Chocolate Syrup

 

Homemade and store bought chocolate syrup

Hershey's Chocolate Syrup on the left, Homemade Chocolate Syrup on the right

Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup on the left, Homemade Chocolate Syrup on the right

Chocolate milk made with syrups:  Hershey's on the left, Homemade on the right

Chocolate milk made with syrups: Hershey’s on the left, Homemade on the right

As I’ve mentioned before, I have a hard time getting enough calcium in my diet because of my aversion to drinking milk. Mix milk with coffee in a good latte or cappuccino and i’ll drink it all day long, but plain milk just tastes gross to me. There is one other way I can bear to down a glass of milk – when it’s mixed with chocolate (because everything tastes better with chocolate, right?). I normally just stir some Ovaltine into my milk but I recently came across this recipe or homemade chocolate syrup and decided to give it a try. I bought a bottle of classic Hershey’s chocolate syrup, made a batch of homemade and we had a family taste test! Here’s the re pie I used for the homemade syrup, adapted from myplasticfreelife.com:

Chocolate Syrup

Chocolate Syrup

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup cold water
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
  1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugars, cocoa and salt until no lumps remain. Slowly add the water, whisking constantly.
  2. Turn on the heat under the pan to medium and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and continue to simmer for a few minutes, whisking to prevent scorching, until the mixture thickens slightly. It will thicken further as it cools.
  3. Cool syrup to room temperature before stirring in the vanilla. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
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For the comparison, we did a blind taste test of the syrups by themselves and stirred into a glass of milk. We used 1 Tablespoon of syrup per cup of milk. The homemade syrup was darker and runnier than the Hershey’s syrup (it’s hard to see this in the photos; it is very difficult to take pictures of chocolate syrup!). Also, it dissolved much more quickly in the milk. There were definitely differences in flavor as well. The Hershey’s syrup had a very sweet, sugary flavor while the homemade syrup was richer and more chocolaty. While the adults in our taste test preferred the flavor of the homemade syrup, our 4-year old definitely liked the Hershey’s syrup better.

Price is not an issue in this comparison as both syrups cost about $1 per cup. Of course, the homemade syrup takes more effort than just buying a bottle of store bought but it certainly is not a difficult or time consuming recipe. A few basic ingredients and 10 minutes are all that is required. I also like that the homemade version is all-natural with none of the additives found in the store-bought syrup. I, for one, will not be returning to my Ovaltine ways any time soon!

Bottom Line: Homemade chocolate syrup is surprisingly easy to make, as cheap as Hershey’s brand, and has a rich, chocolaty flavor.