerara sugar crystals. If you were to taste this syrup, you’d find it has a deep, rich, and molasses-like flavor. It really pops out in cocktails like an Old Fashioned and various tiki recipes.
Real Demerara sugar can be slightly difficult to track down, and some folks have said that you can use the more readily available Turbinado sugar or similar. While you can use them, it’s hard to know how much flavor they’ll have compared to real Demerara sugar.
Check out these photos below. The first one shows the color of a Demerara sugar sourced primarily from Guyana’s sugar factories and purchased on Amazon. Look at that dark color!
This next photo shows the color difference between unrefined sugar made in Louisiana – I’ve been to the sugar mill where it was made. Despite being “raw,” it’s substantially lighter than the Demerara sugar next to it. Less color means less flavor in the resulting syrup.
To wrap up, do what works for you when it comes to sugar syrups, but the above is my first-hand experience in making and working with real Demerara sugar. Have thoughts? Leave them in the comments.
I’ve made 2:1 syrups with both Turbinado (darker and coarser than the raw refined sugar shown) and real Demerara sugar. There’s a very slight difference in flavor, but I doubt it would be noticeable once mixed into a drink, especially if you didn’t know one was used vs. the other.
…going to Amazon to search for Guyana sugar. Literally the only actual Demerara sugar I have seen was in St. Lucia, and like the Martinique sugar I brought it back, but that is not a sustainable way…
I’m a fan of the Smuggler’s Cove recipe for Demerara syrup, which is actually a mix of white and Demerara sugars.
Has anyone tried like a “light” brown sugar for a syrup? I recently made a Demerara style syrup from a turbinado, and we were pretty happy with that. I bought two sugars from Amazon the above mentioned Guyana in the bag, and one that identified as Guyana Demerara, but ended up being Trini sugar from the Caroni estate, which tickled me (as a nerd)
So that’s out there also, if you want to get into the “paying to much for bespoke sugar” game I am a HARD player of that game. I have Martinique sugar from Le Galion in my kitchen right now as well.