Strawberry Rosemary Syrup + Strawberry Rickey

One of my favorite memories from last summer vacation was sitting outside at Pepe’s Wharf, a little seafood place in Provincetown, sipping on Raspberry Lime Rickeys, watching the sun set, and eating fish and chips with Alex. The breeze was cool, our tans were fabulous, and the smell of the ocean was just so wonderful. Ever since then, I’ve been saying that I want to recreate those Raspberry Lime Rickys back in New York. Well, I finally got around to making my own version the other night, and decided to put a little spin on it.

I love raspberry syrup, but it’s not raspberry season. It is, however, strawberry season, so I decided to make a strawberry-rosemary syrup to see how it would work. The results were fantastic. My favorite part about this syrup is that you can actually can it, which relieves all the pressure of using 4 cups of fruit syrup—something I don’t think we’d be able to do too easily (or we’d end up on the floor, bombed).

So first the syrup. It’s a 2 day process, but a simple 2 day process. The first day is really easy, and the second involves a little more work, so plan accordingly.

Strawberry-Rosemary Syrup
Makes 4 cups or 4, 8 oz jars

What You’ll Need:

2 lbs strawberries, hulled and cut in halves
3 ½ C sugar
1 sprig of rosemary, cut into 4 equally smaller pieces
2 lemons, juiced

Day 1: Place your strawberries into a large mixing bowl and cover with 2 cups of sugar. Mix, distributing all of the sugar onto every square inch of your strawberries. Next, pour the remaining 1 ½ cups of sugar atop the sugar coated strawberries and cover with plastic wrap.

Place your bowl in a warm spot in the kitchen. If you have a gas stove, you are in luck—the pilot light will keep the surface in between the burners warm. If you are lacking a gas stove, place your bowl on the counter where you get the most sunlight. The warmth will help to draw out all the lovely juices in the strawberries and melt the sugar. Stir once every few hours for 24 hours. (Don’t worry if you have to miss a few stirs. It’ll do just fine even if you don’t set your alarm to wake you up every three hours while you’re asleep.)

Day 2: Strain strawberry mixture over a large bowl to collect all of the fruit juice. Pour the juices, as well as the juice of two lemons, into a stainless steel pot and slowly bring to a boil. Save the strained strawberries for another use, like jam or pancake topping, in an airtight container in the freezer.

Boil your mixture for a few minutes, or until all of your sugar has dissolved and is smooth. If you are not canning your syrup you can add your sprigs of rosemary and allow to cool. If you want to can your syrup, keep reading.

Place one cut sprig of rosemary into each sterilized 8 oz canning jar. Pour boiling syrup into each jar, leaving half an inch headspace. Process in a hot water bath canner for 5 minutes. Remove jars and allow to cool for 12 hours undisturbed.

Strawberry-Rosemary Lemon Rickey:

In a large glass mix:

1 ½ Tbsp strawberry rosemary syrup
1 jigger vodka
Ice Cubes

Top with club soda and garnish with a slice of lemon and pinch of fresh rosemary.

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