Sweeten your tea, your coffee, your fruit salads, your appetizers, your cocktails and more. We’ve got you covered.
Original Hickory Syrup from Falling Bark Farm
Hickory syrup? Yes. Joyce and Travis Miller of Falling Bark Farm in Berryville, Virginia, say their hickory syrup was their retirement project, the result of a love of working with what nature provides. It’s made from hickory bark from shagbark hickory trees (“shagbark” = a tree that sheds its bark naturally) gathered from sources that don’t harm the trees. They roast the bark, “cook” it in water to extract the flavor, then sweeten the result with turbinado sugar to create a lightly smoky syrup that is attracting attention across the country. We tried the original and fell in love. It would be fine on pancakes but that smoky flavor begs for use as a glaze for something off the grill. Our favorite way to enjoy it? To sweeten cold brew coffee. The original syrup is now accompanied by four other varieties including one aged in used rye whisky barrels. That hickory bark is a good source of magnesium (which led native Americans to use it to treat arthritis) is just a delicious bonus.
$14 per 8-ounce bottle. Price includes shipping anywhere in the continental United States. Available online at fallingbarkfarm.com/.
Blackberry Syrup from Cleveland Organics
Beth Cleveland of Cleveland Organics in Ft. Valley sells lots and lots of organic single-origin coffees, organic pecans from the family’s groves and fun takes on coffee and pecans like coffee toffee bites. They roast their coffees and make their coffee and pecan treats by hand. But we ran into their blackberry syrup and that’s where we stopped. It’s the best fruit syrup we’ve tried. If you love blackberries but you’re sometimes disappointed by the dull flavor of the ones you purchase, then you need this syrup. Drizzle a little over the blackberries topping your bowl of granola or add some to that blackberry cobbler you’re about to bake. We stirred it into lemonade for the most refreshing summer drink ever.
$12.95 per 11.5-ounce bottle. Available online at cleveland-organics.com/.
Ginger Lime Syrup from Sweet Ginger Browne
Ebony Coleman of Atlanta-based Sweet Ginger Browne loves ginger. She loves it so much that in March 2018 she began making syrups she calls "mixer-elixirs" from organic ginger and raw cane sugar. She ended up with five flavors - two that are available year 'round (ginger lime and ginger clove) and three seasonal flavors combining ginger with mango, cardamom and warm spices. A year later, March 2019, she began selling her syrups to the public at the Green Market at Piedmont Park. Because these syrups are made with fresh ginger and no preservatives, they're good for about six weeks. Keep them refrigerated and shake them well before using. Then mix the syrup with sparkling water to make your own delicious ginger ale. Our favorite is the ginger lime. Just enough fresh lime juice to provide some citrus kick, lots of fresh ginger flavor that keeps the drinks you make refreshing.
$10.99 per 8-ounce bottle, $14.99 per 12-ounce bottle. Bring your empty bottle back for a $1 discount. Available at the Green Market at Piedmont Park. sweetgingerbrowne.com/
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