I found the star anise was too much for our taste so I only put one in and more vanilla. Much more to my taste. Some extra browning sauce doesn’t hurt.
Don’t do what I did and accidentally simmer for longer than 10 minutes. It really doesn’t need more than that and some of the spices and flavours will infuse more and possibly be too strong in the end result.
I had to make the browning sauce the day before. Get ½ cup of warm water and set aside. Get ½ cup of brown sugar, put it in a saucepan over low heat and heat it until it starts melting, stirring constantly. Once it’s melted, keep stirring until the liquid sugar goes very dark brown almost black. Remove from heat and (this is the risky/exciting part) add a drop of the water at a time, stirring thoroughly after each addition. It’ll spit angrily at first, that’s why you add a drop at a time, but it’ll settle down after you’ve added about half the water. Let it cool and jar it, it keeps for ages. I’ve messed up this part and damn near burnt the sugar, the liquid tasted burnt and I cursed lavishly. The next day it didn’t taste burnt so I used it and it was fine.
I think you could tweak it a bit if you were after a more a Coke kind of flavour. Definitely reduce the amount of star anise and add more vanilla, and maybe try adding a touch of lavender if you’ve got access to some you know hasn’t been sprayed. Coke has a secret recipe so I’m guessing, but I think a bit of lavender or a tiny hint of nutmeg would give a background that gives more a Coke taste. You can always have fun trying!
same deal but add acid instead of water (I’ve found vinegar works just as damned well as lemon juice and no one has ever been able to tell the difference) and you have golden syrup
Taleya@aussie.zone 2 weeks ago
sends up @PeelerSheila@aussie.zone signal
PeelerSheila@aussie.zone 2 weeks ago
Hello! Hear you’re interested in a cola recipe.
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I found the star anise was too much for our taste so I only put one in and more vanilla. Much more to my taste. Some extra browning sauce doesn’t hurt.
Image
Don’t do what I did and accidentally simmer for longer than 10 minutes. It really doesn’t need more than that and some of the spices and flavours will infuse more and possibly be too strong in the end result.
I had to make the browning sauce the day before. Get ½ cup of warm water and set aside. Get ½ cup of brown sugar, put it in a saucepan over low heat and heat it until it starts melting, stirring constantly. Once it’s melted, keep stirring until the liquid sugar goes very dark brown almost black. Remove from heat and (this is the risky/exciting part) add a drop of the water at a time, stirring thoroughly after each addition. It’ll spit angrily at first, that’s why you add a drop at a time, but it’ll settle down after you’ve added about half the water. Let it cool and jar it, it keeps for ages. I’ve messed up this part and damn near burnt the sugar, the liquid tasted burnt and I cursed lavishly. The next day it didn’t taste burnt so I used it and it was fine.
Taleya@aussie.zone 2 weeks ago
How does it taste compared to coke?
PeelerSheila@aussie.zone 2 weeks ago
I think you could tweak it a bit if you were after a more a Coke kind of flavour. Definitely reduce the amount of star anise and add more vanilla, and maybe try adding a touch of lavender if you’ve got access to some you know hasn’t been sprayed. Coke has a secret recipe so I’m guessing, but I think a bit of lavender or a tiny hint of nutmeg would give a background that gives more a Coke taste. You can always have fun trying!
Taleya@aussie.zone 2 weeks ago
same deal but add acid instead of water (I’ve found vinegar works just as damned well as lemon juice and no one has ever been able to tell the difference) and you have golden syrup
PeelerSheila@aussie.zone 2 weeks ago
Cool, I’ll have to give it a go.
PeelerSheila@aussie.zone 2 weeks ago
Bonus BBQ sauce recipe
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Seriously one of the tastiest BBQ sauces I’ve ever had, Minipeelers gave it a solid 10/10 on chargrilled chicken.