Growing up, I vividly recall Mum’s remedy for our childhood stomachaches—homemade ginger ale. Inspired by those memories, I ventured into creating my own homemade ginger syrup, perfect for mixing with sparkling water for a refreshing vitamin boost.
Homemade ginger syrup is essentially a bunch of fresh ginger infused into a sugar syrup. The syrup itself is a basic blend of two parts water to one part sugar, dissolved and heated gently so it absorbs the gingery goodness. It’s easy to make, but does require a good bit of ginger…not a problem if you’ve gone crazy on growing it like I did this year, ha!
Ginger syrup can be added to a wide variety of drinks. Mixing it with sparkling water & a dash of lemon to make ginger ale is the most obvious one, but spicy ginger syrup is also great in smoothies, mocktails and cocktails. Use it as a base for hot or iced tea, pour it over pancakes, fruit salad, cake, or other desserts.
Some tips to enhance your syrup-making experience:
- You can choose to peel the ginger, which will yield a lighter syrup. If you want to save time and don’t mind a darker-coloured syrup, simply leave the peel on.
- Once the syrup is made, the leftover ginger pieces can be repurposed in other recipes. Think marmalade or similar preserves, freshly churned ice cream, biscuits, cakes, or the like. I’ve just added some into our ginger & walnut cake with vanilla buttercream, and it’s fabulous!
- If you find the ginger syrup too spicy, blanching the chopped ginger briefly in boiling water before simmering with sugar and water will mellow its intensity.
Once made, you can store the syrup in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
For the low-down on how to grow ginger, make ginger powder, candied ginger, and more, check out our ginger articles here.
Here’s How to Make It
Harvest & thoroughly wash some fresh ginger. Slice and/or chop it fairly small- you want lots of little pieces for this recipe, so that infusion is maximised. I use my mandolin, as it gives evenly-sized slices and makes the job very fast. You don’t need to peel the ginger if you don’t want to, but you’ll get a darker-coloured syrup if you leave the skin on. By picking fresh ginger and scrubbing most of the skin off with a scourer during the washing process, you’ll end up with a medium-dark syrup like I did here.
Place the ginger, water, sugar and salt in a large pot or saucepan or pot and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook at least 45 minutes (I left mine on for 2 hours). Once done, remove from the heat and set aside to cool completely. Strain into a bottle, jug, or preserving jar and refrigerate. Consume within 2 weeks.
Spicy Ginger Syrup
Equipment
- 1 large saucepan
- 1 fine strainer or muslin
- 1 lidded jug or bottle
Ingredients
- 250 grams fresh ginger
- 4 cups water
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Slice then finely chop the ginger. A mandolin makes faster work of this, if you have one.
- Place the ginger, water, sugar and salt in a large saucepan or pot and bring to the boil.
- Once boiling, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 45 minutes-1 hour.
- Remove from heat and set aside to cool for at least one hour.
- Strain the syrup through a fine-meshed sieve.
- Store the strained syrup in the refrigerator, covered, until ready to use.
