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Ginger Ale

Making your own ginger ale is as easy as peeling ginger. I promise.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Course Drinks
Servings 250 ml

Ingredients
  

  • 1 ½ cup chopped fresh ginger
  • 1 tsp grated lemon peel
  • 4 cups water
  • 30 ml coconut blossom sugar

Instructions
 

  • Scrape the skin of the ginger using a teaspoon. Believe me, this is by far the easiest (and safest) method to peel ginger.
  • Chop the ginger into small blocks.
  • Grate 1 teaspoon of lemon peel, using the fine side of the grater. Keep your fingers safe and make sure to only get the peel and not some of the white rind (it's nasty bitter).
  • Add the ginger, water, and lemon peel to a pot, and bring to boil.
  • As soon as it's boiling, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about half an hour.
  • At this stage, it should have reduced to about 2 cups of liquid.
  • Strain the liquid from the ginger, and make sure to squeeze as much of the liquid you can from the ginger blocks. You want ALL the goodness.
  • Return the liquid to the pot and add the coconut blossom sugar.
  • Bring to the boil again and reduce to around 1 cup of syrup.
  • Cool the syrup and decant into a bottle. You will be using this syrup as the base for your ginger ale.
    Keep refrigerated, and use within a week.

Serving suggestion 1

  • Add about 25ml of the syrup to a glass
  • Add a light squeeze of lemon, a slice of lemon, and ice
  • Top up with soda water

Serving suggestion 2

  • If you prefer a slightly sweeter version, use lemonade instead of soda water

Notes

  • You can use whatever sweetener you prefer. I like coconut blossom sugar because it adds to the flavour and depth of colour of the ale. But feel free to experiment with honey, xylitol, or whatever sweetener you like.
  • I don't like a very sweet ginger ale. If you prefer yours sweeter, or with no sweetener, you can omit the sweetener.
  • If, like me, you don't like carbonated drinks, swop the soda water with cold water. I drink liters of the stuff every day (but keep in mind the sugar content if you added more sugar/sweetener to the recipe).
  • The syrup is a fabulous base for a variety of cocktails. I've mixed mine with vodka, gin, and even bourbon in the past. Go ahead and play with some variations.
  • It should keep for about 1 week in the fridge. But honestly, mine never lasts that long.
  • You can double and even triple the recipe to make larger batches.
Keyword Ginger Ale, Healthy