How To Make An Oleo-Saccharum With Just A Mason Jar

Meaning "oil-sugar" in Latin, oleo-saccharum is a recipe that's been the foundation for punch and cocktails since at least the 17th century. Whoever invented oleo-saccharum surely knew their food science as the method of extraction is based on some pretty complex chemistry. The original recipe, which remains the most widely used today, packs lemon or citrus peel into copious amounts of sugar. Sugar is capable of extracting both the fragrant citrus oil as well as moisture from the fruit and trapped air to create a syrup that's as citrusy as it is sweet.

Not only is the ingredient list short and simple, but you can easily make oleo-saccharum with just a mason jar and some patience. To make oleo-saccharum, simply layer fruit peels with heaping spoonfuls of sugar, packing the fruit and sugar all the way to the top of the mason jar. Then, you can seal it all in with the air-tight screw-on top before placing the jar in the fridge overnight. By morning, the sugar will have liquified with the oils into a syrup with the residual peels or fruit solids sunk to the bottom of the jar. You can strain the syrup into a squeeze bottle like this one from Norcalway to infuse any number of drinks and desserts.

The original recipe for oleo-saccharum uses lemon peel, but you can use orange, grapefruit, or any combination of citrus peels. It's important to separate the white pithy part of the peel from the colorful zest when cutting the peel from the fruit. You can use a one-to-one ratio of peel to sugar in a mason jar, shaking to combine. Furthermore, you can occasionally stir the mixture to facilitate oil extraction. The one downside to true oleo-saccharum is that the syrup rendered is a mere fraction of the total volume of the solid ingredients. Of course, you only need a tiny amount to flavor cocktails like a lemon-drop martini. Supplement a classic lemonade or this Earl Grey sweet tea recipe with oleo-saccharum for the most lemony summer refresher. An orange peel oleo-saccharum would be the perfect swap for a sugar cube in the classic Old Fashioned recipe.

You can also use the sugar packing technique on more than just citrus peels. Berries are another excellent candidate for a flavored syrup, albeit the methodology is more akin to fruit maceration. The advantage of using fruit pulp like strawberries is that it dissolves all the sugar and renders way more fruit syrup. You can also use the leftover fruit pulp as a textural and flavorful addition to a pitcher of boozy punch or blended into a slushy strawberry margarita or strawberry daiquiri. You can also add a fruity oleo-saccharum to a sangria in conjunction with brandy and wine. Or, intensify the strawberry flavor in this strawberry spritz sangria by adding strawberry oleo-saccharum.