Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Berry Syrup for Berry Milk + Strawberry Lemonade

I guess I have been on a kick to recreate things I eat lately because this post came about when I bought berry milk from a little shop and it blew my mind. I realize it`s not really anything new...I mean flavored milk like strawberry, banana, and melon milk are pretty darn popular. It just never occurred to make them at home!

This little shop was a drinks and ice cream shop. At first, I was like, um, I`m not paying $4 for strawberry or berry milk...but I didn`t want anything else from their menu so I went for the berry milk. After a few sips I just knew I had to make this or else I would have to spend $4 each time I wanted some, which quite frankly, is every single day.

It actually took me awhile to perfect it. I mean, each time I made the berry milk, it tasted good, but not excellent. Life`s too short not to eat excellent food, right? Fed up that I couldn`t make it amazing, I went back to the shop and bought a bottle of strawberry milk. I let my mom try it because it was so good and she was like, "It seems like they added sweetened condensed milk!" My eyeballs grew big. It made sense though. It was a Vietnamese store and Vietnamese iced coffee is known for having condensed milk instead of milk and sugar! I rushed to make it immediately. It helped that I already had the berry syrup made!

The magic is this berry syrup. I`ve made it with frozen berries, fresh berries, and a mixture of both! You can also make it with just blueberries or just strawberries, it`ll be fantastic either way! Another upside to this syrup? If you make just strawberry syrup, add a few tablespoons to some lemonade and viola! You`ve got yourself some strawberry lemonade! My uncle has a lemon tree, so we constantly have lemon juice frozen as ice cubes in my freezer. I put two in a bottle, add water, sugar, and a few tablespoons of strawberry syrup...shake and bingo. Fresh strawberry lemonade in less than 3 minutes!

I`ve always loved milk but I don`t drink it as often as I should. However, after making this berry syrup, I`ve drank milk every day. It was addicting. I drink whole milk, since I don`t really like other types of milk...but I`m sure you can use this with almond, cashew, or soy milk! ;) The measurements can be used as a guideline. Add more condensed milk or sugar if you want it sweeter, or less if you don`t want it to be sweet.  

Berry Syrup
Hearts in My Oven Original| Yields:  ½ cup| Level: Easy | Total Time: 20 minutes

Berry Syrup:
-          2 cups berries (strawberries or blueberries)
-          4 tablespoons granulated sugar
-          ½ cup water
Berry Milk:
-          2 cups milk
-          3-4 tablespoons berry syrup
-          3-4 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
Strawberry Lemonade:
-          2 cups cold water
-          2-3 tablespoons pure lemon juice
-          ¼ cup granulated sugar
-          3 tablespoons strawberry syrup

1.       In a medium saucepan, add the berries, sugar, and water and mix together on medium-high heat until boil.
2.        Reduce heat slightly and continue to boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it thickens slightly. Use the back of spoon to mash berries.
3.       Remove from heat.
4.       Strain syrup into container with a sieve. Discard the berry pieces.  
5.       To make berry milk or strawberry milk, stir all ingredients together in a cup/jar.

-          You can use frozen berries, fresh berries, or mixture of both.
-          For strawberry lemonade, I used only strawberries and left a little bit of the strawberry pieces to add to my lemonade. The amount of lemon juice depends on your taste of whether you like more of the sourness, or not.
-          For berry milk, you do not need to add the sweetened condensed milk; it will taste great with or without it!

-          Use these measurements as guidelines and add or lessen the amount of condensed milk/sugar according to your taste.