One to one is the most common ratio. If your syrup is cystallizing when it cools or upon storage, you can prevent that by adding a small amount of honey or corn syrup to the mixture when you make the syrup. The presence of different sugars helps disrupt the crystallization process.

I make simple syrup every time I make iced tea. Here's what I do: bring to a boil over medium heat equal amounts of sugar and water. While it's heating, I make sure and stir the mixture occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pan to get all the sugar disolved. You can let it boil for a minute or so to make sure all the sugar is dissolved.

Tracey

I do equal amounts of sugar and water, and a couple of handfuls of crushed mint leaves. Stir until sugar is dissolved, bring to a boil for about a minute. I keep it in a canning jar on the counter (it barely lasts a week here).

Dafy/Jen

Wow, I haven't thought of simple syrup in years! My mother used to make it to mix with lemon juice as a base for punch. She'd add club soda & some sort of fruit juice, I remember cranberry being a favorite. It made a sort of "soda" which we kids appreciated because she never bought soda from the store.

It sounds great for iced tea...but my husband and I drink so much iced tea in the summer I don't even want to think about how much weight we'd put on if we used real sugar. I keep a 4 quart container of iced tea and a 4 quart container of Crystal Lite Lemonade in the fridge all summer just for the two of us. Mixing them sweetens the tea and cuts the sweetness of the Crystal Lite..very refreshing.

Hi Everyone,
Once the simple syrup is made do you store at room temp or put in frig? If at room temp how long will it last? Once you make ice tea, how much simple syrup do you use to REPLACE adding sugr? Let's say it's a 2 quart jug that your using for ice tea. Thanks.

Sapphires

I store it in the fridge in a glass or ceramic jar. Usually though I just add it to the iced tea as soon as the tea is made. I think the standard for sweet tea is syrup made with 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water to one gallon of tea. I've got my husband down to 3/4 c. We tried 2/3 c, but it wasn't sweet enough for him. My friends and I were actually talking about this the other day and one of them said she uses 2 cups sugar per gallon of tea!

I use 1:1, bring it to a boil and let it boil 2 minutes, maybe giving it a stir or two as it comes to a boil. I store it in a jar in a cabinet, although I don't usually make much more than I need, so I may just throw away the extra. I use it for sangria.

Simple syrup made 1:1 will spoil so you should store it in the fridge unless you acidify it.

If you make it with 2:1 sugar/water it will keep a long time and you don't need to refrigerate it.

Here's some more info;

Here is a link that might be useful: Not so simple syrup