Roasted Red Pepper Syrup
Roasting the peppers adds smoky sweetness. You can also use jarred roasted peppers for convenience.
Roasting the peppers adds smoky sweetness. You can also use jarred roasted peppers for convenience.
- 2 wholered bell peppers(roasted peeled and seeded)
- 1 cupwater
- 1 cupwhite sugar
- 1Combine pepper juice and sugar in a saucepan.
- 2Heat while stirring until sugar dissolves.
- 3Refrigerate and use within two weeks.
Store in a sealed glass bottle in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Keep refrigerated.
Charring the peppers directly over a gas flame or under a broiler until blackened and blistered produces more complex, smoky character than oven-roasting alone — the char itself contributes a bitter complexity that balances the natural sugar of the pepper. Peel and seed all charred skin before simmering; charred skin adds a pleasant smokiness in small amounts but becomes overwhelmingly bitter if too much is included. A pinch of smoked paprika added to the finished syrup amplifies the roasted character without additional cooking. For a more savory profile, add a pinch of sea salt and a few drops of sherry vinegar.
Red bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) is a sweet cultivar of the chili pepper species, developed through selective breeding to eliminate capsaicin and produce a mild, sweet, fleshy fruit. Peppers originated in Central and South America, where they were first cultivated by Indigenous peoples approximately ten thousand years ago, and were spread globally by Spanish and Portuguese explorers in the 16th century. Roasting peppers is a fundamental technique in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Iberian cooking — the Scoville-free capsicum becomes sweeter and acquires smoke and caramel notes through the Maillard reaction and caramelization of natural sugars during charring. In cocktail culture, roasted red pepper syrup emerged from the savory and vegetable cocktail movement of the 2010s, used in Gazpacho Margaritas, smoky Bloody Mary riffs, and savory mezcal cocktails.
A roasted red pepper-chipotle syrup, made by adding one dried chipotle pepper to the simmering liquid, creates a smoky, mildly spiced variation excellent in mezcal and whiskey cocktails. A roasted red pepper-tomato syrup, adding two tablespoons of tomato paste to the simmering peppers, creates a savory cocktail modifier useful in Bloody Mary riffs and gazpacho-inspired drinks. For a Romesco-inspired syrup suited to Spanish gin cocktails, add two tablespoons of blanched almonds and one garlic clove during simmering.
No common top-eight allergens in most standard preparations. Naturally vegan and gluten-free. Bell peppers are nightshade family vegetables (Solanaceae) — those with nightshade sensitivities should avoid.