Pecan syrup is a popular topping for breakfast foods and desserts, often made by adding chopped pecans to store-bought maple syrup or making it from scratch with corn syrup, brown sugar, and toasted pecans. Variations include butter pecan, banana pecan, and bourbon pecan syrup. People with nut allergies should be cautious.
Pecan syrup is a type of syrup made with chopped pecans. Typically used as a topping for pancakes, waffles, and other breakfast foods, pecan syrup can also be used as a topping for desserts. Making pecan syrup can, in fact, be as simple as adding pecans to store-bought maple syrup, or it can be made from scratch. Often found in restaurants, it is sometimes found in grocery stores and can be ordered online.
Especially popular in the southern states in the United States where pecans are plentiful, pecan syrup was originally designed to mimic the flavor of pecan pie. The only real requirement for this sauce is that it be made with pecans. Therefore, many versions are simply maple syrup mixed with chopped pecans. While these versions are acceptable for those who just want to add some nuts to their morning breakfast selection, they generally don’t convey the true flavor of made-from-scratch pecan syrup.
Besides the pecans, corn syrup, light or dark, and brown sugar are the key ingredients. To prepare, the nuts may or may not be toasted in butter first. Then, the ingredients are simply boiled together in a pan for five to ten minutes, stirring. The mixture thickens to indicate that it has finished cooking. The warmed pecan syrup typically served can be discarded for future use.
Butter pecan is a popular variation of this gooey liquid. When making the butter pecan version, butter, usually unsalted, and vanilla extract or rum are usually included in the mix. The syrup and sugar are added to the water and the sugar is dissolved before any other ingredients are included. The butter and extract are usually added towards the end of the cooking process.
There are other variants as well. For example, adding bananas to the butter pecan mixture creates banana pecan syrup, while bourbon pecan syrup adds bourbon to the mixture. The mixing of maple syrup or maple extract with the base syrup is often referred to as maple pecan syrup.
Because the syrup uses pecan chunks, it’s not simply a smooth liquid. While it has the typical gooey viscosity of base syrup and usually has the familiar caramel coloring of maple syrup, it usually also contains pecan chunks. Despite the generally obvious inclusion of nuts, people with nut allergies should still be cautious when trying unfamiliar syrups in case nuts aren’t evident in a specific version.
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