Learn how to make easy homemade golden syrup. Sugar is slowly cooked and reduced/inverted into dark golden/amber color. Golden syrup is commonly used in Chinese desserts and pastries such as mooncakes.
WHAT IS GOLDEN SYRUP (INVERT SYRUP)?
It is called invert syrup because of the inversion of the rotation of plane-polarized light in the sugar (my head hurts just trying to think about what that means!). As fancy as it sounds, golden syrup or inverted sugar syrup is basically made of regular table sugar (sucrose), water, and acid (lemon in this recipe). The mixture is cooked slowly over low heat until it changes color and most water evaporates leaving you with an amber-color syrup with a consistency of honey-like as it cools down.
WHY DO I NEED ACID IN MAKING INVERT SUGAR SYRUP?
Table sugar is made of sucrose, a combination of fructose and glucose. When heats to the ideal temperature of 236°F (114°C), the acid helps so accelerates the conversion of sucrose into fructose and glucose without leaving much of the tartness
WHAT IS GOLDEN SYRUP USED FOR?
Golden syrup is used extensively in commercial baking, confectionaries, ice cream making as sweeteners and at the same time, it extends shelf life, retains moisture much better, improves the quality (smoother texture), and minimizes crystallization in sweets.
WHY WE NEED GOLDEN SYRUP IN MOONCAKES?
The golden syrup helps to retain moisture and helps to keep the shape of the mooncakes much better without it. I’ve tried making mooncakes before a super long time ago without golden syrup (what was I thinking!) and of course it was an epic failure!
WHAT IS THE PERFECT CONSISTENCY FOR GOLDEN SYRUP?
The consistency is quite runny and watery when it’s still warm on the day you just finished making it (as you can see in the photo and the video), but after a few days, it continues to thicken. So don’t cook it until it’s so thick and when it cools down it will be too thick.
This was taken on the same day it was made. The consistency was still quite runny
IMPORTANT TIPS
1. Use a heavy-bottom saucepan. If you use thin material, the sugar will get burn easily. Avoid aluminum and iron materials
2. Once you have brought it to a boil and lower the heat, don’t stir the sugar anymore and let it gently cook over low heat
3. We want the consistency of runnier than honey when you finish cooking because it will thicken further as it cools down
4. If you cook for too long and the texture is too thick, you can thin it down by adding a bit more water and cook it again to the consistency runnier than honey
5. If it’s too runny, you can cook it a bit longer. If it’s too thick, you can add a bit water to thin it out
6. You can wait for 2-3 days before using the syrup, but if you can wait for 2 weeks, the flavor gets better and the consistency is rich and thick but still pourable
Easy Homemade Golden Syrup For Mooncakes (Inverted Sugar Syrup)
Ingredients
- 800 gr granulated white sugar 4 cups, or use caster sugar/fine sugar
- 600 ml water 2 1/2 cups
- 4 slices fresh lemon
Instructions
- Cut the lemon into 4 thin slices. Place the sugar, water, and fresh lemon slices in a medium saucepan, preferably stainless steel or ceramic as they conduct heat more evenly but not too fast that it burns the sugar. Avoid aluminum and iron material
- Cook until sugar dissolves on medium heat. Lower the heat to really low to simmer gently for the next 1 hour 30 minutes without stirring it. The sugary water will gradually change color to amber, almost like the color of honey. If you have a candy thermometer (I don't), you can make sure the temperature is between 110-115 C (230 F - 239 F)
- Test for consistency: drop some of the syrup in a bowl of water. Use your finger to stir the syrup and if it melts or sort of dissolves, it's done cooking. If you can form a soft ball with it, you have gone a bit too far. Just add a bit more water to the syrup in the pan to "thin" it a bit and test again. The consistency would be close to a runny honey. You don't want to cook it as thick as honey because it will thicken further as it cools down
- Transfer to a glass jar and let it cools down completely before sealing the lid. The syrup can be stored at room temperature for up to at least one year or beyond
- Let the golden syrup "matures" for 2 weeks before using. The flavor gets better the longer it sits and consistency will be thicker
- Simply soak the pot you use to cook the syrup in warm water for 10-15 minutes and the sticky sugar will dissolves and easy to be washed after that
18 comments
Would this be similar to Lyles Golden Syrup?
It’s not 100% the same with Lyles Golden Syrup, but it’s a perfect substitution to it.
Hi! I just made this today and it turned out so good! I used the full amount and the end result was around 900ml golden syrup. I can’t wait to try using it for mooncakes next week! May I ask if I should keep this at room temperature or in the fridge? How long will the golden syrup keep for? Thank you!
Hi Priscilla. So glad it turned out good for you. You can keep it at room temperature at a dry place. This stuff will not go bad and can keep for months if not years. It will crystalize over the time though, and that’s normal. Warming it up will take care of the crystallization. I hope this helps. Good luck with the mooncakes 🙂
Hi. Can u elaborate on the lemon? Is it to be sliced and boiled, skin and all? Or should i squeeze the lemon to obtain 3-6 tbspn of juice, then boil with the rest?
Hi Alice, I used lemon slices and cooked with the sugar. I’ve updated to add that detail. You don’t need to squeeze the lemon juice out.
I just tried this recipe and I must say it I am better than the recipe I have been using for years. Thank you so much for this.
I followed your recipe and had no problem; however the syrup has a very strong taste of lemon. I looked at other recipes and the lemon content isn’t as high. Is this the flavor I’m stuck with?
You can definitely cut down on the amount of the lemon juice to 3 Tbsp if you find 6 Tbsp is too strong.
Hi! I just want to ask if you’re supposed to stir and mix the sugar together before bringing it to a boil, or should I not stir at all? Thanks!
Hi Hannah, there’s no need to stir it. You can place it on the stove straight away. Hope this helps
I’m having issues replying to your comment so I’ll just make a new one. I’d like to point out somethings I had failed to point out earlier: I had quartered the recipe and not only was my syrup darker than usual, it was burnt! B-U-R-N-T. And when I tried spooning it, it would solidify into these hard candy-like strings and at that point I threw the wholething out. But then I redid the recipe using a more heavier base saucepan. It was a success! And yes, the 45-minutes still work for smaller quantities like you said. I just assumed that the reason for the mishap was the extended cooking time but now I think the thickness of the base was the issue. And to answer your I had lowered the knob as low as it could go (I used a gas stovetop).
I used the remade syrup in some ginger biscuits and it’s getting my vote!
I’m glad to hear that it turned out in the end. Sorry you had to go through trouble but I could learn a lesson from here too. Thank you for sharing and for taking time to reply back 🙂
I’m trying this but it refuses to change colour.
How long did you simmer it for ?
On another note, just realised the mistake I might have made: used a saucepan with too thin of a base.
Sorry to hear of the trouble. Did you simmer it at really low heat? Even if you half the recipe, the cooking time should remain the same, just have to really make sure you simmer at really low heat so it don’t get burn easily.
I’d like to poinr out that if you decide to reduce the recipe quantities like I did then the 45 minutes aren’t necessary—in fact it might even be disastrous! My golden syrup at about 30 minutes had turned a deep black. Guess I’ll have to redo it!