Making your own drink syrup concentrates such as Lemonade, Limeade, or Soda Pop Concentrates such as this Ginger Syrup for gingerale, are easy to do. They are basically a water/sugar syrup with added flavorings, and only take about 30 minutes to do.
They make a great little gift also. What I love about this Ginger Syrup is that it can make not only traditional Gingerale, but can be made into a Ginger "Tea" to help with nausea. Would make a great gift for someone suffering from morning sickness, or Chemo treatments, or even the stomach flu!
I used recycled chili sauce bottles from my last batch of meatballs, they make a perfect bottle for giving as a gift. I found these great free printable labels too!
To make the syrup I tinkered around with a recipe from wikihow & tipjunkie
Ginger Syrup:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups peeled and thinly sliced ginger root
1 1/2 cups White sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar or make your own (you can make it all white sugar if you prefer)
2 cups water
1 lime
Directions:
Peel and dice ginger root.
In Saucepan over med.-high heat stir sugars and water together. Quarter the lime and toss into the pan.
Heat to boiling stirring occassionally.
Once boiling, turn down to medium -low heat and stir in the ginger root pieces. Let simmer 30 minutes.
Let cool. Then pour through a fine mesh strainer or cheese cloth into container.
Label with the following instructions and store in refrigerator.
TO MAKE GINGERALE:
Pour 1-2 Tablespoons ginger syrup into serving glass. Stir in 8 oz. cold seltzer or club soda water. serve with ice and a lime wedge!
TO MAKE GINGER TEA:
Pour 1-2 Tablespoons into a tea cup, stir in 8 oz. of hot water. Sip slowly and relax!
Yumm! I make ginger tea during the cold winter months, simmering ginger and sweetened with brown sugar and ginger-ade in the summer, I loved ginger ale as a kid. What a great idea {{one of those "why didn't I think of that" moments}}
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing.
Thanks Cristy!
Deletethis is great! I could have used this when I was pregnant for sure!
ReplyDeleteYou are always so kind!
DeleteThis looks great! I am pinning it :)
ReplyDeleteyeah! Thanks Heather!
DeleteJan
yummm...I love Ginger Ale and I never thought about making my own! I'm saving this recipe....thanks for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteDanni, I hope you like it! you can totally play around with the amount of ginger and sugar to your own preference. Let me know how it turns out! Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteJan
This looks easy enough to make!! :)
ReplyDeleteIt really is super easy. Hope you like it. Thanks for your kind comment.
DeleteJan
This sounds wonderful. Have you ever made it with honey instead of processed sugars? I think I'll try it with honey or agave....YUM!!!
ReplyDeleteChef Jo, I want to try with honey next time. I think it would be even better that way. I am really unfamiliar with agave. I've heard of it and have no experience with it. Do you know if it measures the same as say honey? I need to see how it affects blood sugars in comparison to the other sweeteners also. Thanks for suggesting it.
DeleteI absolutely love ginger! Next to honey it is one of my favorites. I've made ginger syrup before (minus the lime) as a topping for a ginger cake but haven't tried it as a tea or in gingerale. I can't wait to brew up a batch and try it out. Yum!
ReplyDeleteAnita, yummo.. ginger syrup on ginger cake? that sounds really great. Now you've got my mind going on the possibilities! Thanks!
DeleteJan
Thanks for sharing this recipe! My niece was just asking me about something for nausea. This would be great for her to drink! Blessings from Bama!
ReplyDeleteI just saw (in September!) that I missed replying to you! So sorry! Hope your niece is doing well and thanks for stopping by!
DeleteJan
Oh my stars you have no idea how timely this is! My daughter is battling vertigo and was told when we travel to sip ginger ale. I dislike store bought ginger ale and this will be easy enough for us! Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteI hope it helps. Tell her she can decrease or increase the amount of ginger. Also others have suggested some honey to replace some of the sugar, so have fun playing with it. I suffer Vertigo every day of my life since an inner ear infection 15 years ago or so. I know how she feels!
DeleteCongratulations! Your ginger syrup will be featured this coming week on Busy Monday! Stop by tomorrow afternoon to grab a button from the button box! Thanks so much for sharing and hope to see you again soon!
ReplyDeleteHow exciting! Thank you so much for featuring my post! I will grab a button tomorrow!
DeleteJan
You always have the most thoughtful gift ideas! Nausea is such a difficult thing to bear and this yummy recipe is just so sweet! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Trish
You guys are always so kind with your feedback! Thanks so much!
DeleteJan
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm so intrigued. But do you think I could use some stevia and less sugar by chance? I have to watch my sugar intake but I do love gingerale!!
ReplyDeleteMolly, I'm trying to play around with sugar substitutes now, Stevia is not a good choice because it is so sweet that you only need a little to equal the sugar equiv. and you lose too much volume of product. In baking you can try to increase other ingredients to make up the difference in volume, but It doesn't seem to be well suited for the syrup. Here's a great post that talks about what each sweetener is suited for and how to substitute with it. Hope it helps! http://www.myrealfoodlife.com/part-3-how-to-substitute-sugar/
Deletewonderful wonderful idea.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Hope you like it!
DeleteWhat a great idea for cooling off in the summer!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kim, hope you enjoy it!
DeleteThank you, my boys will love this. We tried making our own pop once but it called for a "foamy egg" and they did not like it at all. This will be great. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeletePlay around with the amount of ginger w/ or w/out the limes, etc. They'll find a mix they like I'm sure.
DeleteHugs,
Jan
Yum yum, thank you for sharing this, gonna try it!
ReplyDeleteHope you like it! Thanks for stopping to send me a message!
DeleteJan
I have been looking for a recipe like this!!
ReplyDeleteI hope it turns out to be what you need!
DeleteHugs,
Jan
I'm totally making this. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHope it goes well for you! Let me know!
DeleteJan
This looks great, I am really looking forward to hearing how it works with honey. In addition to easing nausea, ginger tea warms you up from the inside. It was my kids favorite drink after playing outside in the winter. We lived in Vermont at the time
ReplyDeleteMy mom is diabetic I would love to make her this because she is in stage 4 small cell carcinoma and the medications make her really ill. What kind of sugar would I be able to use for her situation?
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your Mom. It should be a sweetener that is meant for baking such as splenda I'd think, so it would stay sweet. Some of the newer sweetener's have a short amount of time they can stay sweet, (which is why american's love sugar so much, it hold's it's sweetness for a loooooong time!) So I'd try splenda, or the brown sugar sweetener for diabetics (one of the generic store brands would be fine), just not sure if it would measure the same, but I'd think so.
DeleteThanks, and sending my thoughts and prayers to your family!
This sounds awesome. I wonder if it could be canned for longer storage. Also, someone mentioned trying honey or agave. Honey would probably be okay, but agave doesn't have the "keeping" power of honey and sugar, so I think they'd have to use that syrup up rather quickly. :) At least that's what I read on a site about using sugar substitutes when preserving foods!
ReplyDeleteValerie, I'll need to check on the canning, I'm not sure of the processing time. I'd think it'd have to be pressure canned at the least. I think your right on Agave, it'll lose it's sweetness to early. Honey should be fine, I just haven't tried it yet.
DeleteThanks for the insights!
Jan
Valerie, I did some research and found this link. He water bath cans his for 30 min. See more on my reply #27a.
Deletehttp://alaskanbargainhunter.blogspot.com/2011/08/canning-101-ginger-syrup-and-home-made.html
have u tried it w/ honey instead of sugar?
ReplyDeleteI have not tried it, but I believe honey would be great. Let me know if you do try it!
DeleteJan
How long does this last in the fridge when it's made? I'm just curious, as I'm trying to plan out Giftmas gifts and such...
ReplyDeleteThere are no preservatives in it, so should be used up with in a couple of weeks. For Christmas I would make the week you are giving them out as gifts.
DeleteBest of luck!
Jan
Thank you for sharing this. This is wonderful. :)
ReplyDeleteYour welcome! Thanks for the kind words!
DeleteJan
This is an excellent recipe, I especially like the addition of lime! Just as an extra tip, candied ginger is excellent for nausea too! There's no reason to throw away all that beautiful ginger when you're done making the syrup. Roll it in sugar and let it dry. (if it's sliced thin enough, then it should be tender enough)
ReplyDeleteThanks Tina! I've never candied ginger before and am glad to see it's so easy! I hate wasting good stuff, so I will be doing this on my next batch!
DeleteHow would one go about canning this? Water bath? Pressure can? I would like to keep some in out emergency supply, plus if I am giving them as gifts, I would Ike to have it sealed and not have it be somehting that needs used in a few weeks. I will be making some today! I have left over ginger from our most recent juice fast. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAshley, I did some research and found this link. He water bath cans his ginger syrup for 30 minutes. I can't vouch for his accuracy on that, but wanted to share the link with you. Since it's really almost a fruit syrup, say canning peaches, I'd guess waterbath canning would be fine, especially with the limes in it, I'd hope there is enough acidity to kill off any bacteria, but pressure canning is a safer bet if you aren't sure of the acidity level.
Deletehttp://alaskanbargainhunter.blogspot.com/2011/08/canning-101-ginger-syrup-and-home-made.html
Make this all the time, use stevia instead of sugar.
ReplyDeleteMary Sue, I'm glad to here this! I had read that Stevia loses it's sweetness alot faster than sugar so wasn't sure if it would hold up for more than just making one batch. Glad to hear it works! Do you measure it out same as sugar?
DeleteThis looks great. I can't wait to try it. How long is it good for do you think?
ReplyDeleteabout a month. Ginger and also mint syrups tend to lose their flavor after that, and the quality goes down with no preservatives
DeleteThank you! I love DIY sites. Saves me a lot of money and fun to do.
ReplyDeleteThanks Amira!
DeleteI really want to try this because I LOVE ginger!! I want to use honey. I see where several people asked about the use of honey and was wondering if anyone figured out how much to use? I also see different posts on how long this will keep if you refrigerate. Can someone help? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHello Tamara! I haven't tried the honey yet but hoping someone has and will let us know! It should keep about a month in the refrigerator.
DeleteThanks for sharing this with my on my Ginger Tea post. http://mbella77.blogspot.com/2013/03/tt-ginger.html
ReplyDeleteI pinned your page ;-)
Great link, thanks for sharing it, and I appriciate your pinning the gingerale syrup! Hope you enjoy it!
Delete