Failure!

The resulting syrup ended up a bit runny. About 2 tablespoonsful of it led to a drink that was not nearly dark enough:

It was not sweet enough and tasted overwhelmingly of basil (somehow in an unpleasant manner, which is remarkable given that basil is delicious). Of course, the syrup being runny was an easy fix: I could just put it back on the stove and cook it some more until it reduced to my satisfaction. I did not realize that the syrup would thicken as it cools, so I made the mistake of getting it to the viscosity I wanted while it was boiling.

When I put it back in the jar, it crystalized overnight. So then, I did my best to scrape it out of the jar and put it in a saucepan with 1/2 cup of water to get it back to an appropriate thickness. However, the crystalized mass had fused to the bottom of the jar, so I poked away at it with a butter knife like a miner swinging their pickaxe at stone. Eventually I poked with enough pressure to break the jar, and I lost some of the crystalized syrup in the process.

I stirred what remained into half a cup of water and tried it in a soda once again. It so happens that, when reducing the sugar, I had also accidentally burnt it and made caramel. It also so happens that caramel soda with orange bitters is delicious, and the intense caramel flavor masked the unpleasantly overwhelming basil flavor, and so it turned out alright in the end, even if I had completely failed in attempting to make coke.

Next time, I will try everything I mentioned in the first part of this series, as well as taking a suggestion from my roomate, whis is to use a thermometer to measure the boiling point of the syrup so I don’t reduce it too much (maple syrup boils at 7.5 degrees Fahrenheit above the boiling point of water which seems like a good target.)