How to Make Your Own Blueberry Syrup
Imagine a blueberry syrup that actually tastes like blueberries, real ripe blueberries, and not just sugar. Now imagine producing it right in your own kitchen and stashing a few bottles of it away for winter. That is what we’re going to do today!
Never mind the laundry piling up (our machine is currently out of order, so that gives me a good excuse) and the sticky floors, blueberry season is short and the berries won’t wait around. Unfortunately, the laundry will.
This syrup is my new favorite way to preserve the sweet dark berries. When a recent tally of my jam pantry showed I still had nineteen varieties of homemade jam to be consumed, I relinquished my plan to make blueberry jam with my market haul and decided to go with syrup. We’re huge pancake fans around here and fresh fruit syrups will not go to waste.
With average pancake syrups such as Aunt Jemima consisting basically of corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavoring, along with the hefty price tag of pure maple syrup, homemade fruit syrup is an extremely attractive option for topping your buckwheat pancakes – or blueberry sundaes.
A few ways we enjoy blueberry syrup:
- Stirred into yogurt
- Poured over ice cream
- Drizzled over plain cheesecake
- Spilled over pancakes or waffles
- Added to milkshakes or smoothies
Ready to make your own blueberry syrup? Let’s do it!
Ingredients
- 1 lemon organic, whole and washed
- 5 cups blueberries organic, washed
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup Turbinado sugar firmly packed (or white sugar)
Instructions
- Using a sharp paring knife, peel three or four strips of lemon peel from the lemon. Skin should be about 1/2 inch wide and not have too much of the bitter pith or white part on it. Then juice the lemon, and set both zest and juice aside.
- Place blueberries and water in a medium pot. Don’t worry about stems or leaves; they will be strained out later. Using a potato masher, crush the berries.
- Over medium-high heat, bring the berries and water to a boil, then lower the temperature to medium-low. Simmer berries for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. They will darken considerably.
- Remove pot from heat and ladle berries into a fine sieve set over a heat-proof bowl or measuring cup. Using the back of a smaller ladle, press on the berry solids to extract as much juice as possible. Discard solids. (Update: or save them if you like. This part is apparently alarming to quite a few commenters! But my solids are full of stems, not worthy of a smoothie.)
- Return the blueberry juices to the pot, then add the lemon peel (not juice yet) and the sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes until the mixture thickens slightly. (Optional: Add a stick of cinnamon here, if you like).
- Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice and stir to combine. Boil another minute or two. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Remove lemon zest.
- Using a funnel, pour syrup into clean jars. Top with lid and store in the refrigerator for up to three months, or the freezer for up to nine.
Notes
Nutrition
Would you use fruit syrups at your table?
This sounds neat. I’ll admit the only time I’ve tried fruit syrups is at IHOP, and I did not like them. I don’t know if they were really made from fruit. If I had the opportunity, I’d try this.
I have a sneaking suspicion the fruit syrups at IHOP would have very little actual fruit in them, Kara! I wish I could send you a bottle to taste!
I think your suspicion is probably correct. That’s sweet of you to wish that. 🙂
We’ve recently planted a blueberry bush. I’m going to bookmark this in the hope that one day, we’ll have more than we can eat!
I hope you planted two different varieties of blueberry bushes you need two compatible types to cultivate them. One single bush will never produce a crop of blues.
Yum! We love blueberries here, & this is a great new way to use them! Do you think the syrup would work with strawberries, & raspberries too? Maybe a flavor combo? Ahhhh the possibilities!
Blueberries have a natural pectin that helps the syrup thicken up slightly. I’m not sure you would get the same consistency with other berries.
You are right, though, there are many flavors of fruit that lend themselves well to a syrup! I made an excellent red currant syrup a few years ago–tart and delicious!
Yum! 😉
Hmmm, I have some blueberries in the fridge. And Blue Agave syrup. I may tinker with this to see if I can get the two to work together. Assuming the kids don’t eat all of the blueberries. LOL
Good plan! I think agave would work very well. Have fun!
Looks wonderful! I love all the different ideas you have to use this tasty syrup.
Thanks Lynn! I think a plain cheesecake needs to be in the works soon so we can pour this syrup over it!
This looks easy! Thanks for the great recipe!
Mmmmm….I also made blueberry syrup last week and it was so tasty. I added some of mine to soda water with lots of ice for an Italian soda. Delish!
Mmm, great idea, Jan. I never thought of using it in a beverage!
I am seriously drooling! I have been craving pancakes so much this pregnancy. My mom used to make blueberry syrup all the time and I always loved it.
I love that this recipe stores for so long in the fridge. I’m gonna have to whip up a big batch of this soon. Mmm..
Oh, I’m so glad you’re going to try this, Cheri! As if homemade pancakes could get any better, right? But they do with this splash of purple.
We would love to put this on our pancakes! I might try using our food mill to strain the blueberries.
Could you perhaps mix the solids into muffin batter? I would expect it to make the muffin grainier, less light, more like a bran muffin; but I’m sure it would be nice not to waste that blueberry nutrition. 🙂
Sarah, my solids had leaves, stems, and other organic matter mixed in, so I wouldn’t re-purpose it. I know what you mean about not wasting, though!
The advantage was it made for a quick sauce, I didn’t pick over the berries, just washed and dumped in the pot.
Good for composting or treat for chickens though 🙂
Oh DELISH!
I think we might make some of this up for use at the cafe – drizzled over cupcakes would be divine…
Thanks cuz!
Elizabeth, this may be too thin for cupcakes…I think it would make them soggy. It’s amazing over cheesecake though, or layered in a yogourt parfait…
Hope you give it a go!!
Yum! I’m surprised at how simple & easy this looks to make..I bet you could use any type of fruit, and it’d be a million times better than the processed stuff you get in the store – I’m gonna try it for sure!
Oh, perfect! I’ve been trying to find things to do with all of my blueberries (can’t put them all on my face), and this will make them last and last and last.
Love it! Thanks for the recipe and tutorial.
We all prefer a simple fruit syrup here over any maple syrup. We make and use raspberry and blackberry.
Haven’t tried making a blueberry one-if our 5 blueberry bushes ever make more than we can eat by the handful, I’ll try it 🙂
Beautiful photos and a beautiful recipe. I will definitely have to try this when blueberries come back into season here.
I love the jug you stored the syrup in by the way.
Isn’t this the recipe out of a recent Bon Appétit magazine?
I haven’t seen the mag, Adam, (although searching for it now to see what it says!) so, no, any similarities are purely coincidental.
What a great simple sounding recipe, can’t wait to try it out and use up some of the millions of blueberries I currently have.
Had 6 cups of blueberries just waiting to be used. The syrup turned out great. Buckwheat pancakes sound great this morning~
Thanks for the recipe!
Oh, great!! I’m making more this week…
Just finished my batch of blueberry syrup! YUM!!! Thanks for posting this. I actually have more blueberries leftover, so I may make some more.
You’re welcome, Susanne. I’m so glad you tried it out — and loved it, by the sounds of things.
Fantastic – just tried your recipe and tested it over vanilla ice cream. IMHO, fruit syrups are not viscous enough to replace maple syrup on pancakes and the like, but would be nice in addition to maple syrup. I’d also try replacing the sugar with palm or coconut sugar to make it a little healthier. I’m also going to try eliminating step 5 (making the sugar based syrup) and instead use yacon syrup with the lemon juice. I’m thinking yacon syrup might work really well in this particular application because it’s a syrup – the success factor will be the overall taste.
Thank you for your interesting comment, John! Please drop by again and share your experiment with us. Wish we could hang out with you to taste test!
Do you think this could be frozen in a half-pint canning jar?
Yes, I do, just leave enough space at the top (1/2 inch) to allow for expansion, and use caution when thawing. Don’t throw it in hot water!
Would it be possible to can this using a boiling water bath? I have tons of blueberries that I froze and I would love to make this for Christmas gifts.
Hi Kelly,
I asked around about this, because I haven’t tried it yet myself. Here was the consensus: YES, but do not omit the lemon, or play around with alternative sweeteners. Use a water bath to process the pints, and process them at a low boil for at least 15 minutes.
Good luck and let us know how they turn out!
Exactly the answer I was hoping to find in the comments! Thanks so much for a super fun recipe. I can’t wait ’til it’s blueberry season again to try it :o)
I thought I’d share a couple pictures: there’s one of us cooking the sauce and one of the sauce poured over quinoa, bananas and of course – blueberries!
Thanks for sharing, John. Great pics!
Oh Ma Gawd, why did I decide to make this syrup on such an incredibly HOT day??? My house is now sweltering but at least I have several jars of delicious looking blueberry syrup cooling on the counter.
Would frozen blueberries work for this?
Thanks or the fantastic recipe-I’ve been trying to find substitutes for syrup since waffles and pancakes are boys favorite!
Hi Jennie, yes, frozen blueberries would work well, too.
I’ve got one bottle left of the black currant syrup I made last summer. Because our dogs are Maple and Buster, and Buster is a black lab cross, the black currant syrup is known as Buster syrup in our house.
I’d love to know about the frozen blueberries as well, have a few tucked away and this sounds delicious!!
I really want to try this. What type of bottle are you using for preserving the syrup (in the pic)? Or is that bottle just for photo purposes????? Thanks
Pamela, I use recycled bottles for my syrup, anything I can get my hands on. So I don’t remember where I got that particular bottle from, I only know it used to hold maple syrup.
If I have an excess of syrup, it just goes into regular 250ml glass canning jam jars.
Man, I wish we had our own blueberry bushes. They’re definitely on our list of things to plant once we get back to the States.
Thank you for this! I just made a batch (but used ginger instead of lemon) and it is very tasty. Have tested the “lasts for 6 months” theory? I’m not sure I’ll get the chance 😉
There should be no problem canning this in a water bath canner even without the acid from the lemon. Blueberries are high acid, this is the same reason it is totally safe to can blueberry jam and jelly. You could even play with the sweetener type, it will not change the acidity and therefore the safety when canning, it would however change its life expectancy when the jar is opened or if you are planning on storing it in the fridge. Wish we still had blueberries here to make this.
-Robin
Hello there.
I like your idea to return to real food prep and women’s lost kitchen arts (which of course can now be enjoyed by men too.) This is how I learned to cook 60 years ago.
I don’t like that you’ve decided to have ads. Febreeze? (carcinogenic). Women shaving? (sexist).
Loved this recipe. I like to make my own sodas, so I would probably mix this syrup with some club soda and ice cubes to create a delicious blueberry soda. I often combine orange and grapefruit juice with an equal amount of club soda or sparkling water, which gives me more fluid and also just tastes delicious. I also do the same with lime juice, honey and club soda, and add a little fresh basil just to liven things up.
I have plain yogurt with fruit and granola every morning for breakfast and this syrup would provide a fabulous enhancement for THAT. Plus it would be my anti-oxidant boost for the day.
–K.C. (Samurai Sage, http://www.HerbCompanion.com)
Why do people comment BEFORE they even try the recipe? You’re utterly useless!
I’ve tried the recipe, can I help? 😉
Could you use honey as a sweetener?
Thanks for the recipe! I made the blueberry syrup this morning and it turned out really good. To avoid wasting the nutrient rich blueberry solids I added it in the pancake mix! So, I also got this nice blueberry color pancakes with tasty blueberry syrup. You might want to add this suggestion in your recipe. Cheers..
Is there anyway to can and put on shelf rather than the refrigerator? Looking at a longer life for it. I am new to the canning world so it may seem like a very stupid question. 😉
Do you think this would work to can it instead of just keeping in the fridge? I would love to try that for a longer shelf life (and not taking up space in my refrigerator) It looks so yummy!
I tried this recipe and it did not work too well. The problem may be that we tripled the amounts. It took WAY more than 15 minutes to reach 225, and even though it did hit that temp, it never got thicker than slightly thick juice. I water-bath canned the jars hoping it would thicken as it cooled, but they never did, so I reopened the jars, added about a cup/ 2cups more sugar, and cooked about 10 minutes more–then it thickened.
I am canning a double batch right now and it is delicious 🙂 I don’t know if a single batch of the sugar/water/zest reaches 225° *that* much faster than a double batch, but next time I will start the water/sugar mixture in a different pot soon after the berry mixture starts boiling. Mine didn’t turn out extremely syrup-y, either, but I like that it does not have tons of sugar in it, which is probably why it’s not a thicker syrup. I’m happy with runnier syrup – it still tastes great – and is better for you w/out so much sugar.
is there any way to get a thicker blueberry syrup? i have been looking all over and cannot find anything. it is just the nature of fruit syrups to be thin? do you know of any way to thicken it up? also, where are you located? does the temperature (225) vary by altitude? i know the jelling point is 220 here at seas level, and i dont want to end up with jelly! though a thicker syrup would be nice.
Mandy, yes there is. I haven’t tried this particular recipe, so I don’t know how the lemon might affect things – though that is a very interesting idea, Aimee, we’ll have to try it sometime – but we quite often make fruit syrups ourselves, usually raspberry or saskatoon.
What we do is add a little bit of cornstarch to our fruit, simmered on medium heat with a bit of water depending on juiciness and sugar depending on sweetness preference. Different fruits have different amounts of natural jelling in them, and different sweetness, so you may have to try a few variations of sugar and cornstarch levels to find the right flavour and thickness for your tastes. It also sometimes help to mix the cornstarch into some of the sugar before adding it to your pot, to help cut down clumps in the cornstarch.
Aimee may well have different advice, but I hope that was helpful. Aimee, thanks for the recipe. I’ve been wandering around here the last couple days finding interesting things. 🙂
This sounds wonderful. We just picked 20 pounds of organic blueberries! So, now we’ll have blueberry syrup for pancakes…yay!
just found this! So excited. My family has owned a 10 acre blueberry farm in B.C Canada for the last 65 years, this summer it’s up for sale, but not before I pick a deep freeze full of blueberries. Can’t wait to try this out! Sounds similar to a blueberry sauce my Oma used to make!
Hi, I am having the most irritating time trying to make a thick enough syrup to use as a drizzle on my cupcakes! I have tried twice now, under the assumption it was thin because of the amount of liquid. Can you help with this? Your recipe is near replica of mine but going through your page, you seem to have a more widened perspective than I. Should I add cornstarch maybe to thicken it? Or still use less water? I tried amping the process time up also with no avail.
Hi Sara,
It IS a very thing syrup. It sounds like you need to use far less water (try 1/2 cup to 1 cup) at step 5. Try cooking it longer as well, uncovered. It will thicken as it reduces.
Good luck!