Ginger Cooler

This ginger cooler comes out of my recent obsession with ginger simple syrup and finding new ways to use it.  The drink is light and refreshing, and it’s not overly sweet-tasting like ginger ale can be.  I started making ginger simple syrup last fall when Scott and I visited some friends in Connecticut.  One of our friends there is a master at making dark and stormys.  That weekend, we had a tasting to determine which ginger beer makes the best dark and stormys, and in passing, our friend mentioned how she had once tried the drink made with ginger juice.  Her comment made me think about how exciting it would be to make ginger simple syrup.  Ok, maybe everyone wouldn’t be excited just thinking about it, but I was.  I love ginger, and I love sugar…why shouldn’t they come together in one perfect syrup?

I made some syrup at their house that weekend, and it was a rather messy affair.  I stood there in the kitchen for what seemed like forever, using a microplane to turn a lot of ginger into flavorful mush.  I wasn’t sure how much water I should add and ended up using too much and having to cook it down.  The end product was good starting point for future experimentation.  Since that weekend, I’ve put together a recipe that is a perfect balance of spicy and sweet and figured out that a food processor works better than a microplane.  I think you’ll like the end result.  It makes delicious ginger coolers, is a perfect flavor-booster for dark and stormys (just add 1-2 teaspoons to your drink), and is a key component in a chocolate ginger cake I’m going to share with you later this week.  I also like to put it in tea and put just a touch of it on vanilla ice cream.  I’ve been holding back from putting it on everything; after all, it is just ginger-flavored sugar water, so some moderation is in order!
 

Ingredients:
3 teaspoons ginger simple syrup (see below)
¾ teaspoon agave (or honey or Lyle's Golden Syrup)
1 cup seltzer water
squeeze of lime

Yields one glass

Place the ginger simple syrup and agave in a glass, and stir to combine.  Add the seltzer water, a squeeze of fresh lime juice, and stir gently.  Add ice and drink immediately.



Ginger Simple Syrup
 

Notes:
This makes 3 cups of ginger simple syrup.  If you don’t think you can use that much, then cut the recipe in half, quarter it, etc. 

Ingredients:
5-5½ ounces peeled ginger root
3 cups water plus 4 tablespoons
3 cups sugar

Yields 3 cups of simple syrup

Peel, Grind, Steep, Mix:
Chop the peeled ginger into 1-inch sized pieces.  Place the pieces in a food processor with 4 tablespoons of water and process until the root is finely minced.  Bring 3 cups of water to a boil.  Add the chopped ginger and any juices to the water, return to a boil, and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring regularly.  Take the pan off the heat, cover it, and allow the ginger to steep for 1 hour.  Place a fine mesh strainer over a large liquid measuring cup and pour in the steeped mixture.  Press down on the solids with a  spoon to extract any remaining liquid.  Discard the solids.  Check the measuring cup to see exactly how much liquid you have.  It should be about 3 cups.  Measure out an equal amount of sugar (i.e., 3 cups of sugar if you have 3 cups of liquid, 2¾ cups of sugar if you have 2¾ cups of liquid).  Rinse out the pan that the ginger steeped in so that there are no remaining pieces of ginger in it.  Pour the strained liquid back into the pan and bring to a boil.  Add the measured sugar to the hot ginger liquid and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Once the syrup has cooled a bit, pour it into a clean mason jar, cover it, and store it in the fridge. Pin It