How to Cook Perfect Mooncake Syrup: Beautiful Color, Unbeatable

How to Make Mooncake Syrup

• 1

  Stir the sugar with lemon juice

  First, cut the lemon in half, squeeze to extract the juice, and remove the seeds.

  Next, add 750ml of water, the lemon juice, and 1kg of white sugar into a pot. Turn on the stove on medium heat and gently stir until the sugar dissolves in the water.

  

  
• 2

  Skim foam and lemon zest

  When the sugar starts to dissolve evenly, skim off the foam and lemon zest that settles on the surface of the pot to make the syrup clearer.

  

  
• 3

  Boil syrup with lemon peel

  After skimming off the foam and lemon zest, add the squeezed lemon peel to the pot and simmer over low heat.

  The lemon will help speed up the conversion of sugar from Sucrose to Glucose, while also giving your syrup a fragrant aroma and allowing it to be preserved longer.

  Boil the syrup with the lowest heat, do not stir to avoid recrystallization of the syrup. When the lemon half turns yellow and shriveled, remove the lemon peel.

  Continue to simmer the syrup on the lowest heat (around 115 degrees Celsius), and the minimum cooking time for the syrup is 1 hour for it to fully convert into simple sugar.

  If the cooking time is too short, your syrup may be prone to recrystallization when stored.

  

  

  

  
• 4

  Test the syrup and complete

  After about 1 hour, the syrup gradually turns a brown color. You can test if your syrup is up to standard using one of the following 3 methods:

  • Method 1: Take a small amount of syrup and drop a few drops onto a flat plate. If the syrup spreads immediately, it means it hasn’t cooked long enough; if the syrup hardens right away, it means it has cooked too long. The perfect syrup will have a drop that spreads slightly in the first 1-2 seconds but will still maintain a round shape.
  • Method 2: Prepare a bowl of water, then drop a few drops of syrup into it. If the syrup dissolves immediately and blends into the water, it’s not ready; if it forms a round ball, it has been overcooked. The properly cooked syrup will drop down and spread at the bottom of the bowl in a circular shape.
  • Method 3: Weigh the pot before cooking; when finished, weigh the pot with the syrup and subtract the weight of the pot. If you started with 1kg of sugar and 600ml of water and end up with about 1.2kg of product, it’s successful.

  If it’s not ready and still thin, continue cooking, or if the syrup is too thick (due to cooking on high heat, causing the water to evaporate quickly), add water to the pot and cook until it reaches the desired consistency.

  If your syrup has cooked too long and is too thick, add more boiling water and heat until the syrup reaches the standard.

  When the syrup is properly cooked, turn off the heat and place the pot in a basin of cold water to cool it down.

  When the syrup is completely cool, use a spoon or ladle to transfer it into a glass jar; do not pour it in, as sugar crystals sticking to the pot will wash away with the syrup and cause recrystallization.

  Let the syrup cool completely before sealing the jar; after 7-10 days, it will be ready for use.

  

  
• 5

  Final Product

  The syrup for baked Mooncakes when completed has a dark reddish-brown color, a smooth consistency, and a gentle fragrant smell that meets the standards. Now you can confidently make delicious and attractive baked Mooncakes for your whole family.