The Witch's Liquor Cabinet: Stirring up Spells (and Syrups) (a minisode!)

In today's episode, Shéa and Amy talk about how to sweeten your spells with syrups and sauces - as well as how to make your own!

Mix yourself a cocktail and learn about the energy you can find in the various fruits, herbs, or spices used to add sweetness, texture, and complex flavor profiles to drinks!

Remember to choose your syrups with intent, because you’re not just mixing a drink.

You’re mixing magic.

Resources:

Witchcraft Cocktails by Julia Halina Hadas

Moon, Magic, Mixology and Witchcraft Cocktails by Julia Halina Hadas

https://juliahalinahadas.com/

Grenadine (Energy: manifest wishes, enhance divination, and provide protection)

• 1 part unsweetened pomegranate juice (fresh or store bought)
• 1 part granulated sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice or orange blossom water*

Add all ingredients to a saucepan and heat slowly over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Heat until sugar dissolves and the liquid just starts to bubble. DO NOT BOIL. Remove pan from heat and let cool. Grenadine will last about a month in an airtight bottle in the refrigerator. 

Bergamot-Ginger Syrup (Energy: money, clarity, success)

• 1 bag of Earl Grey  (or 1 tsp broken loose leaf)*  
• 1 TB chopped fresh ginger 
• 4 oz hot water
• ½ cup granulated sugar

Put ginger and tea bag in a jar. Hold the jar and focus your intent on the manifesting energy…money, success, clarity, good luck. Now pour in the hot water and let steep 5 minutes. Pour in sugar and mix until dissolved. Refrigerate covered at least 24 hours, then strain. The syrup will keep for about 2 weeks in an airtight jar in the refrigerator.

Sour Mix (Energy: cleansing, protection, joy, renewal)

• 200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
• (8 oz) water
• (8 oz) freshly squeezed lemon juice
• (4 oz) freshly squeezed lime juice 

Bring the sugar and water to a boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and let cool. Strain freshly squeezed juices into a resealable bottle. Pour in the cooled simple syrup. Shake. The syrup will keep for about 2 weeks in an airtight jar in the refrigerator.

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Thanks - the Caftan Coven

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Cliffhangers and Cocktails Podcast with Amy Sissel and Shaya McLeod, USA Today best-selling authors of paranormal women's fiction, among other things. And this podcast is brought to you as always by the Caft Tank Coven.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Welcome to our mini pod where we discuss a single topic related to the craft, whether it be craft cocktails, witchcraft, or writing craft. Today's topic is cocktail craft. This is the third episode of our series called The Witch's Liquor Cabinet. And today we're going to be talking about some sweet, sweet spells. Oh. What does that mean, Shaya?

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Well, I'm glad you asked, Amy. As you said, this is our third mini sode or mini pod about this topic. And we already talked about, you know, base spirits, we talked about um mixers, yes. So now we're gonna talk about syrups. And then syrups are the really sort of fun part, I think, about magical cocktail spell work. Because this is what adds sweetness, it's it adds flavor, and it adds that extra touch of magic. And they're really great because they there's no alcohol in them typically in a syrup. Some sometimes uh you might add some to help make it last longer on the shelf or whatever, but typically speaking, there's no alcohol, which means you can make mocktails with these. You can make, you know, other non-alcoholic drinks, put it in fizzy water and create your own soda pop. You know, or or depending, like maybe put it in your coffee or something.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

And if you want an example of uh syrup that was used as a mocktail, you can go look at our Ostara episode where um the cocktail was a spirit-free. No, it was free spirit. Free spirit, yeah. Lemon cello fizz. And that had a syrup that had no alcohol in it.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Right. In place of lemon cello that you would maybe put normally put in a cocktail. But again, you could put you could use that same syrup in a cocktail situation as well. Oh, 100%. So that's that's really it's like a really sort of flexible sort of thing, part of cocktails. So essentially at the heart of it, there are concentrated mixtures of sugar or some other sweetener and water, and they're often infused with fruits, herbs, or spices that are used to add sweetness, texture, and complex flavor to drinks. They also add body as well, so that's why instead of your drink being like one inch of alcohol, you've actually got a full glass. So, um Can I tell a funny story about one inch of alcohol? Yes, please do tell a funny story about one inch of alcohol.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Okay, so I made my cocktail for this episode. And um, and we'll talk a little bit more about what it is, but I made my cocktail. I've made this cocktail uh before. This is not my first time making this cocktail, and I poured it into the glass and I was like shaking the shaker, you know, trying to get more out. Like, what why is this glass so empty? It's because I forgot to put ice in my drink.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

So in witchcraft specifically, so when we're turning just a plain old cocktail or mocktail into something magical, into a potion, syrups incorporate magical, seasonal, and intentional elements uh into mixology, which remember again, we're all it's all magic is about intention and adding complexity to your spell. So we've talked about Julia Helena Hadas before. She's our go-to girl for a lot of our exactly. There's some other some others that uh that I do uh research with, but but she just has a brilliant grasp on it. And she's she basically she and others like her have popularized this more and more within the um witchcraft community. So basically, these these creations that we're making, they align ingredients with specific energies such as healing, protection, divination. Syrups become actually just like a really key ingredient to magical cocktail work. So when you're creating a spell with a cocktail or a mocktail, so first they enhance the energy of the base spirit. So you've picked your base spirit, whatever that may be, gin, vodka, whiskey, tequila, and we already know the energies that are in that specific base spirit. There there's a s so depending on which of the energies you want to emphasize and enhance, there's going to be a syrup that will do that. For instance, if you're choosing gin, you want to do a cleansing spell. Well, lemon syrup will enhance the cleansing energies because it too carries that same energy. Second, they add complexity and subtlety to the spell. So let's say you want to do an abundance spell, so you chose rum for your base. So rum, as we've discussed, is is associated with abundance, with love, success, joy, emotional warmth, and that's great. But like, say you have something very specific, you have a job interview coming up. So you want success with that interview. So if you add the right syrup, it can bring out that specific energy from the rum. So, like maybe something with plums, because plums carry the energy of ambition, career growth, and success in professional endeavors. I've never tried plum syrup with rum. But you know, I might have to experiment a little bit there. So you're looking for that energy that enhances or adds to your base. Finally, they add balance to your spell work with the sweetness and acidity that they bring. So it's, you know, you can just do straight up whiskey if you want to. Honor your Celtic ancestors.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

There's nothing wrong with that.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Yep. Honor your Celtic ancestors there. But this brings that extra. We're talking about the different kinds of syrups. So obviously the most basic is the simple syrup, which is just equal parts water and white sugar dissolved. You can also do what they call a rich simple syrup, is where it's two parts sugar, one part water. I don't typically use those syrups as much, but every once in a while you'll come up with a cocktail that calls for it. You can also do uh, you know, when you're doing that one-on-one, it's such a good thing. Know about that one-on-one ratio because you can use raw sugar if you want like a richer flavor. You can do honey, molasses, agave, any kind of sweetener, one-on-one with water. You've got like an array of flavors. And then there's orgit, is an almond-based syrup for they use for tiki drinks a lot, I guess. Um, you got grenadine, which is a the pomegranate-based syrup, which we use a lot in our in our magical cocktails. We're both very fond of pomegranate. And then, like, there's ginger syrup, which is infused with fresh ginger for that spicy, bright kick. You can also make like cinnamon syrup. Basically, any kind of fruit or herb you can think of can be made into a syrup. Passion fruit, raspberry, lavender, mint, anything. First exposure to making syrup is so I never had maple syrup growing up. Not real maple syrup. No, you get the weird stuff from the grocery store. Right, which I had at my grandparents. They always got like Miss, I think it was Mrs. Butterworth or something like that. You know, this like most of them.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Yeah, buddy words.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Which is basically corn syrup. It's good corn syrup with maple flavoring. But my mom didn't even do that because my mom is a very frugal person. What she did is she'd nuke some water in the microwave, pour in the sugar, so she made simple syrup, and then added fake maple flavoring. And that's what I grew up with for maple syrup. That's what we called maple syrup. And you know, I was an adult before I had actual maple syrup that had ever seen a tree. Like a maple syrup.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Yeah, I probably was too. Like, I'm imagining that, well, maybe at diners when we go and have pancakes or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

They probably had fake stuff though, probably back then.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

I was gonna say, I don't know. It might have been fake.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Even the the the fake, the cheap stuff, like I only had that like at my grandparents. I otherwise it was maple flavored sugar water.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

So how do you know how to choose the right syrup? As I was trying to decide what I was gonna make, because we don't make the same things for this just based on first of all, bringing y'all a variety of things. Yes. But also, I don't always have access to the same things that Shea does now that we're separated by um a land mass and some water.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Yeah, a big water. Yeah, big water. It's just like choosing when you're choosing your base spirit. You want to ask yourself, what's my intention for this spell? What magical elements and energies support that intention? You know, do I need uh clarity, do I need creativity, good luck, connection? Then you can, you know, once you've set your base spirit for that direction, or maybe a spirit that has several different directions you could go, then you focus on bringing that specific energy with the syrup. So um, if you don't know the ener the magical energies behind, which believe me, I do not know all of them off the top of my head. I know a few. But like uh Julia Helena Hadas that we talked about before, in her books, she does list out some of them, uh, magical correspondences of different different fruits and herbs and things. Um, and there's other books that carry that too. So if you have like an encyclopedia, or um if you look up like you know, their websites or something, I'm sure they they have there's some good websites out there, and that will give you the correspondence, and then you can go, okay, this is a good one for me. And also you want to make sure they taste nice together, too. Like, you know, I probably would not put, for instance, coffee liqueur into a gin and tonic.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

That doesn't I also would not do that.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Think about like maybe you're like, oh, but coffee of liqueur is the perfect energy. Well, then maybe should pick another base syrup or maybe find something that has the same energy or similar energy. And every part of the syrup, remember, is important. So the sweetener, they all bring sweetness. Uh honey, for instance, will bring healing, beauty, and purification, and is used in potions for love, lust, happiness, and wisdom. Whereas sugar is more because it's probably it's uh got different energies from being refined from being from a plant. Um, it's a little bit more, I suppose, generic as far as what sweetness and attraction you're bringing. And like a brown sugar that still carries like more of that sugar cane uh would be bringing in like money and luck and things like that. So that's the first thing to think about, obviously the herbs and spices that um like for instance, I'll like when I make just regular simple syrup, I usually will throw in a bay leaf. Um just and just let it sit, let the bay leaf just hang out in the simple syrup. It doesn't add a lot of flavor, but it adds just this little punch because they're they're really potent, these bay leaves for protection, manifestation, purification, success. And they're used to manifest wishes, enhance psychic abilities, promote healing, foster courage. So they're like kind of a multi-purpose little herb. So just throwing that in there. The simple syrup is gonna c carry that essence that will go with whatever you're manifesting. So without making everything taste like a bay leaf.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

They're a very they're a nice subtle. Yeah, they are subtle add to a lot of things, but they they really do make it different.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Uh you might add a pinch of salt. Some people will add a pinch of salt uh just to kind of like bring bring out more complexity of flavor, add that purification element. Basically, experiment, have fun. But we're gonna make a couple of syrups. How's about that? No.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

That's what we're doing.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

That's what we're here for. So grenadine, we use this in so many of our cocktails. It's so versatile, it's powerful, it's delicious. And I was really curious about, you know, because people always ask, oh, is grenadine cherry? And I can see where they get that. Because it's pink, and most of the like the inexpensive like uh grenadines that you find at the store are just like flavored corn syrup. So I was very curious about where the name came from. And so grenadine actually comes from the French word grenade, which means pomegranate. Kind of looks like a grenade. It does. Which may be where we get the name grenade. So hence grenadine. As we've talked about, you know, with other episodes, pomegranates are a potent. Yes, Amy.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Orjat.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Orjat! Okay. Yeah, that makes more sense. That sounds fancy to you. I looked it up and then immediately was like letting you finish what you're talking about, and then got. But we well, we talked about spring in our Ostara episode, and about a little bit we touched briefly on pomegranates, but we've talked about pomegranates a lot before. How how they're potent, magical symbols of fertility, abundance, prosperity, and the cycle of life, death, rebirth, and they're deeply tied to the myth of Persephone. Pomegranates in magic are used to manifest witches. Witches. Witches. They're used to stick out a pomegranate and a witch will appear. Awesome. I love it. Oh my goodness, like better Christmas. It's like instead of milk and cookies for Santa, it's like put out a pomegranate and there's a witch. Pomegranates on my balcony. Woo! Okay, manifest wishes. Wishes.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Also good.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Also good. Enhance divination uh and provide protection. And they're often linked to sowing and divine feminine energy. So woo-hoo! Uh and as we said, in Portugal, they have a good pomegranate season, so you can get fresh ones, which is really the best way to make a grenadine. But in the Pacific Northwest, which is not known for its pomegranate season, just um, I recommend getting an unsweetened pure pomegranate juice, if if that's in your Witchley budget. If not, whatever you got is fine. Uh, you do you.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

I do want to I also want to say that like the difference between looking at a pomegranate syrup made with pomegranate juice, like what Shaya is gonna show you right now, and looking at a pomegranate syrup made with fresh juice that you um milked from the tiny pomegranate seeds yourself with two tiny little teasers, um, is there's gonna be a lot deeper color and the grenadine you get from the juice because that's more concentrated. Yeah. Then um, and I never have the pa I could concentrate it, but I don't have the patience for that. Right. And this is concentrated when it like rolls around again.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Um, I'll try to make some concentrated pomegranate juice so I can make some dark syrup, but so I bought this um grenadine online, and it was all natural ingredients, real pomegranate. It was gorgeous. And I I think it was made with fresh pomegranate juice, not concentrated. So it was it had a much lighter flavor, and you couldn't taste the pomegranate as well. But um, this I used a you know, pure pomegranate. So, as you can see here, if you're watching on YouTube, I just reused the bottle. I got this nice rich, deep ruby pomegranate color. Ruby pomegranate, there we go. Um, so I just used one part of unsweetened pomegranate juice, one part granulated sugar, and then most of the recipes I was finding called either for one teaspoon of lemon juice or one teaspoon of orange blossom water, which I thought was interesting, and they just use it to sort of enhance the flavor. I decided to try orange blossom water because I happened to have some, so why not? Wow. Yeah, basically what I did. Now, the directions here have you put it in a saucepan and slowly simmer it over medium heat and don't boil it and do you know, and I'll put up all the recipe. But honestly, I've said this before and I will say it again. When it comes to witchcraft, I'm a little bit on the lazy side because I don't have the spoons to do all the things. So I just put the with her heart, y'all. I did I did it with my heart. I put the juice in the microwave and yes, I did. And then when I brought out the heated up juice, I stirred in the sugar and the orange blossom water and stuck it in this big. When and when I made it, I didn't add any intention or energy when I made it, other than just good positive vibes. Because until I use it actually in the potion, because it has so many different layers of energies to focus on, I wait. So I've got my lovely little gin with ice half melted, and I'm just gonna measure with my heart. Ooh, how pretty is that? A little bit more. It's very pretty. I haven't even tasted it. Now I wouldn't go make one of those. I haven't even tasted it. Yeah, now I'm just gonna add a little bit of tonic on top. So it's basically a GT with pomegranate. Let's see how this tastes. Oh man, that's yummy.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Pomegranate and gin go real well together flavor-wise.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

They really do. A bit more, and you can just adjust it to taste. I don't even have, yeah, I'm totally doing this with my heart, y'all. Because I measured everything tonight. But this is beautiful, so it was really simple to make. I actually made a little video of me making it, and I will um put that up on something. I don't know. Instagram or something.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

It'll be up on our YouTube shorts. Yeah, yeah. Probably hit the reels and everything.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Oh, that's good. Okay, I just got the balance right. So basically, there you go. That's that's grenadine, that's how simple that is. And it's actually pretty cost effective. And uh obviously for you, probably more than me because you because you're getting those fresh ones, but um, but even just buying some pomegranate juice, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Well, how much like if did you buy one of those little bottles of the brand of pomegranate juice? I would assume one would buy it.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Well, the the in it yeah, the inexpensive one is like I don't know, four bucks, five bucks. It's not expensive at all. This little bottle when I bought it with pre-made, it was twenty bucks.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

And how much was a bottle of the pomegranate juice that you purchased to make this?

SPEAKER_00 20:22

Less than eight. And I used half, about half of it. Oh wow, okay. Yeah. That is very cost effective. Exactly. So we're it's now in the realm of what you would pay for the inexpensive fake stuff.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

And it doesn't matter which, like if you have the inexpensive stuff or the homemade stuff or the expensive stuff, um, they're all gonna last about the same time in the fridge. Yeah. The one thing about making it yourself is you can control how much you make. So that can make it even more cost effective if you're only doing it for a few drinks. Right. Um, or if you need a whole bunch, that you don't have to have it sitting in your fridge till it goes off.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

I made a a good a good batch of this, about one cup to one cup. But I could because I wanted to fill the bottle and I knew we'd use it because I like to use a lot of pomegranate syrup when I make a drink. But you can put it on your pancakes. Why not? But you can make like half a cup and half a cup. Because I have sometimes when we've done cocktails uh for the pod, I have made just enough syrup for like two cocktails, one for me and one for the butler.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Oh, nice of you to make enough for your butler.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

I know, isn't it? I'm I'm just a really giving, caring person, you know? You are. I am. So now we're gonna talk about this. Is one of Ju uh Julia Helena Hadas's from her Witchcraft cocktail book, and which I love, and I was gonna show a copy of it, but of course I left it upstairs. It is my go to cocktail, is how I first learned to make magical cocktails. Uh I highly recommend.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

There's a picture of it on our Instagram. Yes. There is as well as a link to Julia.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Yes. Um, I love her. She is amazing and talented. Uh, so this is her bergamot ginger syrup. Now I've made some tweaks to it based on what I happen to have. This is great with old fashions, it goes very well with whiskey uh or bourbon. It also works with dark rum. It's very strongly aligned with magical workings involving money, clarity, and success. So, with this one, I'm gonna add the intent directly into the syrup, as well as whatever drink I make from it in the future. So you have some hot water, I boil it with my kettle, okay? And then I'm gonna do Well, you're gonna say you boiled it with your heart? Yeah, I boil it with my heart. Right. My heart is steam. My heart is steamy. So now I have this is a this is a bag of Earl Grey. This is actually decaf because my butler is very sensitive to caffeine. He can't have caffeine. And so you can do decaf or you can do just regular caffeinated. It doesn't matter. But you know, if you happen to be in a situation where you or someone that you're going to be having this with cannot drink caffeine, there is uh decaf Earl Grey. Sometimes I use Paris tea.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

I love Paris tea from Harney Teas.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

Yes, from Harney Tees.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

This is also Yes, please.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

This is also this Earl Grey is also from Harney Incense. What we're looking for is the bergamot as well as the tea. So the Paris tea is a little bit more complex because it's got like vanilla and things like that instead of just straight up bergamot. So we're gonna dump that into the hot water to let it steep. So I got my little thing of hot water, it's in there steeping. And then the recipe originally calls for one tablespoon of chopped fresh ginger, but I have candy. So the ginger isn't gonna be as strong, which is fine because I often, when I'm doing a ginger drink, I add ginger liqueur, and I add this will carry some of your sugar. So we're just gonna dump it in there. She has you have this steep for like five minutes before adding the sugar, but the problem is then the sugar doesn't dissolve. So I'm just gonna go ahead and add the sugar. I'm only doing half a cup of sugar instead of a full cup of sugar because I've got oh no, I lied. This might be a full cup of sugar. Anyway, it's gonna be a very sweet syrup, but that's okay. And we're just gonna stir that until hopefully the sugar dissolves. I'm not sure if I got the water quite hot enough to cool down a bit. So we're just gonna let all that hang out. She would have you. What's the intent that you're focusing on? So I am focusing on bringing in money. I'm focusing on success in the projects that I'm working on that we're working on. I'm focusing on success for the podcast. I'm focusing on success for our future goals, I'm focusing on success for writing. When you do the candy ginger, a lot of it will kind of sort of melt into uh into the water.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Um get kind of a thicker syrup with that.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Yeah. It calls for four ounces of hot water and half a cup of granulated sugar. Um, and so she has you actually heat the water, you know, put it in the jar with the the tea and the ginger, you know, do your intent. Uh, money, success, clarity, good luck. And then she has you like pour in the hot water and like steep it for five minutes, and then pour in the sugar and mix until it dissolves. Uh, and then refrigerate covered at least at least 24 hours. Because you want that tea and that ginger to really get in there, and then you strain it, and the syrup will keep in an airtight jar in the fridge for about two weeks. I honestly it it I've had it last longer than that.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

What's the energy that the ginger brings? Can you remind me?

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Because I uh ginger is yeah, ginger is very much uh it's like money, it's success. It also has like some creativity fire, it's a very fiery, so it's like really gonna fire you up. Like it's it brings in that you know fire sign energy. And um also ginger, if you're using you know, when you're using really real ginger, there's a lot of healing because it's anti-inflammatory and so on and so forth. It's good for the stomach and you know, all kinds of things, so it's bringing in a lot of that, and then the bergamot is bringing in also those energies, and then the tea is gonna bring in its own energy. This bergamot ginger syrup, you don't have to put it in a uh cocktail, you can put it in a mocktail. It uh, like I said, yes, it goes very well with bourbon uh or dark rum. There are non-alcoholic versions of those things. Um, you can also just put it in tea tea. I also want to say, before you I know you're gonna share about how you made yours, but you know, this is why witches like jars. Because we need to store our potions in jars in the fridge.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Well, I made a margarita because I wanted to I love a margarita, and I had a sour syrup that I'd made uh a couple weeks ago, yeah, and that is a very similar process. Um, I did a did the lemon peel and the lime peel um and had them with the oils and the sugar ahead of time, and then I mixed that with hot water and some lemon and lime juice to make the syrup, and then strained it all, and it was it turned out really nicely. And then I'd also made a curacao, which is just an orange liqueur, and I was feeling a little like I need some fire, I need I need a kick in the pants coming up on spring here, so I I wanted that fire of the tequila and that bright sunshine and the purification and all of that. Oh, yeah. So I went to that dress tequila, margarita drink. Nice, it's almost good.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

I was gonna say, show us the color, and now I'm going, I don't know what color that was because I think it's gone.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

I mean, it was it looks like your standard restaurant, plain margarita, a little yellowish color. Because I use reposado instead of um silver because I don't like silver tequila as much as reposado. I like the aged, I like it aged just a little bit more. Um, and then the sour is a little is pretty pale. Okay. Um, it's got a little bit of yellowish tint to it, the sour, and then the um carousel that I made is a deeper yellowish color. And there's pics of it on the gram. So you can go check them out right now and see what my syrups look like. Um, and see what Shea stuff looks like. If you want to see it. And I just have to shoot you.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

I'm just hoisting this up.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Showing it off right now.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

Like, isn't that pretty? Like this amber color that this bergamot ginger turns because of the tea. And yeah, I think I'm gonna probably throw another tea bag in here later. I need, you know, I need like a whole like kitchen for the podcast that I can just record.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

You do.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

This is my podcast kitchen. I have big goals, big dreams. Put that on the board. Yep, I'm gonna have to. I never thought of it till just this minute, but I need to be like Ina Garden. She has like this whole like kitchen on her property that's where she records all of her like shows. Uh right. So deep thoughts. I have deep thoughts. Shall I share with you my final deep thoughts on syrup? Please, please do. So, in my opinion, which is very humble but also right, um, making your own syrups. Woo! And I've only had a couple sips of the gin. Wow. Um margarita. I know, I think I'm having a hot flash over here. Woo! Uh making your own syrups is like the easiest, simplest way to enhance your cocktail spell craft and tailor it to your needs in your palate. Because you can make a less sweet or more sweet syrup, you know. You can you can add different elements to make it more to your taste, to make it more to your spell that you want to work. And it's also a lot cheaper than buying it pre-made because because you can make those small batches of of syrups instead of having this big bottle that you bought, you know. Um, and and I make so many different kinds of cocktails rather than just one cocktail all the time. I need lots of different kinds of syrups, so that would be quite costly to try and make, you know, to try and buy all those syrups.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Well, and we'll do a future episode on how to save space and minimize the effort on what you need for syrups if you are using a lot of different flavors. Because I have a whole thing that we're gonna talk about. I don't know if I've told Shea that we're doing that yet.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

We haven't, but hey, I'm for it. I love it. Because you're in a much smaller space now, really, because you're living in a city, you're living in an in Europe, and so you have minimal space.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

Smaller kitchen.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

Smaller kitchen, and presumably a smaller fridge. I don't know if your fridge is smaller than Jim. Yes, indeed it is. Yeah. Uh so choosing your ingredients with care and intent, adding the fire or heat, whether it be electric kettle, microwave, whatever. Uh that's your cauldron. Using your wand, your spoon, or your whisk. Um, it's pure kitchen witchery. This is like the this is the fun bit, man. This is the fun. I I love it. And making your own syrup, it adds meaning and and magic. It adds it adds meaning to your magic, it adds magic to your life. And oh, here's a thing that I never really thought about, but uh but we think about it with tarot decks and things like that. You have to cleanse them before you use them, whether with your energy, if you're someone who is an energy worker or like on selen a selenite plate or with with smoke cleansing, you because you have to remove the other energies and imbue the deck or whatever with yours. Well, uh this is kind of the same. Like if you pick up a s uh some kind of syrup at the store that you're going to use in your cocktail, it either is like neutral because it's been made by a machine and so there is no energetic anything going on, or there's other but other people have handled it. Energy has passed through it. So you kind of need to cleanse it a little bit before you use it for magic. Um so this way, you know, you're imbuing your own magic right into that syrup. You don't need to do any of that. You just need to like pour you into it, and the magic is there. And I just I love that. It's like this energy in this syrup, it's all you, baby.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

All you it's it's it's a fun journey, too. I think. Um, I I am somebody who really enjoys this kind of stuff though. I love finding new recipes, I love the whole process of it. I love going and buying the fruits. Um but again, if this isn't something you can do for whatever reason, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It's all about that intent.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

If you need to buy grenadine. Is there?

SPEAKER_00 33:41

Yeah. If you need to buy grenadine from the store, do it. Like, don't don't be like, oh, I have to make it. No, you don't. Um I would judgment. No judgment. I would recommend maybe when you bring it home, you know, put your hands around the bottle and just it doesn't have to be anything specific, just imbue your energy into the bottle. So you're just sort of cleansing it.

unknown 34:03

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 34:04

That's it. Pop it in the fridge. That's fine. You're not gonna probably find bergamot cr uh ginger syrup, but you might find ginger syrup by itself. But if you need to buy it, you're not into making it. But presumably, if you're listening to this, if you're or watching this, you probably are going, oh, I want to at least try that. So next time you need a simple syrup or any kind of syrup other than maple, consider making your own and you know, see what it brings to your cocktail magic. Easy peasy. Gonna be awesome. Yeah. Love it. Well, if you want to find out more about us, all our links to us, to Julia Helena Hadas, who we love.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

Who at this point is like practically a co-host with us, even though she doesn't know it yet.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

She she has no idea. Um, but we'll put links to her, to the books, put the recipes uh to the syrups that we talked about today. All be in the show notes.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

All in the show notes. Um, there's pictures of our cocktails and the syrups and everything on on Instagram and Facebook. Um, so yeah, follow us, like us, uh, subscribe to us, share us, review us.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

Comment, tell us how pretty we are with our cocktails. Tell us how pretty we are.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

If you want to know about how to make some other kind of cocktail, or if you want to need us to explain anything, let us know. But um, we'll be happy to to expand upon it.

SPEAKER_01 35:41

Yeah, and if you have questions about substitutions that you can make that would keep the same energy, but if there's like an ingredient you don't like, we are there for it. So let us know. Um, easiest way to get in touch is DMing on Instagram. I check that every day. You can comment on YouTube. Umpictures at cocktails.com. Um but get in touch, we'd love to hear about it.

SPEAKER_00 36:08

Thanks again for joining us, and we'll see you next time.