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A recipe for ginger beer

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Sometimes you need to step away from the computer and tech, as I did last night. The kitchen is rarely my milieu, but with a four-ingredient recipe for making ginger beer, I decided it was worth the risk.

Ginger beer is fantastically tart: think ginger ale squared, with less carbonation. Several weeks ago I clipped a recipe sidebar from a print (!) article in the New York Times about Jamaican foods, and put it to the test. Not your usual morning beverage, but I think it turned out fine as I sip it now. The recipe and notes follow.

GINGER BEER
Time: 10 minutes, plus at least 4 hours’ steeping
Ingredients:

  • 12 ounces ginger, washed and roughly chopped (about 2 cups); peel if you want a lighter-colored beverage
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3/4 cup of sugar
  • Juice of one lemon

Steps:

  1. Place chopped ginger in a large bowl. Add bay leaf. Boil 10 cups of water and pour it over ginger. Let mixture sit for at least four hours or overnight.
  2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, place 3/4 cup water and the sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer just until sugar has melted, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool.
  3. Strain ginger mixture into a pitcher or glass jar, mix in sugar water and lemon juice. Stir and serve over ice.

Yield: About 10 cups.

Slight gotchas in my first attempt included:

  • Size/shape of the large bowl: The wide, shallow bowl I used for steeping the ginger was difficult to pour from, so I ended up hand-straining.
  • Size of the pitcher: 10 cups was a bit too much for the pitcher I had selected, so some was wasted.
  • One lemon’s juice: While I used fresh ginger, I used lemon juice from a prepared bottle, so I have no idea how much I put in… just squeezed until I thought it was enough. Wish the recipe had a hint about how much juice is in one lemon, in tablespoons perhaps?
  • Color: Color didn’t matter to me, so I did not peel. Once you see fresh ginger in its original form, I doubt you will want to, either. Ginger is a root, with all the odd shapes that implies.
  • Making the sugar water: I never brought the water to a boil, as the sugar melted quite quickly. I have no idea if boiling was important, or just the dissolution of the sugar. I chose the latter.

Not in a huge rush to do it again, but for those who like their non-alcoholic drink to bite back, ginger beer is elixir.

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