Earlier this week, the Tingle Factor Item was a stoneware gingerbeer bottle, which Roy was very interested in. He loves the spicey taste of gingerbeer, and was sad to think that so many of the children had never tried it. At first, he suggested that we make 'proper gingerbeer' today, but as I pointed out to him, we wouldn't have it ready in time, so he would need to find a quicker version. Besides, he still needs to convince his Grandma that if he makes a real gingerbeer plant it won't explode, so he still needs to work on Grandma before we can do that! Then, he came across this recipe in an old cookbook. It had all the right flavours for gingerbeer, and would only take a little while to make, as opposed to a few days or even weeks! So, this week, Roy Creates Speedy Gingerbeer Cordial.
- 1/2 cup of castor sugar
- 1 large piece of fresh ginger (it doesn't have to be any particular weight, just a good sized piece)
- 1 cup of water
- 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon of tartaric acid
- 1/2 cup of lemon juice
Method:
- Peel and roughly chop your ginger
- Rougly chop the lemon
- Put the sugar, water, chopped up lemon, ginger and tartaric acid into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Boil this mix for about 5 minutes.
- Add the lemon juice to the cordial and return to the boil for a couple of minutes, then remove from the heat
- Leave the cordial to steep for about 2 hours
- Strain the cordial to remove the lemon and ginger
- Pour the cordial into a sterilised bottle (to find out how to sterilise bottles, visit Roy's Starwberry Jam recipe by clicking here)
- Store your cordial in the refrigerator and enjoy. Roy likes to use about 1 tablespoon of cordial per glass, and make it up with water or lemonade.
- If it starts to form bubbles or look odd, make sure to throw it out - it should not be allowed to ferment.