I don’t like when foods go to waste at home especially now that we have a juicer. Prior to the juicer, I hate to admit, I would probably just throw things out and not think twice about it. I go through these cleaning fits where I just start to throw out everything. Whether it’s in the refrigerator or on a bookshelf, it’s getting thrown out. Now, I’m more careful and aware of what’s happening in the kitchen and John and I will try to juice on Sunday’s. Occasionally, when I have some aging fruits and herbs in the fridge, I either make a juice or make a simple syrup because it’s just such an easy to way to elevate cocktails and teas! I’ve said it a thousand times, homemade simple syrups are so much better than the store bought stuff and it’s not time consuming at all.

I just love experimenting with random flavored simple syrups. It’s one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen. So with this one, it’s mainly a cherry flavored syrup but I added a little lemon to amp it up a bit.

How to make:
1/3 cup of water
1/3 cup of sugar
cherries (I used about 11 or 12 cherries), pitted & halved
lemon zest

Combine the water, sugar and cherries in a small pot and heat. Bring to a slight simmer and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Once dissolved, remove from heat and gently ‘smash’ the cherries (just a little) to release a bit of cherry juice.

Then add in a little lemon zest, if you wish, and allow the cherries and zest to sit. I let mine sit for about 30-45 minutes because I forgot about it.

Add in to your favorite tea or cocktails like this gin & tonic that I made!

I just added one or two spoonfuls of the syrup to my gin and tonic just to give it another level of flavor.

So good!