Homemade Pistachio Syrup (that actually tastes like pistachios!)
This bright green syrup tastes just like pistachios, with a bright green color and bold, nutty flavor that’s perfect in caffeinated beverages, cocktails and mocktails, or drizzled over ice cream, waffles or pancakes. Most pistachio syrup recipes out there call for simply steeping pistachios in a sugar syrup, but that just gives you a faintly […] The post Homemade Pistachio Syrup (that actually tastes like pistachios!) first appeared on Love and Olive Oil.
This bright green syrup tastes just like pistachios, with a bright green color and bold, nutty flavor that’s perfect in caffeinated beverages, cocktails and mocktails, or drizzled over ice cream, waffles or pancakes.
Most pistachio syrup recipes out there call for simply steeping pistachios in a sugar syrup, but that just gives you a faintly nutty sugar syrup that barely tastes like pistachio at all. Instead, my recipe calls for blending the nuts with the sugar syrup and then straining it, resulting in a luscious, thick green syrup that actually tastes like real pistachios (no extract needed!)
I know, I know. I’ve gone a little pistachio crazy lately, it’s bordering on obsession (at what point do I need to change the blog name to Love & Pistachios?)
Since we’ve already tackled homemade pistachio butter, I really wanted to figure out a homemade pistachio syrup next. Because, let’s face it, most commercially available brands of pistachio syrup just aren’t very good. I thought finding a good pistachio extract was hard, but pistachio syrup is even more elusive. Most of the ones I’ve tried taste too chemically, even bordering on cherry cough syrup-like flavor more than pistachio. It’s really disappointing if we’re being honest here.
I figured, how hard could it be to make my own?
I tested a number of different versions of this recipe, with the ultimate aim to maximize the natural pistachio flavor as much as possible, and a secondary goal of a gorgeous green color.
When I compared a steeped and blended syrup to a syrup that was just steeped with pistachios, the difference was like night and day. The blended syrup actually tastes like pistachios. The steeped syrup… doesn’t. Like, at all. It tastes like a plain old sugar syrup that briefly dated a pistachio in their teenage years (lol).
Anyway. Blending the syrup is the key here, and you really can’t get away with skipping this step (though see my note at the very bottom for a blender-free version in a pinch). (more…)
