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| No-Bake Espresso Chocolate Nut Bars, ready in 30 minutes |
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| Chilled Homemade Lychee Syrup |
What do you do when you land up with far too many fresh lychees, and a few tins of canned ones besides? You devour the fresh fruit first, of course.
But as the days go by and a few batches still sit in the fridge staring back at me with wide red eyes, the plan of converting them into something else pops into my head. Pudding? Sorbet?
Or go to the extent of converting it into lychee syrup?
Making syrups seemed tedious at first, but once I got the knack of it, I realised it is one of the simplest recipes going, needing only a bit of time and patience. Over the years I've made my own versions of the fruit syrups I love most.
The lychee (Litchi chinensis) is a highly revered subtropical fruit with an imperial heritage rooted in Southern China, cultivated for over a thousand years. Ancient rulers prized it so highly that royal couriers rode vast distances just to bring fresh harvests to the palace.
From its ancestral home, the fruit spread across Southeast Asia, finding a second home in the hills of Northern Thailand. Today, regions like Chiang Mai are famous for their lychee orchards, making it a true symbol of Thai hospitality and seasonal abundance.
Along with lychees comes the memory of our first trip to Thailand in 2009. It happened to be their National Tourism Week, and they handed a big packet of fresh lychees to each passenger landing at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok. We had four big packets in our hands!
We were caught up sorting our entry visas and waiting for a taxi. Suddenly, an old lady pulled my hand. Alarmed, I turned to her.
There beside me stood a lovely old lady, beaming with pride. "These lychees are from Chiang Mai, enjoy them!" she said, with a warm, pleasant smile.
I thanked her and promised I would eat them right away. True to my word, we gobbled up a whole packet within no time. They were so fresh, tasty and juicy, my very first taste of that memorable, authentic lychee flavour.
Naturally, we sneaked back to the counter and got hold of two more packets. I still remember that evening twilight at the Bangkok airport, waiting for our taxi to Pattaya with our fresh lychees and the memory of that sweet old lady.
Throughout our stay, I stored the lychees in the hotel room fridge and relished them heartily. I even brought a packet home with us. Even now, all these years later, I still instantly relate lychees to that beautiful trip to Thailand.
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| Preservative Free Lychee Syrup |
Water, sugar and lychees are all you need to make this lychee syrup at home. Boil sugar and water along with fresh or canned lychees until it reaches one string consistency, slightly thick and sticky all together.
Finally, add a few teaspoons of lemon juice, strain it, and there you go, a lychee syrup ready to add taste and aroma to your favourite drinks and desserts.
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| Fresh & Canned Lychees for Syrup |
Pure Fruit Flavour: No artificial preservatives or synthetic food colourings.
Smart Preservation: The simplest way to stop a large batch of fresh lychees going to waste.
Brilliant Versatility: Works in drinks, desserts, cocktails and mocktails alike.
No Crystallisation: A splash of lemon juice keeps the sugar from seizing up.
Cuisine: Asian (Around the World)
Recipe Type: Syrup
Yields: 1 Medium Jar (approx. 250 ml)
Servings: 10-12 Portions
Difficulty: Medium
Author: SM @ Essence of Life - Food
Preparation Time: 15 Minutes
Cooking Time: 45 Minutes
Total Time: 60 Minutes
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| Lychee Syrup: Versatile Summer Drink Mixer |
Pro Tip: Boil the syrup until it reaches exactly a one string consistency, meaning a drop cooled between your fingers forms a single thin thread that holds without breaking.
Fresh vs. Canned Lychees: Either works. For fresh, simply peel and discard the skin and seed; for canned, drain fully before use. A mix of both works just as well.
The White Sugar Secret: White sugar keeps the syrup's natural pale colour. Brown sugar works too, but will darken it and add a caramel note.
Preventing Crystals: A dash of lemon or lime juice stops crystallisation and acts as a natural preservative.
Post-Cooling Thickness: The syrup thickens slightly as it cools, so don't over-boil past the one string stage.
Lychee syrup is wonderfully versatile. Here are a few simple ways to use it:
Lychee Juice & Soda: Stir into plain water with ice, or top up with soda water and fresh mint for a fizzy version.
Flavoured Teas: Brew black or green tea, chill it, and add a hint of lychee syrup for an instant iced fruit tea.
Zesty Lemonade: A teaspoon stirred into homemade lemonade or limeade for an exotic twist.
The Home Bar: Pour into summer cocktails, mocktails, mimosas, or an elegant lychee martini.
Dessert Drizzle: Drizzle into lychee pudding or lychee sorbet for extra fragrance.
Pantry Life: Stays fresh for up to 6 months in a dark, cool spot inside an airtight glass container.
Refrigeration: For a longer shelf life and brighter floral notes, keep the bottle chilled in the fridge.
Can I substitute white sugar with brown sugar?
Yes, but brown sugar will turn the syrup dark brown and add a caramel flavour. White sugar keeps the natural, delicate colour of the lychees.
Is this a syrup or a cordial?
Strictly a syrup, a thick, intense sweetener made of roughly equal parts sugar and water. A cordial is a tart, juice-heavy concentrate meant for heavy dilution.
Can I make this using only canned lychees?
Yes, absolutely. Just drain away the canning liquid completely before chopping and blending the fruit.
Why did my syrup turn out slightly cloudy?
That's completely natural, since we grind the whole fruit into a coarse paste rather than using filtered juice. It doesn't affect the taste or shelf life.
Is lychee syrup vegan and gluten free?
Yes, this recipe uses only sugar, water, lychees and lemon juice, making it naturally vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and halal.
Lychee Lemonade — a zesty, exotic twist on classic homemade lemonade using this very syrup.
Lychee Martini — turn your homemade syrup into an elegant summer cocktail.
Homemade Rose Syrup — another floral, fragrant syrup for your home bar shelf.
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| Quick & Easy Homemade Lychee Syrup |
There's real pride in making your own fruit syrups from scratch, and with just a handful of ingredients, you're rewarded with a wonderfully fruity lychee syrup.
This homemade lychee syrup is a dainty, versatile concoction that leaves an elegantly sweet, exotic note in almost any drink you choose to create.
It's a beautiful way to lock the aroma of summer fruit in a bottle, keeping those unforgettable twilight memories of travel and unexpected kindness alive all through the year.
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HOMEMADE WINES |
As & how I got busy this year, is a big question and rather with a feeling that I was equally a bit lethargic & all the more occupied with overall twists & turns going around. Making a new wine each year and toasting it for Christmas & New Year had been a routine at home for years & this year I skipped it. One reason is laziness and the other one was that a whole lot of Homemade Wines right from Raisin Wine, Grape Wine, Banana Wine, Ginger Wine are lying in my pantry. Some bottled and matured over the years, new bottles lined up with fresh brew as & when each wine gets over. As I am writing this post( just as the year 2020 is nearing to its last day), I had started to brew a batch of Apple Wine & sure it is going to be ready for next year. I love well-matured Wines, so I can wait with patience even for a couple of years.
It seems as though when we think of winemaking, we think of grapes. But what about wines made from fruits other than grapes? When winemaking at home became a hobby around the world, it has become very easy for the individual home winemakers to make wines from affordable fresh fruits of the garden variety. Not only fruits, but the truth is also that wine can be made of a wide variety of Flowers or… even Honey. But the fact that a Honey Wine needed for at the least, a minimum of 10 years of the maturing period made me wince a bit. I am not sure whether I had that much patience or life span, as a matter of fact, to wait for it. At this point, I would like to say, don’t equate these wines to back-shed hooches. If perfectly brewed, these homemade Wines turn out to be tremendously tasty and can even rival the complexity of a Chardonnay or a Merlot.
I think, it is very unlikely to find these special wines in any of the liquor stores as a matter of fact. But no one stops you from brewing your own wine varieties. So, with the current collection of 5 delicious homemade wines, I am sure that you will certainly be able to find perfect homemade wine recipes for your taste. Have quite a few Wine Recipes in mind, Pineapple Wine, Pineapple Peel Wine, Orange Wine, Dates Wines...to name a few. I am sure it would take years for me to perfect it and post all these Wines in my blog.
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HOMEMADE WINES |
When talking about Homemade Wines, Grape Wine had been a default Wine made by my MIL, her mother & family. It had become a family tradition to brew a "Grape Wine alias Munthiri Wine" when there is a call for a festival or a function at home. My MIL had brewed a fresh batch of Beetroot Wine this year and yet to try that too. Years back, when I got a classic recipe collection of 100 Wines, made me try a few other variations and I am still trying out new homemade Wines from the collection.
Homemade Grape Wine & Rich Fruit Cake is a default when it comes to a family function or a festival in our family. So always they brew Wines far ahead of a celebration. But instances of celebrations pop out suddenly & time becomes a constraint. Then, I have seen the ladies running helter-skelter when the proposed Wine had not matured or didn't taste as expected. To blurt out the fact, just the day before my SIL's engagement, my MIL & her sister trios found that the Wine had not matured and didn't have the required peppiness in it. The solutions or at least to make it up to taste like wine rather than a Grape Juice was falling out of nowhere that the suggestions to add Coca Cola to Brandy lined up the suit. I was awestruck by the ideas that I moved out of the place not wanting to be an accomplice for the crime. Finally & to my relief, I found that they had sourced out Grape Wines from Diana Aunty who is popular for her homemade wines in our circle. So are the stories behind all homemade wines.
When you have ample of time & patience and if you can plan it ahead, then Homemade Wines are the best when you are toasting a Family Party. All the more you can even store it for a long time. Matured Wines have a longer shelf life. So here are a few Homemade Wines from my repertoire and sure you can see a few more in the coming years. All of these Homemade Wines use simple Wine Making technique even a beginner can follow and all the more you wouldn't require any special equipment or utensils for the purpose.
Also, I couldn't source Campden Tablets and have been sterilizing the water & the Jars perfectly for winemaking & storing purposes. If you can get hold of Campden Tablets, don’t forget to add a few Campden tablets to all the recipes. These are used as water sterilizer, just drop a couple of crushed tablets into the water, and you’re good to go.
So here I am with a few of my best homemade Wines repeatedly made and stored for years at home. And let's raise the glass and toast for the New Year, for a new beginning and a more auspicious 2021. Any excuse is good enough when it comes to drinking wine.
So, let's enjoy making Wines at home & Let's enjoy our own wines with pride.
Now enjoy the list!
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| HOMEMADE WINES |
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| GRAPE WINE |
Grape wine is famous. It is loved all over the world and can be literally found anywhere!
It seems as though when we think of home winemaking, we think of grapes. Walk into your local liquor store. The racks are filled with countless wines produced from Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Cabernet and other notable grapes.
So why should you brew your own? Well… just for the fun of it! Whether the grapes come from the local vineyard or your own backyard, you can make impressive grape wines with remarkable flavour, body and character – tremendous homemade wines that are worthy of recognition by friends and family. And above all, you can create these bottles of wine for a fraction of what they would cost you at the store.
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RAISIN WINE |
A very simple recipe for an old-fashioned wine made out of Raisins. The better the raisin, the better the wine! In the making of fruit wines, raisins are often used to add body to the wine. Dark Raisins will make a dark, somewhat brownish wine. White or golden raisins will make white or golden wine. This is a simple Raisin Wine recipe with simple home-made winemaking technique, but the results are really awesome.
This the best wine I have ever made.
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BANANA WINE |
We know it might sound odd, but banana wine exists. And it is delicious. Surprise your guests with this homemade Banana Wine recipe. Banana winemaking is no more difficult than making wines from Grapes. The basic process is the same, given to the same aspects as when preparing Grape Wine. But patience is much appreciated while brewing this wonderful homemade Banana Wine, as it takes a bit of a long time to get a clear looking Wine.
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GINGER WINE |
Ginger Wine is something quite warming, with a wonderful aroma, soothing and satisfying flavour. Fresh Ginger Roots give a wonderful aroma to the Wine along with a note of Spiciness from the dry chillies added to the Wine. Some recipes even call for adding Raisins and Yeast, but this ginger Recipe is prepared without adding Yeast. Also adding Caramelized Sugar to the Ginger Wine gives a fullness with a slight bitter note and yields a wonderful colour to the Wine.
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| GINGER ALE |
Though not a Wine, this Ginger Ale Recipe is a combination of Homemade Ginger Wine which yields a naturally fermented and fizzy Ginger Ale. For a total non-alcoholic fix, I have also added a recipe of Ginger Ale with homemade Ginger Syrup. A refreshing and rejuvenating drink. A simple recipe which is surprisingly easy to make at home. Ginger Ale is nothing but a mixture of Ginger Syrup, Carbonated Water, Sweetener, and it has added flavours from Lemon/Orange. Within no time you can get hold of one of the most refreshing drinks - Sweet, spicy and slightly tart with a citrusy note.
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| HOMEMADE WINES |
These are a few of my best Homemade Wines repeatedly made and
stored for years at home. And let's raise the glass and toast for the
New Year, for a new beginning and a more auspicious 2021. Any excuse is
good enough when it comes to drinking wine, especially HOMEMADE WINES!!!
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| Authentic Homemade Khoya (Mawa) Recipe |
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| Perfectly Cooked White Raw Rice - Pacharisi Sappadu |
Essence of Life - Food is all about daily cooking with a simple sense of taste and health. It is all about food. Not a day goes by without eating for most of us, so what we eat matters on the whole. Food in the mode of goodness increases the duration of life, purifies one's existence, and gives strength, health, happiness, and satisfaction. Above all ingredients, the most vital one in my kitchen is love.
Sm
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