Cinnamon Vanilla Syrup

A cup of real maple syrup costs about 400 ฿ ($11) here in Chiang Mai, and I hate butter flavored syrup, "maple flavored" syrup, and all the rest. We've been exploring our options, and this was an experiment that stuck. It beats spending 400 ฿ for a cup o' juice. The syrup is based on cinnamon tea, a real treat with milk when it's cold.

Ingredients

• 2 or 3 cinnamon or cassia sticks
• 3 cups of water
• 2 cups of evaporated cane juice or turbinado sugar
• 2 cups of brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Equipment

• medium saucepan
• a strainer
• a sterilized glass bottle
• a funnel

1. Make a strong cinnamon tea with the cinnamon sticks and water. Bring it to a boil then let it simmer for 7 minutes or so. Turn off the heat and allow it to steep for ten minutes.
2. Strain the tea, then boil it down to two cups of liquid.
3. Add the sugar to the boiling tea. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add the vanilla after turning off the heat.
5. Pour the syrup into the bottle and refrigerate once it has cooled to room temperature.

Options: It might be nice to try this with a real vanilla bean, perhaps adding it to the cinnamon tea. The cinnamon compliments fresh strawberries nicely, especially if they're a bit tart.

Sugar is bad for you.