Top Tip Tuesday - 'Simple' Inverted Sugar Syrup

• Always add citric acid / lemon juice (the Inverter) along with your sugar and water at the beginning of making your syrup,  it speeds up the whole process of creating your syrup, for the science bit look here
• Once the syrup has been brought up to boiling point, if you notice any sugar crystals forming around the sides of the pot, use a pastry brush dipped in water to remove them. This will prevent burning and ensure the consistency of the mixture remains smooth.
• When you have finished reducing down your simple syrup to your desired thickness (remember it will become thicker as it cools) turn off the heat, then always place the lid on top of the pot/saucepan and leave to cool to room temperature, this also prevents crystallization occurring. Transfer to a clean container/jar then place in the fridge if you don't plan to use within say, a week.
• If all else fails and you forget the above, strain your syrup through a fine sieve to remove sugar crystals, sadly you will loose alot of sugar/syrup and flavour i.e. the vanilla seeds you see in the first photo.

All the above i learned  relearned over the last day and half.... now who said simple syrup was simple lol I've made many a syrup before for Ramadan sweets like basboosa, baklava, i must have been having a forgetful day!

If you want to know how you make an inverted syrup, head on over to LiveStrong