This chile-infused blackberry syrup is slow-burning, sweet and spicy, and homemade. Inspired by a recipe in the September 2007 issue of Gourmet Magazine, it's great in spritzers, over pancakes, in oatmeal, and on and on.
The next time you have blackberries on hand, please make this recipe. It doesn't lake long, and you are left with enough sweet and spicy, chile-infused blackberry syrup to keep your taste buds tingling for a good stretch. I clipped the recipe out of an issue of Gourmet Magazine years ago, September 2007, and enjoy it every year when berries are in season.
Blackberry Syrup: The Recipe
Over the years I've made this syrup experimenting with a range of chiles. Play around! Broadly speaking, it's easy to adjust the spiciness to your liking. My advice is to make notes so you know your preference for future batches.
A Special Syrup: How To Use It
The ways to enjoy this syrup are endless.
- Use it to spritz up sparkling water.
- Swirl it into yogurt, oatmeal, or crème fraîche.
- Slather on buttered toast or skillet cornbread.
- Drizzle over goat cheese.
- Use as a topping for pancakes, crepes, or waffles.
- Jazz up tapioca pudding.
Use It In Cocktails
Gourmet highlighted their original version of this blackberry syrup alongside a bourbon-based cocktail (it was a Briar Patch), and a version of a Desert Sunrise. If you think of it as a homemade spicy grenadine, you can imagine all sorts of cocktail applications (and non-alcoholic cocktails as well).
Even More Ideas
I keep thinking about working this syrup into a cheesecake. You know how Humboldt Fog goat cheese has a thin layer of vegetable ash running through it? What if, using that as inspiration, you had a thin vein of the chile blackberry syrup run through the cream cheese filling. You'd only see it after slicing into the cake? Or you could use it in a simple vinaigrette, or as part of a fruit salad. There are a lot of other ideas down in the comments, and I'll put a few highlights in the next section.
Blackberry Syrup: How *You're* Using It
You've shared so many great ideas over the years in the comments. A few favorites:
Payel says, "it is great on top of strawberry ice cream, with french toast or with chilled white wine to make kirs" Kate dovetails with this sentiment saying this syrup was amazing over vanilla bean ice cream topped with roasted pecans. On the savory front FC noted, "I used this smoky syrup in a marinate to prepare tempeh peach kebabs." Sharon suggested a bruschetta with a slice of chevre blanc, grilled with a drizzle of this and maybe a sprig of rocket.
Lastly, you'll have enough to gift some syrup to friends. You can print up little tags with recipe suggestions for a thank-you or housewarming treat. Enjoy!
More Berry Recipes:
You've shared so many great ideas over the years in the comments. A few favorites:
Simple Red Fruit Salad Roasted Strawberries Blackberry Limeade Berry Swirl Ice Cream Summer Berry Crisp Homemade Strawberry Almond Milk Buttermilk Berry Muffins Whole Wheat Blackberry Ricotta Scones all berry recipes
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The original recipe calls for 4 dried pasilla chiles (1 oz). I had guajillo chiles on hand and substituted those. Either way, the resulting syrup is going to pack a good amount of punch. Actually, its more like a slow-motion punch, where, for minutes, the heat smolders and lingers as it moves through your body. I suspect two or two-and-a-half chiles will yield a mild syrup, for those of you weary of too much heat. The syrup keeps, covered and refrigerated, for a couple of weeks.
4 dried guajillo peppers (1 oz - see head notes)
1 cup / 6 oz / 170g dark Muscovado sugar or dark brown sugar
1 cup / 7 oz / 200 g granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups / 355 ml water
1/4 cups fresh lemon juice
3/4 cups / 3.5 oz blackberries
1. Trim the stems from the dried chiles. Tear chiles into pieces and drop (along with seeds) into
a medium saucepan. Stir in the sugars, water, and lemon juice, and bring the mixture to a boil over
medium heat. Boil, stirring regularly, until the mixture has reduced to 2 cups / 475 ml, roughly 20 -
30 minutes.
Makes about 2 1/2 cups. Adapted from a recipe in the September 2007 issue of Gourmet Magazine, who adapted it from a Junior Merino recipe.
Serve
20Prep Time
10 MinsCook Time
20 MinsTotal Time
30 Mins
APRIL 29,2024
If you make this recipe, I'd love to see it - tag it #101COOKBOOKS on Instagram
