Orgeat syrup is one of the essential syrups behind the bar. If made right it can be silky, creamy, nutty and so delicious! So much better than many store-bought ones. So I decided to show you how I make this nut syrup. The recipe is based on Dave Arnold’s “Any Nut Syrup” from the “Liquid Intelligence” but of course with some small tweaks. I also prepared a syrup calculator for nut which you can use for free
And what to make with the syrup? Mai Tai is usually the first choice, for good reason! The Japanese cocktail, which I made a couple of episodes ago, can be delicious too, check it out here
Orgeat
● 200 g Almonds
● soak almonds in water water
● add a pinch of salt
● 600 mL (20 oz) hot water
● 100 g of sugar (per every 100 g of almond milk)
● 0.3 g of gum arabic (per every 100 g of almond milk)
● 0.08 g of xanthan gum (per every 100 g of almond milk)
● 0.2 g of rose water (per every 100 g of almond milk)
Start with 200 grams of almonds and soak them in a bowl of water, with a pinch of salt, for at least 3 hours (this gets rid of the tannins and any astringency in the nuts). Then drain and rinse the almonds with fresh water. This whole step gives the best end result in my opinion, but you can skip it if you’re in a hurry.
Then place the almonds in a blender and pour over 600 ml of hot water and blend for at least 30 seconds (high temperature will make the extraction of oils from the nuts more efficient). Once it’s a nice homogeneous mixture you’ll filter the nut milk through a cheesecloth over a fine mesh strainer. If you’re looking for a way to make your own milk alternative, this is it.
Press down on the mixture gently with a spoon, to make straining a bit faster. Then, to get all of the milk through the cheesecloth I like to squeeze it all with a potato ricer (see video for details). If you made a big batch you might need to do this in two or more goes. The strained almonds still have a lot of flavors so mix them with yogurt for a snack or make macaron shells for the zero-waste cocktail I made last month
Then add other ingredients (sugar, gum arabic, xanthan gum, rose water) based on the weight of the milk. For every 100 grams of almond milk add 100 grams of sugar, 0.3 gram of gum arabic, 0.08 g of xanthan gum, and 0.2 g of rose water. This orgeat calculator will help you with the calculations: Just make sure your blender is big enough.
Blend everything again so everything dissolves and incorporates into the beautiful mixture called orgeat. Bottle and label the syrup, and store it in the fridge. It should be good for at least a month
Did you know the name comes from the French word barley because grains were originally used for syrup?
Enjoy your delicious Mai Tai and Japanese cocktails, cheers!