Out Of Simple Syrup? Sweeten Your Cocktail With This Pantry Staple Instead

Most cocktail connoisseurs agree that the best drinks are the perfect balance of tangy and sharp, with just enough sweetness to soften the raw edges of the alcohol without completely overshadowing it. Usually, that touch of sugar comes from easy, DIY simple syrup recipes for cocktails, or a drizzle of the store bought stuff. However, if you're fresh out of simple syrup and don't have the time or energy to make your own, there is a simpler solution — just get your jam on.

You may already know the secrets to making delicious jam jar dressing or nostalgic espressos with the dregs of grape jelly, but that sticky, fruity residue clinging to the inside of your Smucker's marmalade jar can also make an incredible cocktail. The easiest method is to simply pour an ounce or two of your favorite spirit into the jar, cap it, shake it like you mean it, pour, and sip — or just add ice to the jar and enjoy (it'll be our secret).

The reason this works is that jam, jelly, and marmalade are basically fruity simple syrup mixed with things like pectin to stabilize them. Mixed into acidic spirits like vodka, whiskey, gin, etc., those sugars dissolve enough to evenly lend flavor to the cocktail while also adding a touch of bright color, producing a beautiful drink with very little effort. Plus, once you realize how many flavors of sugary sandwich spread about, you'll realize the possibilities for making new delicious fruity cocktails are nearly endless.

The simplest way to begin experimenting with jam (or jelly, yes there's a difference) infused cocktails is to combine flavors you already enjoy drinking. For instance, a little bit of cranberry jelly in your vodka creates a beautifully light, rose-colored take on a two-ingredient club-night staple. Simplify your mint julep recipe by dolloping some mint jelly into your favorite bourbon and shaking them together with ice for a cool, refreshing summertime sipper.

This is also an opportunity to more extensively explore the world of sours — cocktails made more tangy than sweet by the addition of tart citrus juice (usually lemon or lime) and just a touch of simple syrup. In this case, you'd nix the syrup for the jam or jelly of your choice, creating things like blueberry lime gin sours, lemony whiskey sours with raspberry notes, a dark rum sour infused with apricot or peach jam, or get truly exotic with pineapple jalapeño jam stirred into white rum with a lime wedge.

Additionally, using jams and jellies as the fruity element in your cocktails is an insanely easy hack for making a quick sangria, especially using preserved fruit blends like razzleberry (blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries mixed together), or using peach jam in champagne to make sweetly delicious bellinis. You can either use the jam as your only sangria flavoring, or in addition to fruit juice — think marmalade and cranberry juice with red, or mango jam and pineapple juice with a white.