Ginger is one of my favorite spices. Growing up in a Asian family we used it medicinally as well as for food. It’s good for so many things such as stomach upset and digestion. I used it for morning sicknesses as well. I just love its spicy flavor. So it’s no surprise Ginger Ale is one of my favorite soda flavors.
But I gave up drinking regular soda years ago. Too many things in it I just don’t want my family eating. I started making soda syrups so we could enjoy the occasional splurge and still feel good about it. Basically, a soda syrup is a concentrated syrup that you mix with carbonated water to produce a soda. Anyone who has worked in a restaurant can tell you that’s how all soda fountain machines do it. They mix boxes of syrup in a machine with carbonated water to give you your beverage.
Carbonation Machines
If you want your own machine, you can use a Soda Stream like we do. We don’t use any of the pre made syrups that come with the machine because we make our own. In essence, we just take out the middle man and do it ourselves. If you have never heard of a Soda Stream, it is a carbonation machine that adds C02 to water for you. You can have it made whenever you need it. It’s really handy.
About This Recipe
This recipe only requires two ingredients. Sugar and fresh ginger. You will notice I recommend using organic cane sugar. I personally use only organic sugars. But that’s a post for a different day. I prefer both cane sugar and/or a turbinado sugar in this recipe for the caramel flavors they produce. It adds a depth to this syrup which I really like. If that’s not your thing. Either go with a lighter cane sugar or you can use white sugar as well. Just know that the flavor will be less caramel like at the end.
The ginger needs to be as fresh as possible. The fresher it is the less you need to peel it. So if its fresh just give it a rough peel. If its from a farmers market and the quality is amazing, you could skip peeling it all together.
After you peel it you will want to slice it.
Once it is sliced just rough chop it. If it is an older piece of ginger just make sure that it is peeled well and remove any unwanted pieces. Ginger is notorious for getting mold on the ends when it gets old. Throw any of that out. You don’t need to be super precise with the cutting. You just want to give the ginger as much surface area as possible. The smaller the chop, the stronger the ginger flavor will be. I went with a medium chop in this case.
Once it’s chopped place it along with the sugar and water in a pot.
Turn it on medium and allow it to simmer for five minutes.
Then allow it to sit and steep like a tea for 12-24 hours. Longer is stronger people.
How to Bottle and Store
Once it’s done steeping you will need to strain it either through cheesecloth or a super fine strainer to remove any pieces of ginger which could later cause mold. I actually used two strainers. The one pictured was the larger one. I did squeeze the ginger to remove all the juice. Then I used a fine strainer to remove the small pieces.
Store in an airtight container until you are ready to use. The syrups can last anywhere from a week to two months in the fridge depending on how high the sugar concentration is.
To use, start by adding 4-5 Tbs of syrup to 8 oz carbonated water. If its not strong enough for you add more ginger, if it’s too strong add more carbonated water. It’s that simple. Add this to hot water to make ginger tea when you are sick or you can use it as a sweetener for your iced tea. This also makes a wonderful cocktail syrup. It’s even good on oatmeal. Feel free to share what you end up using this syrup for.
Simple Ginger Ale Syrup (Two Ingredient)
Ingredients
- 8 Oz Fresh peeled and chopped ginger
- 2 Cups Water
- 1.25 Cups Organic Cane Sugar any cane sugar is fine
Instructions
- Wash and peel ginger. A rough peel is fine as long as the ginger is fresh.
- Slice and then roughly chop the ginger.
- Mix ginger, water and sugar in saucepan.
- Simmer for 5 mins and then turn off.
- Allow to steep for 12-24 hours.
- Strain through a cheesecloth or fine mesh strainer.
- Bottle and store in the fridge for up to a month.
- To use for ginger ale mix 4-5 Tbs syrup with 8 oz carbonated water. Add more soda if to strong. Add more syrup if you would like it stronger.
I can’t wait to try this! So simple (no pun intended lol).
Don’t forget to try it in tea. It’s a wonderful sweetener.