Making Coffee Syrup and Remembering Mom

Did anyone else’s mom make syrup out of coffee?

When I was little my mom made it all the time. I can’t be sure, but I think she put it on pancakes and French toast. My little sister Kelly and I didn't care about those traditional uses, we loved the rock candy that formed in the bottom of the jar. In our opinion the sole purpose was to make rock candy. My dad would use a knife to scrape the hard sugar out of the bottom of the jar for us.

For some reason, I started thinking about this coffee syrup. I did a Google search to see if there was such a thing or if I was remembering things wrong. To my surprise, I found several recipes. The one that sounded like my mom’s consisted of three ingredients: instant coffee, sugar, and water.

One recipe that I found online from Robin Gagnon, who writes the Mom Foodie blog, provided a little background about how coffee syrup is used to make Coffee Milk.

“If you have never heard of Coffee Milk before, you have never lived in Rhode Island. It is simply coffee syrup mixed into milk, much like a chocolate milk... only cooler. Coffee milk is such an iconic beverage around here that we went ahead and made it the official state drink back in 1993,” she explained. “Growing up, we had three types of milk to choose from at school; regular white, chocolate and coffee milk. It never occurred to me that children in most of the country didn't have that last option.”

The Mom Foodie recipe uses the microwave (which we didn’t have in 1969), so I’m posting a stove-top version.

I don’t even like coffee, but I decided to make a batch to see if it tasted like my mom’s recipe. I gathered up the ingredients (I was surprised to find instant coffee in the cupboard). I dipped my finger in the pan to take a taste and it was exactly like my mom’s. Then, I added a little of the syrup to some milk and it was absolutely delicious. I think someone who likes coffee will really enjoy Coffee Milk.

***

Coffee Syrup by Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

1/2 cup of cold water

1 1/2 Tbs of instant coffee

In a saucepan, over medium heat, add sugar, water, and instant coffee.
Let the coffee syrup come up to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Let simmer until thickened (about 15 minutes.)
Pour into a cup and let cool. Cooling the syrup will let it thicken more.
Use the syrup in recipes or add it to a cup of cold milk.

This article was written in memory of my mother Roberta Phillians Ross.
She is pictured here with me and my sister Kelly in about 1969.

Written by Randi Ross Marodi ~ randileeross@gmail.com

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