Ingredients
4 cups sugar
24 cardamom pods, crushed (1 tablespoon)
4 cinnamon sticks
2 vanilla beans, halved crosswise
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Preparation
Combine sugar, cardamom, and cinnamon in a medium saucepan. Split vanilla beans lengthwise and scrape out seeds; add seeds and beans to sugar mixture with 4 cups water. Bring to a simmer over medium-high, stirring until sugar is dissolved (if it begins to boil, reduce heat – boiling will make the syrup cloudy). Remove from heat; add cayenne. Let steep 1 hour.
Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large liquid-measuring cup; discard cardamom pods but reserve cinnamon sticks and vanilla beans. Refrigerate until completely cool, 1 hour. Pour into gift bottles; divide reserved vanilla beans and cinnamon sticks among bottles. Syrup can be stored in bottles, refrigerated, up to 1 month.
