IHOP is known for their delicious pancakes, waffles, and French toast. A key component to many of their menu items is their strawberry syrup. Customers love being able to pour on extra syrup to enhance the flavor of their breakfast favorites. But have you ever wondered what exactly goes into IHOP’s strawberry syrup? In this article, we’ll explore the ingredients and process IHOP uses to make their signature strawberry syrup.
The Main Ingredients
According to IHOP, the main ingredients in their strawberry syrup are:
- Strawberries
- High fructose corn syrup
- Sugar
- Water
- Natural and artificial flavors
- Citric acid
- Potassium sorbate (preservative)
- Sodium benzoate (preservative)
- Red 40 dye
So the primary ingredient is strawberries, providing the syrup’s signature fruity flavor. The high fructose corn syrup acts as a sweetener and thickening agent. Additional sugar is also added to enhance sweetness.
The natural and artificial flavors help boost the strawberry taste. Citric acid provides some tartness to balance out the sweetness. The preservatives allow the syrup to have a longer shelf life. And red food dye gives the vibrant pinkish-red color that customers expect from strawberry syrup.
Making the Strawberry Puree
According to sources, the process of making IHOP’s strawberry syrup starts with creating a concentrated strawberry puree. They take fresh strawberries and wash, stem, and crush them to extract all the juice and flavor. The crushed strawberry mixture is then cooked down into a reduced strawberry concentrate or puree.
Cooking the strawberries helps intensify their flavor, color, and natural pectin. Pectin is a beneficial substance in fruit that acts as a thickening agent when heated. So heating the crushed strawberries into a puree makes it thicker and easier to blend with the other syrup ingredients.
Adding Sugar and Other Ingredients
Once the strawberry puree is made, the additional syrup ingredients can be added in. First, the puree is blended together with high fructose corn syrup and granulated white sugar. The combination of corn syrup and sugar helps provide sweetness, body, and viscosity to the syrup.
Next, water would be added to help thin out the syrup’s texture to the proper consistency. The puree on its own would create a syrup that’s too thick. So the right amount of water helps balance out the texture.
After that, IHOP adds in natural and artificial strawberry flavorings to reinforce the strawberry taste. They want the syrup to have a robust strawberry flavor profile. The added flavors ensure it tastes like fresh strawberry even after being processed.
The preservatives potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate are also likely added at this stage to help prevent mold, bacteria, and spoilage. These ingredients prolong the shelf life of the syrup.
Finally, red dye is mixed in to give the iconic vibrant red color customers expect from strawberry syrup. Natural strawberry juice on its own tends to turn a darker brownish red when cooked down. So the dye helps maintain that bright pinkish-red hue.
Quality Control and Packaging
Once the syrup mixture is complete, IHOP likely has quality control measures in place to ensure consistency. The texture, color, taste, and viscosity of the syrup would be evaluated. Any batches that don’t meet standards would be rejected.
The approved strawberry syrup is then packaged into the bottles and containers sent to IHOP restaurants. It needs to be bottled and sealed securely to avoid leaks or contamination. The packaging also has to be easy for restaurant employees to use when adding syrup to customer’s meals.
Being a large franchise, IHOP needs to produce significant volumes of pre-made strawberry syrup to supply all locations. The syrup is likely manufactured at a central processing facility in large batches then distributed to restaurants. Proper planning helps ensure each IHOP location has enough syrup on hand to meet customer demand.
Serving the Syrup
Customers initially encounter the strawberry syrup when it’s served alongside their food. The IHOP employees have special dispensers that make it easy to drizzle the perfect amount of syrup on top of pancakes, waffles, or French toast. Just a flick of the wrist creates those iconic zig-zag syrup patterns.
The strawberry syrup is stored in sealed bottles then poured into the service dispensers as needed. This helps control portions and reduces waste. The dispensers make it possible to serve hundreds of syrup portions per bottle. And they provide that quintessential IHOP syrup pouring presentation.
A little extra syrup on the side is often served in small plastic cups or ramekins. Customers can dip bite-sized pieces of food into the syrup for added flavor. The syrup containers are easily refilled as needed to accommodate large crowds.
Nutrition Information
While IHOP’s strawberry syrup certainly makes food taste great, it does pack quite a bit of sugar:
| Nutrition Facts | Amount per Serving |
|---|---|
| Calories | 110 |
| Total Fat | 0g |
| Sodium | 15mg |
| Total Carbohydrates | 29g |
| Sugars | 27g |
A 2 tablespoon (30 mL) serving provides 110 calories, with 29g of carbohydrates and 27g of sugar. So while it adds lots of sweet flavor, the syrup is essentially just sugar and doesn’t offer much nutritional value. Moderating portions is advised.
Ingredients Comparison to Other Brands
IHOP isn’t the only chain with signature strawberry syrup. Denny’s and Waffle House also have their own versions. Here’s how IHOP’s syrup ingredients compare:
| Brand | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| IHOP | Sugar, strawberries, high fructose corn syrup, water, natural and artificial flavors, citric acid, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, red 40 dye |
| Denny’s | Corn syrup, sugar, water, strawberries, citric acid, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate, artificial colors & flavors |
| Waffle House | Sugar, water, corn syrup, strawberries, cellulose gum, citric acid, sodium benzoate, artificial & natural flavors, FD&C Red #40 |
The main differences are Denny’s lacks high fructose corn syrup but adds thickeners like xanthan gum and cellulose. Waffle House doesn’t list high fructose corn syrup or thickeners but adds sodium benzoate preservative. Otherwise, the big chains use a fairly similar blend of corn syrup, sugar, strawberries, and natural + artificial flavors.
Strawberry Syrup for Purchase
IHOP’s bottled syrup isn’t available for retail sale. But some third parties seem to repackage and sell what they claim is IHOP brand syrup online. However, there’s no verification if this syrup is legit or simply homemade imitation. For quality assurance, it’s best to enjoy IHOP syrup only at IHOP restaurants.
If you want to recreate the flavor at home, various bloggers have published “copycat” DIY strawberry syrup recipes. These homemade versions generally use a blend of strawberry puree, corn syrup, sugar, water, vanilla, and food coloring. The recipes allow adding as much or little sweetener and food coloring as desired to control taste, consistency, and color. Whipping up homemade strawberry syrup can be a fun weekend baking project for the whole family.
Strawberry Syrup Variations at IHOP
While traditional strawberry is the most popular, IHOP does occasionally offer limited-time variations:
- White chocolate strawberry syrup – Available for Valentine’s Day, it combines strawberry flavor with sweet white chocolate.
- Strawberry banana syrup – Sold during Minion promotions, it mixes strawberry and banana flavors inspired by the Despicable Me characters.
- Strawberries & cream syrup – Featured during spring/summer, it has a creamy note plus pieces of real strawberry blended in.
These specialty flavors give customers some unique twists on the classic strawberry syrup to try. However, the traditional strawberry remains the undisputed king of IHOP syrups.
Using Syrup Beyond Breakfast
Strawberry syrup isn’t just for breakfast foods! IHOP encourages using their syrups to create drinks, desserts, and snacks for any meal:
- Add to milk or fruit juices to make flavored drinks or smoothies.
- Drizzle over ice cream, milkshakes, yogurt, and fresh fruit.
- Mix into whipped cream or icing to top cakes, cupcakes, and other baked treats.
- Stir into oatmeal, cottage cheese, or cream cheese as a topping.
- Use as a dip for fruit, cookies, cakes, or other finger foods.
The options are endless when you have a bottle of syrup on hand! Strawberry pairs nicely with many desserts, snacks, and beverages beyond just breakfast foods.
Strawberry Syrup Storage and Handling
To get the most out of IHOP’s strawberry syrup:
- Store sealed bottles in the refrigerator after opening for up to 30 days.
- To avoid waste, pour leftover syrup from table dispensers back into storage bottles.
- Keep syrup dispensers clean and minimize contact between pouring spout and food.
- Discard any syrup that smells or looks abnormal.
- Do not leave syrup bottles unsealed or at room temperature too long.
Proper refrigerated storage and careful handling helps preserve the syrup’s quality and shelf life. Discard syrup that seems overly thick, watery, discolored, or gives off odd odors. Freshly opened syrup will generally look smooth, glossy, and vibrant red.
Conclusion
That covers everything you need to know about the secret behind IHOP’s irresistible strawberry syrup! From fresh strawberry purees to quality control measures, IHOP uses high standards to create syrup that perfectly complements their famous pancakes, waffles, and French toast. The syrup’s sweet fruity flavor keeps customers coming back. While it may be high in sugar, enjoying IHOP’s syrup in moderation remains an indulgent treat. So next time you dine at IHOP, savor that strawberry syrup knowing the care that goes into each pour.
