Ginger Syrup Recipe

You'll never go back to Bundaberg!

I first made ginger ale from this recipe (equal parts sparkling water, ice and ginger syrup) for a family gathering a few years back, and the results were a great hit at the dinner. Even the older folks (you know who you are!) who turn their noses up at soda loved it. More recently, I converted most of my housemates into big fans of this zippy, spicy syrup, which has become the new favourite drink around our house. And as a direct consequence, they no longer purchase Bundaberg ginger beer. Ha! 

This recipe allows either peeled or unpeeled ginger to be used. As noted by Mr Lebovitz, leaving the peel on the ginger gives the syrup a darker charming tinge of colour. Because I am lazy to peel the ginger, I used to just wash the ginger really well and toss everything into the pot, peel and all. But tossing good ginger away seemed more and more profligate every time I returned to this recipe, and so, in the spirit of nose-to-tail/stem-to-root eating, I started peeling the ginger, and then kept the ginger pieces to toss with sugar (candied ginger!), or to fold into freshly-churned ice cream. As David suggests, they can also be added to a batch of marmalade, or patted dry, chopped further and then added to gingersnap cookie dough. 

If memory serves, the Coles homebrand of carbonated water is less than $1 for a big bottle in Melbourne, and that's what I used. In Singapore, carbonated water is less ubiquitous, more pricey, and somehow, gets flat quicker than regular carbonated soft drinks. In my ginger ale version here, I use Sprite instead of carbonated water. 

Ginger Syrup Recipe

Adapted from David Lebovitz's Fresh Ginger Syrup recipe 

INGREDIENTS
225g fresh ginger, peeled or unpeeled 
1.5L water
400g sugar 
a pinch of salt


STEPS
1) Cut the ginger into fine pieces. In a saucepan set on high heat, let the ginger, water, sugar, and salt come to a boil before reducing the heat to a steady simmer. Let simmer for 45 minutes to one hour.

2) Strain the syrup through a fine-mesh strainer. The strained syrup well-covered, can be kept for at least two weeks in the refrigerator.

3) To make ginger ale, fill glasses 1/3rd full with fresh ginger syrup, and then fill it with ice and top off with sparkling or tonic water. Add a generous squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice to taste. Stir gently to mix the ingredients and garnish with a round of citrus or fresh mint.

Notes
Being my mother's son, I extract every possible flavour from the chopped ginger. After the first strain, I reboil the ginger pieces in about 750ml plain water (no sugar!), for about 30-45 minutes. After which, I blend the mixture either using an immersion blender or a tabletop blender and strain. The resultant ginger syrup still packs quite a spicy punch. 

I discovered that if you do not have soda water, in a pinch, you could use other carbonated drinks like Sprite instead. If using such sweetened carbonated drink, reduce sugar from 400g to 160g.