Ginger beer

Ingredients

  • 50g fresh young ginger
  • 2 lemons
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 200g white sugar
  • 2.5l boiling water
  • 1 packet dried yeast

Note

Adapted from a recipe by Nigel Slater published online and in The Guardian (UK).

This recipe yields approximately 2 litres.

Directions

Grate the ginger and put in a non-corrosive bowl. Slice the lemons and add to the ginger along with the cloves, cream of tartar and sugar.
Pour boiling water over the mixture and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool just enough so you can comfortably hold the knuckle of your little finger in the liquid.
Sprinkle the yeast over the surface and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Rest overnight to allow the yeast to develop.
Strain into another bowl or large jug using a fine strainer lined with a few layers of muslin, and discard the solids. Decant the liquid into sterilised bottles, being careful to leave a few centimetres between the top of the fluid and the neck of the bottle, and secure the caps.
Leave at room temperature for four days, after which the residual yeast will have settled to the bottom of the bottle. Refrigerate to prevent yeast activity developing further and drink within two weeks.

This recipe appeared in the post Susannah Place: a cooking chronology on March 07, 2013.

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