Jessica Savidge jokes that Savidge Kitchen began as a pandemic project that spiraled into something much bigger. Originally a YouTube cooking channel, it has grown into a thriving craft syrup line featuring a dozen flavors, from classic vanilla and grenadine to chai spice and ube. “We keep it simple, using real ingredients, whole spices and real sugar—no corn syrup, chemicals or artificial preservatives,” Savidge explains. Her syrups are as versatile as they are flavorful, perfect for cocktails, coffee, pancakes, baking and more.

Savidge, who also refers to her founder role as “chief kitchen witch,” shared how she got started, how her love of history and travel influences how she cooks and what’s next for Savidge Kitchen.

Q&A With Jessica Savidge of Savidge Kitchen

What sparked your passion for cooking and cocktailing?

I’ve always been enamored by food and entertaining. First and foremost, I love exploring flavor, but I’m also a bit of a history nerd. I learned at a young age that food was this amazing gateway into learning about people and places. Ultimately, the meals we share are this magical thing that connects us. My family always celebrates with food—from sophisticated fine dining to my favorite deli—if there’s an occasion, there is food involved.

As I grew up and started traveling, I focused on where the good food was, who knew the best bars and restaurants to try, and what the local specialties were. Then, when I’d come home from whatever adventure I was on, my favorite thing to do was to try and recreate the things I’d enjoyed elsewhere. To this day, my favorite comfort food is a recreation of carbonara I had in Rome many years ago—four ingredients that add up to sublime perfection.

Savidge Kitchen started as a YouTube channel. Why did you start it and your line of syrups?
Savidge Kitchen is a pandemic project that got way out of hand and took over my life. Honestly, I’m thrilled by it!

The summer of 2020 found me and my friends spending a lot of time in the pool with cocktails. It felt like the world was ending, so we figured we might as well enjoy ourselves.

Before this, a very good friend with a wildly successful YouTube channel had been encouraging me to start my own, but she had been suggesting photography as a topic, and even though I’m a professional photographer I had no interest. I decided that if I was going to put myself out there, I wanted something that would be an escapist hobby, not another work-related task.

Enter COVID and the summer of cocktails. That’s when it clicked—a YouTube channel about food and drink. Why not?

My regular business had come to a screeching halt. I had the time, the skills and the cocktails, so I dove in. It kept me busy and excited at a time when life felt otherwise grim. I got to know my fellow cocktail YouTubers, started growing a little community, and slowly but surely, momentum began to build.

It was sometime in late 2022 that a viewer left a comment on a video asking if I’d ever sell the syrups I made on the channel. I wish I could remember which video it was on, but I do remember that her name was Elizabeth. Her simple remark changed my life.

I decided to try a few small test batches, played around with the branding and packaging and sent bottles off to friends for feedback. A couple weeks later, I dove into the deep end and signed up for a local tiki festival. That was in April 2023, and it’s been full steam ahead ever since.

What was the first syrup you made?

The first time I experimented with making syrup, I needed a good grenadine for a cocktail recipe. The stuff you find in most grocery stores was, and is, simply terrible.

In my research, I learned that real grenadine is made with pomegranate—not cherry—and should be jewel-red in color and include either rose water or orange blossom water. I came up with my own recipe and was hooked. The grenadine we make today is very similar to the original recipe I came up with back in 2020.

The syrup I’ve been making the longest, long before Savidge Kitchen existed, is my chai-spiced syrup. I love the flavors, and I wanted to make a syrup that recreated that taste experience. We use whole spices, and it smells incredible while it’s cooking. It’s still my favorite, and I think the most versatile of the entire Savidge Kitchen syrup line-up. I love chai spice in cocktails and mocktails, but that one in coffee is my favorite, and it’s simply outstanding over pancakes.

What’s your approach to crafting products for Savidge Kitchen?

I think good food can, and often should, be simple and high quality. I keep that in mind with every new flavor and in my plan for the future offerings (which go beyond syrups).

We use real ingredients, whole spices, real sugar, no corn syrup, no chemicals, no preservatives, no artificial anything. We bottle in glass, and we ship in recyclable materials.

Are there less expensive, more profitable ways to do things? Yes. But you can taste the difference, and to me, that’s what matters most.

I’m also very invested in the idea that our offerings should be versatile. If you’re buying syrup from Savidge Kitchen, it’s going to be something that you can use in a variety of ways: cocktails, mocktails, coffee, tea, sodas, desserts, breakfast, etc. When I buy a seasoning, I want to be able to use it in many applications—I look at syrups the same way.

Do you have any new or seasonal flavors you’re working on that you can tell us about?

Our most popular flavor is ube, so in keeping with the Southeast Asian influence, I’ve been experimenting with pandan. I haven’t fully committed to it yet, but I’ve had a few requests, and I do love the flavor. Still tweaking … stay tuned!

What’s your favorite syrup to use this time of year?

I’m in love with our mint syrup right now. That was a holiday release that I’m keeping permanently. Mint is a versatile flavor and is just as good in a mocha as a mojito. For the spring, I love it in lemonade.

Does your background as a photographer impact how you cook or serve food and drinks?
It does because I’m hyper-aware that we eat with our eyes first. Your experience eating starts before food ever makes it to your mouth. We take in the way something smells, we look at it, we sense heat or cold—all of these things happen before our taste buds get to work. So, to me, the appearance of a dish is almost as important as the taste of it.

However, I also firmly believe that form follows function—a concept most people associate with architecture. But, I think that for food, the “function” is in the flavor, so my view is that plating should follow tasting. If something doesn’t taste good, it doesn’t matter how pretty it is on the plate or in the glass.

The best example of this is in my baking. I’ve been trying to teach myself how to bake for the last few years, and it’s quite challenging. I’ve always been an intuitive cook, but baking is a lesson in discipline. The trick I discovered is that if I come up with a design I want to try on a cake, I become very invested in perfecting the baking technique for the right texture and flavor to accomplish the said design. It’s led to some fun and delicious results.

You offer lots of great suggestions for how people can use your syrups in coffees, cocktails, cooking and baking—has a customer ever shared a recipe with you that was a fun or creative surprise?

Yes! The one that stands out the most is a girl who made lavender lemon bars with lavender syrup. They sounded amazing, and I still want to try the recipe. I also recently had someone tell me that he stirs syrups in Greek yogurt with fruit and granola for breakfast, which I thought was brilliant.

Where can people find Savidge Kitchen’s provisions?

You can buy Savidge Kitchen Provisions online at savidgekitchen.com/provisions. We ship all over the country. Locally you can find select flavors at La Grande Orange Grocery & Pizzeria, Shea Cheese, Camelback Village Spa, Flower Bar and a few more. We also have retailers in New York and California now.