Wild Blueberry Simple Syrup

I was out hiking in the Yukon alpine and found delicious wild blueberries.

My friend was hosting a cocktail party, so I decided to create simple syrup out of the wild blueberries for the occasion.

Simple syrup is used in a variety of cocktails and drinks. Flavoured simple syrup gives a new twist to old favourites like a classic vodka martini.

The portions are 1:1:1 blueberries:sugar:water.

That makes it easy to adapt your recipe to however many blueberries you managed to pick.

In this recipe I used:

• 1 cup wild blueberries
• 1 cup organic sugar
• 1 cup water

Wash your berries. I didn't worry too much about getting out the small 'extras' that came along with the wild berries (dried leaves etc.). I figure it adds to the wild flavour and I strained it all out anyways.

Combine the wild blueberries, sugar and water in a saucepan set over medium heat, bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

You don't have to squish or chop the berries as they will burst from the simmering.

Pour the mixture through a strainer. Don’t press the mixture through as it will make your syrup cloudy. Allow a few minutes of straining so that you extract as much juice as possible.

You can store the wild blueberry simple syrup in the fridge if you transfer it to an air tight container.