Blueberry Pancake Syrup

Blueberry Pancake Syrup

4 cups blueberries, stemmed, rinsed and drained
3 cups water
2 strips lemon peel
3 cups sugar
Lemon Juice

Pour blueberries into a saucepan and crush them with a potato masher until most of the skins are broken.  Add 1 cup of the water and the lemon peel strips.  Bring to simmer.  Turn heat to low and cook berries for 5 minutes just under simmer.  Pour hot berries into a strainer lined with two layers of cheese cloth and let blueberry juice drip through.  Twist cloth to extract all the juice; there should be 2 cups.  Discard pulp.

Combine the remaining two cups water with the sugar in a small saucepan.  Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is clear.

Wash down sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush.  Boil the syrup without stirring until it reaches 260 degrees on a candy thermometer.  Add the blueberry syrup to the sugar syrup and bring mixture to a boil.  Let syrup cool, add lemon juice to taste.  Pour syrup into two pint jars and store in the refrigerator if you plan to use within two months. 

Be sure to let the blueberry syrup cool before you taste.  Add the lemon juice slowly as tartness varies considerably in blueberries and is difficult to judge in a hot syrup.

Recipe Source: Lillian Ulmer