DATE SYRUP, SILAN

Silan, a magical syrup made using only two ingredients: dates and water! Silan constitutes a surely healthier alternative to your store bought pancake syrup or simple syrup (made out of cane sugar and water) due to the fact that it only uses the natural sugars found in dates, no other additional refined sugar. This dark amber syrup has a deep caramel like taste, it is very sweet and flavorful! Date syrup is very versatile and can be used in so many ways: drizzle it on pancakes, toasts, cakes, ice cream, use it as a coffee sweetner, glaze or marinate some meat in it, add it to your salad dressing, the options are endless!

INGREDIENTS (150 to 200 grams syrup)

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1

Remove the pit of the dates and discard any bad dates you find in your batch. Roughly chop the dates.

Step 2

Add the dates to a bowl, cover them with boiling water and let them soak either overnight (in the fridge), either 30 minutes to 1 hour before starting to make the syrup.

Step 3

Once the dates have soften, discard the soaking liquid and rinse them.

Step 4

Add the 500 grams of dates (4 cups) and the 1200 grams of water (5 cups) to a pot. Bring everything to a boil, turn the heat to medium-low and simmer the mixture for 40 minutes to 1 hour. The simmering time will vary depending on the type of dates used and their sugar content. Stir the mixture from time to time to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot. You should stop whenever the dates have fully disintegrated and the mixture looks like a runny jam (with very little liquid at the bottom).

Step 5

Time to strain the mixture! You can do this using a fine mesh strainer or a cheesecloth. Pour the runny jam like date mixture into your straining utensil and squeeze out all the liquid out of it.

Step 6

Add the freshly squeezed date juice to a clean pot. Bring the liquid to a boil, turn the heat to low / medium-low and simmer away for 20 to 40 minutes. Again, the simmering time will vary depending on the type of dates used and their sugar content. You will know your syrup is ready whenever it coats a clean spoon. To check that dip a spoon in the date syrup, if the syrup doesn’t fall off and you are able to trace a line with your finger on the spoon, the syrup should be ready. The longer you let it go, the thicker it will get!

Step 7

Cool off the syrup and store it in a jar. You can keep it on the counter or wherever you would normally store a jar of honey. The fridge works too.

Drizzle this on pancakes, crepes, cakes, toasts, ice cream, add it to your coffee, glaze some ribs, wings, stakes with it, your options are endless here!