Ginger and Spice and Everything Nice: Homemade Ginger Syrup

Lemon lime basil with raspberries

 Way back in the dead of winter we had the amazing opportunity to travel to Hawaii and I am still day dreaming about going back.  Now that the sunshine is here and the grass is green, I am dealing with life off the island a bit better than before.  One of the tasty things we tried at the Honolulu famers' Market was a homemade ginger ale concoction from Pacifikool that was absolutely fabulous.  Ginger syrup mixed with sparkling water (or club soda) and flavoured with lime, berries, basil....I believe the boy took his cup back to that booth for a refill!

Blackberry mango lime ginger ale

Not only is ginger tasty, it also has huge health benefits if consumed regularly. Ginger is beneficial for the gastrointestinal system, motion sickness, arthritis, and it also is an antioxidant and can help boost the immune system! Those are just a few of the benefits of this spicy little rhizome! Find out some more info at these helpful websites:

World's Healthiest Foods

Health benefits of ginger

I looked up a whack of different recipes online and found pretty much the same basics: make a simple syrup infused with ginger.  A simple syrup is basically equal parts sugar and water boiled until the sugar dissolves and cooled down.

Here's what I did:

Wash then chop up a big ole rhizome of ginger into smallish pieces and place in a pot. ( To peel, or not to peel? The first time I made this, I peeled the ginger but the second time, I washed it well and chopped it up. I didn't notice a difference. This is strictly a personal preference)
Add to this pot:

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups water

Bring to a boil, slap a lid on it, reduce the heat to medium, and let it steep for about an hour.

Allow the syrup to cool before draining it and storing in the fridge. This syrup hasn't lasted more than 1 week, because we keep using it up so quickly! Every recipe seems to say something different. Some say 2 weeks, some say they've successfully kept ginger syrup for 6 weeks in the fridge.

I have been using about 3 to 4 tbsp of syrup and topping the glass up with club soda. (I also squeeze some lime into the bottom of the glass first.

Other tasty add ins we've used this week:

• fresh basil leaves
• raspberries
• backberries
• mango
• mint
• lime
• lemon

 When using the add ins, make sure to muddle everything at the bottom of the glass first, then add the ginger syrup, then add the club soda. (muddle is fancy talk for 'smash things up a bit')

You can test things out and use the amount of syrup you feel tastes the best. In general I have been using 4 tbsp to 1 cup of chilled club soda (1/4 cup syrup to 1 cup soda). I have made syrup twice in the past week now and have been making different concoctions ever since!

Mango lime basil

 I really love the hint of warmth left after drinking this. I find I prefer this to the prebottled brand names becaues I can really taste the ginger.  Mix it with all those add ins and the flavour possibilities are endless!  Now I just have to play with adding the liquor and my summer is all set!

Here is a few sites I looked at while deciding in what to do with the ginger.

Joy the Baker
Cocktailia
Martha Stewart

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Bacon Love

Do you do anything for the Oscars? I don't normally make anything extra for Oscar night, mostly because the Boy usually has a baseball practice that night...and guess what....the Boy has a baseball practice on Oscar night! At times, I think I should do more to observe these sorts of things but in reality, that's not going to happen so I do what I can. 

As I was browsing through blogville and all things internet, I started seeing all sorts of ideas and menus. I had all sorts of ideas milling about in my head (some of them were even good ones). Oscar night is a star studded event so I was thinking about making something that was also star studded.  Star studded with bacon of course!

Bacon peanut brittle came to mind so I started to browse the wild world of the internet and found many different recipes and you know what I discovered? I discovered that you can take any peanut brittle recipe and add bacon to it.  I don't have a tried and true recipe for brittle so I used the recipe found here at My Man's Belly with only a couple of adaptations.

Bacon Peanut Brittle
 Printable recipe here

Make sure you have a candy thermometer for this one. You will need it.  Also, gather all of your ingredients into bowls before the sugar is done boiling so you can add it all in quickly and pour the molten hot mass onto the cookie sheet.

Gather up the following into their own separate bowls:

• 1 lb bacon, cooked, drained, and chopped into small pieces
• 1 cup roasted, peanuts. (I used unsalted but salted would work here to)
• 1/2 tbsp baking soda
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla (I will use a full tablespoon next time)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp salt

Affix the candy thermometer to the side of a large pot and add to the pot:

• 2 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup corn syrup
• 3/4 cup water

Prepare a cookie sheet with either a silpat or silicone liner or butter it generously and set it aside so it is ready to use when it comes time to pour out melty, hot, molten sugary goodness onto it.

Place the pot on the element and turn the heat to medium.  Stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves, then set the spoon aside until it is time to stir in the other ingredients.

Stay in the kitchen during the boiling of the sugar. It can burn so quickly. Don't even run to the bathroom to pee quickly or duck into the other room to check the score on the Jets game!!! (This means you Mrs Kimball!)

This can take a while but do not turn up the heat on the stove, it will be tempting but burnt sugar is gross and messy so don't!
When the temperature reaches 290 degrees or the hard crack stage, remove the pot from the heat. This is important because even if you turn the heat off on an electric stove, the element stays hot and you can burn the sugar.

When 290 degrees has been reached, quickly dump in the peanuts, bacon pieces, and butter.  Stir quickly to incorporate.  Now just as quickly, dump in the vanilla, salt, and baking soda.  It will bubble up so be careful. Stir until it stops foaming and quickly  (carefully too) pour the molten hot mass onto your prepared cookie sheet and let it spread out.  Do not use a spatula or the spoon to smooth it out because it will deflate the brittle.

Allow the brittle to cool completely before breaking it into pieces.

Savour it slowly....enjoy it.....every bacony piece.

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!