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This was posted on vegsorce.com by silverfire. I have added the vanilla and cinnamon to it.
For those looking to substitute the use of agave and/or maple syrup.
I was not aware of how much we are effecting the bat population by our
use of agave, until recently. It is the main food source for nectar bats.
Victoria J. has posted a thread about Agave Nectar and Bat Populations.
1 cup Medjool dates, pitted
1 cup water, approximately
1 teaspoon vanilla, (optional)
¼ teaspoon cinnamon, (optional)
Chop up dates and soak them in just enough water to cover the top of the dates. Soak overnight. Or soak for at least three hours. Soaking is not required,
but I get the best results for my date syrup/paste when I do soak.
After soaking, mash the soaked dates with a fork till they are as mushed as possible. Or you could use a blender.
Place the sloppy mashed date pulp into a straining bag of sorts and squeeze all of the syrup out. If you blend the dates and water in a really good blender,
there really won’t be a need to strain the syrup. You can use as is.
At this point, you can eat or use as is. (The date and water mixture
is shown in the picture.) Or at this time, you could add cinnamon,
vanilla and cinnamon, or cacao powder. Add more water and cacao powder
for a nice
chocolate syrup. The options and uses for date
syrup is truly unlimited.
Note – Depending on how much water you have put in, it will come out like a syrup. If more water was added, like a sugar water. If you’d like a thicker syrup, you can add less water to the initial soaking period and stir dates occasionally, or finely blend some of the soaked strained pulp with some water and add that.
Some people use dates and water with a pinch of sea salt.
