Easy Ginger Beer Food

CHEAT'S GINGER BEER

Steps:

• Put the ginger and lemon in a bowl, pour over 300ml water and blitz with a hand blender until very smooth. Strain through a sieve into a bowl, then press the pulp to remove as much liquid as you can. Add the sugar to the bowl and blitz again.
• Decant into a bottle. Chill until ready to use. Add the lemonade or sparkling water to dilute before serving.

HOMEMADE GINGER BEER

Steps:

• Put the ginger in a saucepan set over a low heat with the lemon peel, sugars and 500ml water and stir until the sugars have dissolved. Increase the heat to medium, then simmer for 15-20 mins, or until reduced and syrupy. Remove from the heat and leave to cool completely.
• Strain the syrup into a jug through a sieve lined with muslin. At this stage, you can transfer the syrup to a small sterilised bottle or jar and keep in the fridge for up to two weeks.
• Pour the ginger syrup into a large serving jug. Tip in the lemon juice, fill with ice and top up with the soda water. Serve garnished with a few mint sprigs.

EASY PEASY GINGER BEER

Steps:

• Ginger beer is one of my favourite things in the world, especially blooming good in the summer when it's getting hot. I can't think of anything more sexy than having a big jug of iced ginger beer on the table with a barbecue on a hot day. The classic real ginger beers use a starter, and these are fantastic but slow, so here's my shortcut for getting amazing results taking hardly any time.
• First of all you need to grate your ginger on a coarse cheese grater - you can leave the skin on if you like. Put the ginger with its pulpy juice into a bowl and sprinkle in your muscovado sugar. Remove the rind from 2 of your lemons with a vegetable peeler, add to the bowl, and slightly bash and squash with something heavy like a pestle or a rolling-pin. Just do this for 10 seconds, to mix up all the flavours. Squeeze the juice from all 3 lemons and add most of it to the bowl. Pour in your fizzy water or soda water.
• Allow to sit for 10 minutes and then taste. You may feel that the lemons are slightly too sour, therefore add a little more sugar; if it's slightly too sweet, add a little more lemon juice. To be honest, these amounts are always a little variable so just follow your own taste. Pass the ginger beer through a coarse sieve into a large jug and add lots of ice and some sprigs of mint.

GINGER BEER

Steps:

• Wash ginger root but do not peel. Chop roughly and process in food processor until reduced to a textured paste. Put ginger in a large non reactive container and pour boiling water over it. Stir in the lime juice, zest and cream of tartar. Cover and stir occasionally as mixture cools. When lukewarm, mix the yeast with the warm water, pressing out lumps, and add to container. Cover and let stand for 6 hours. Stir the sugar into the ginger beer until completely dissolved and immediately pour into sterilized bottles, making sure the stoppers are well sealed and airtight. The ginger beer will keep for 3 to 4 days in a cool place. To keep longer, add rum.
• To serve, strain and pour into glasses (over shaved ice if desired), with a sprig of mint and thin slice of lime.

HOMEMADE GINGER BEER

Steps:

• Peel a chunk of the ginger with the tip of a teaspoon-the papery skin scrapes right off-and grate it, using the fine side of your grater. Place the ginger, sugar, and water in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to steep for an hour.
• Strain the mixture (discard the ginger solids) and allow to cool.
• You've now made ginger syrup (or gingerette, as the Brits call it). Stop right here if you're looking for a short-cut to ginger ale and you don't want to mess around with the fermentation process. Pour three or four tablespoons (more or less depending upon how gingery you like it) of your syrup over ice and add 8 ounces of seltzer water or club soda. Bottle the rest of the syrup and store it in the refrigerator.
• For the full ginger beer experience, place a funnel in the top of the bottle. Sprinkle the yeast in, followed by the syrup, lemon juice, and water.
• Put the lid on the bottle and shake the concoction until the yeast is dissolved. Stow it on a shady shelf or in your pantry out of direct sunlight for 2-3 days, or until fizz is achieved. At this point it is ready to drink, and must be stored in the refrigerator to prevent further fermentation. Don't forget about the bottle, or the pressure will build up so much that it may explode!As with any yeast-powered beverage, the fermentation process continues unless you prevent it from happening. Refrigerating will slow the process down but not stop it completely, that's why it's best to treat ginger beer as a perishable beverage. Consume within 1-2 weeks.
• Serve over ice and savor the spicy taste of your very own homemade ginger beer!

GINGER BEER

Steps:

• Grate 2 tablespoons each of lemon and orange zest.
• Squeeze 1/3 cup lemon juice from 3 of the lemons. Set aside.
• In a food processor, pulse the ginger, honey, and sugar until just combined. Add the orange and lemon juices and process.
• Transfer to a large lidded container. Add the orange and lemon zests and 2 cups of boiling water and stir until the sugar dissolves.
• Cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 5 days.
• To serve, strain the ginger-beer base into a pitcher. Thinly slice the remaining lemon and orange to form circles. Add the slices and mineral water to the pitcher and stir. Serve over ice.

HOMEMADE ALCOHOLIC GINGER BEER RECIPE (WITH GINGER BUG)

Steps:

• Recover the zest and juice from the citrus fruits. Put the peels in the compost.
• Pour all the ingredients into the blender with one or two cups of water.
• Blend until a homogeneous consistency is obtained. Add water as needed. If you do not have a blender, finely chop the ingredients with a knife or food processor.
• Filter with a fine sieve. Pour the liquid into a perfectly clean jar.
• Add water until you reach 2-3cm below the jar mouth.
• Cover the jar with a lid with an airlock.
• Fill the airlock to the line with water or alcohol.
• Allow to ferment at room temperature until there are no more bubbles left for at least a week. This can take up to 1 to 3 months.
• Bottle in pressure-resistant bottles. Leave sediments in the bottom of the jar. Keep the bottles in the dark for at least 1 month to develop the sparkling and enhance the flavours.

EASY GINGER BEEF

Steps:

• Place steak, ginger, and soy sauce in a bowl; turn to coat steak. Cover tightly; marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.
• Heat a wok over high heat; pour in beef mixture. Cover wok; cook until beef is browned, about 5 minutes. Remove beef from wok.
• Heat butter in wok over high heat; stir in bell pepper, onion, mushrooms, and sweet and sour sauce. Cover and cook until vegetables begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Stir cooked beef into vegetable mixture; cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Serve over cooked rice.

EASY GINGER BEER

Steps:

• Combine the ginger, sugar, allspice, cloves spices, and crystallized ginger, and 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and let steep for 45 minutes. Prepare a large bowl set over an ice bath. Strain the ginger syrup into the bowl, pressing out all the liquid from the ginger. Cool to room temperature.
• Just before serving, stir together the ginger syrup and seltzer in a pitcher. Add the lime juice if desired. Serve over ice.