My Love affair with Ginger

  I have to tell you that I am in love with Ginger. I have always loved Ginger. Well, there were those years that I dreamt of finding the island and rescuing Maryanne and living happily ever after. But other than that I have always been a fan of Ginger

  I love Ginger Ale, Ginger Beer, Ginger Snaps, Ginger Bread, Ginger Cake, Ginger Marmalade, Ginger Chocolates.  Well I guess you get the idea, I am in love with Ginger. One of my favourite forms of Ginger is Candied Ginger. I love the satisfying crunch of the ginger, the sweetness of the syrup and the heat on the tongue as you chew it. But man has it gotten expensive. And most of the ginger is dried and sugared which limits the uses. So I guess it was time to learn to make it for myself.

  I started out by buying some ginger root. It is fairly inexpensive to purchase at most grocery stores. I usually get a Kilogram(2 pounds) at a time. This makes a pretty good sized batch. Then you have to peel the stuff, this is when the love affair can go through a few rocky patches until you learn how to do it. I use a spoon and scrape away from me with the bowl of the spoon facing outward. The skin is soft and scrapes right off with no loss of the ginger.  Your house now smells amazingly like ginger.

Now you have to slice the ginger root. You want a really sharp knife for this. Cut the root across the grain as thin as you can, usually 1-2mm(1/16-1/8 in). Keep going it will soon get done. If you have large ginger, you can slice it lengthwise first to make the slices smaller.  Keep going you are almost done. It seems to take forever, but the end is in sight.


  Now you want to make a simple syrup. That is equal amounts of sugar and water. In this case for the amount above I used 3 cups of sugar and 3 cups of water. Put them in a pot on the burner and on a medium high heat bring to a boil.

Once the syrup has come to a boil add the sliced ginger to the pot and once it returns to a boil turn down to a low heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Now you can sit back for a bit and let the smell of the ginger simmering waft through your house. As the ginger cooks the smell will change and become sweeter.  You want to cook the ginger until the slices are tender crisp and translucent.

After 45 minutes of a low simmer you can take the ginger off the heat and let it cool. you can try a piece to see if it tastes done. Mmmm that was good wasn't it. If you want to just use the ginger to cook with you can pour it into a Mason Jar and put it into the fridge. If you want it truly candied you can toss it in sugar and place on a cooling rack to dry. Once dry you can place in a container and enjoy at your leisure. It would be good dipped in chocolate. If you are going this route you may want to cut the slices a bit thicker to give a good size piece to work with.





  This should give you about 1.5 litres of candied ginger in syrup.  It seems to keep in the fridge for quite a while, we have never had any last long enough to go bad, maybe we use it too quick or the sugar is enough of a preservative.

   Now that you have the Candied Ginger on hand you can use it to your hearts content. Every morning we have a hot drink made with Honey, Ginger and Apple Cider Vinegar.  In a coffee mug we put a Tbsp of pure organic apple cider vinegar(the organic is so much less acidic than the commercial), a Tbsp of unpasteurised honey a few slices of candied ginger and a Tbsp of the syrup. We top up the mug with hot water give it a good stir to mix in the honey and enjoy.   The first couple of times you try it you will cough from the vinegar fumes in your nose, I guarantee it. After that you will hopefully get to enjoy the smell and taste of your morning Cider.  It is supposed to help with gout and arthritis. I'm not a doctor and this is not medical advice, but it has helped us even if it is only a placebo effect.

  Another quick use of the syrup is to place a couple of Tbsp of the syrup in a tall glass of Club Soda and top with a lime wedge. Once you get it to your taste it is like having a glass of Ginger Beer when you need a cold drink with a bit of a bite.

I hope you enjoyed the ginger and in the future I will share more ways that we use the ginger in recipes.