Over the summer, Josh and I dined at Blue Ginger, an Asian fusion restaurant owned by the adorable Ming Tsai, who you may also know from one of his PBS Shows,
Simply Ming.
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| Photo from Ming.com |
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Among the many culinary delights we experienced was a homemade ginger ale, which immediately sparked our interest. Please stifle your chortles. We may be 70-year-old retirees in the bodies of attractive, svelte, twenty-somethings, but you're the one reading a blog about it.
So anyway, today on yet another wintry, wet weekend, we decided it was finally time to try our hand at a homemade ginger ale. We followed
this recipe, reducing the portions a bit to accommodate two people and a limited ginger supply:
- 2 cups (about 10 ounces) coarsely chopped, peeled fresh ginger
- 3 strips lemon peel (about 4 inches each), yellow part only
- 1-1/2 cups (about) sugar
- 3 quarts chilled club soda
- Ice cubes
So first, you must peel and chop the ginger.
Then, you add the chopped ginger to the water and bring to rolling boil, then turn it down to continue simmering for 10 minutes. Play
Farkle while you wait.
Add sugar and then stir CONSTANTLY for 15 minutes.
Strain the mixture, let it cool, and then pour it into a vessel. Store in the refrigerator until cool. Can be kept for a week.
Over ice, mix with club soda in a 4:1 ratio.
Result: HEAVEN ON EARTH. Much less sweet than canned soda, full of authentic, spicy ginger flavor, and you can ratchet the amount of ginger syrup up or down depending on what you prefer. I would also like to point out that I think this would be excellent with gin and mint in the summer. Please plan to come by and have a drink with me.
Enjoy!
