Candied Ginger

So as of my last post you can see that I finally got some sense and started drinking my ginger tea from the root. I love ginger AND I love ginger. SO I took some ginger root to my good friend Mary Moses shop in commerce. HRMagoo and turned her on to drinking the ginger tea from the root. It’s new to me and I really like it. Well while I was there I saw a little packet of something that looked like candied pineapple and she told me it was candied ginger and the little wheels started spinning in my head. So guess what comes next! Let me first say that I have never had candied ginger until I had my own so I don’t have anything to compare it to but the idea of it screamed at me to MAKE IT. And soooo and sooooo and WOW! I’m in love …..I’m sorry! ….did forget to tell you that I love ginger?


The first thing I did was to research some sites and try to condense the recipe to something very straight forward. This is what I found.
It was recommended to use a spoon to scrape the skin off and it took me a couple turns to get the spoon to act right but it was more simple than using a knife and you scrape only the skin and not the root.

1lb ginger peeled and sliced thin, cover and simmer in water till tender.
I had a little over a lb and I boiled about an hour maybe a little less.
Now this is what I have learned. One recipe had you boil it in water twice as in boil once for 20-30 min drain the water and refil and boil again for 20-30 min.
The thing is if you boil it in the same water then the liquid as well as the finished product is very strong. (Too strong for my liking) Next time I will boil it twice in fresh water.

 Drain the water but keep it. (If you like ginger tea, this stuff is potent and great to open your sinus too I might add.)
You either want to measure your ginger or weigh it; you want approx the same amount of each ginger and sugar.

Throw both into pan and add about 2 tablespoons of the liquid back into the pan.

This is where the fun comes in. You need to simmer this liquid until there is just a wee bit of liquid left. I think when working with sugar you need to be on guard, so you will be watching and stirring this luscious bowl of exotic scents and tastes for about an hour. Cook it slow and on the lowest heat that will give you bubble.

Now, while stirring and stirring and smelling, I want you to look deeply into the dark brown eyes of the juice that boiled off those roots and think to yourself how good that must taste. Go ahead….....take a swig! ……………..A careful swig! I may be a wimp but I got more fire off of that tiny swig than I thought I would get. That’s good because it means it will make more tea for me..


Have a bowl of sugar ready to coat your slices in. Once the liquid has cooked down to next to nothing, tilt your pan and drain the yummy goo to one side and with a slotted spoon pull out your slices and toss them in the sugar. I did not have any issues with the slices sticking together. Everything came out wonderful. After tossing pull them out and place on a pan to dry out a little bit. That’s it all done.

I’m going to place these in some little bags and give some as gifts, I said some! Not all!

 I’m thinking now that it’s a good thing that my husband doesn’t like ginger. Yippy skippy!….It leaves more for me!

So there is really no science involved just a lot of standing and stirring but it is soooo worth it.

Almost forgot! After I took out the slices from the pan I was left with crusty, sugarcoated sides. So I took the liquid root juice and added it back into the pan and warmed till I melted all the sugar off the side and then placed in a jar. I can seal and use it to make tea. You just need hot water and root juice to taste.

I’ve already showed you the benefits that I found on ginger and if you like the taste of it as much as I do then you will love it candied. So, give it a try and tell me what you think!

Namaste

Merilee