Luscious Ginger Beer

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Elevating Humbleness ...

A low effort recipe for a high quality, mild ginger beer with a bell or two – and maybe a whistle – thrown in as well...

Ginger beer tends to provoke strong emotions from most people: either enthusiastically for or strongly against. Maybe there’s a reason for this phenomenon. My experience is that the home recipes of true aficionado’s tend to vary in the extreme when it comes to quality and pungency, amongst others. It can be a mine field for the ‘all good things in moderation’ crowd and those who have not yet formed an opinion on the subject.

From belated experience, I tend to approach the home made ginger beer of others with caution. This is justified by so many (men, in particular) home brewers who tend to believe in shock & masochistic awe in the pungency and strength departments when it comes to assembling their own ginger beer. I’m an unrepentant fanatic when it comes to Ol’ Ginger, but that doesn’t make me blind to the fact that Ol’ Ginger can be a right bastard when he’s in the mood – making your eyes water with pungency and your tonsils hide in abject terror behind your shoulder blades.

Ginger beer can be very one dimensional if not properly treated. Good ginger beer needs a spot of molly coddling and proper supervision to tease forward it’s best qualities. The slacker primarily responsible for this flaw in the true nature of ginger beer is – off course – ginger itself. Ginger and humans have a very, very long shared history – which is all good and well but does not negate the fact that ginger by itself needs to be persuaded to give it’s best when called to culinary service.

Ginger, in whatever form (except Japanese pickled ginger), reminds me of the typical, loud mouthed gym jock: noisily strutting about bragging and being a general, opinionated nuisance – subtle as a half brick in a sock. But don’t dismiss Ol’ Ginger out of hand! When called upon, he’s all high energy beef and dedicated brawn: in for the long haul, albeit sweating and grunting all over the show loose cannon style. And this is where the crafty cook comes in: to direct, modulate and focus all that furious sweating and grunting and show off Ol’ Ginger‘s gentler, refined side. Unfortunately, Ol’ Ginger needs to be worked hard to draw to focus and present it’s finesse.

We find ginger in many forms today, all with subtle variations in flavour:

• Fresh ginger root – used in a variety of culinary applications, particularly throughout the East,
• Dried, whole or ground – as a spice,
• Glacé or candied (a.k.a. crystallised ginger) – used in confectionary & baking,
• Preserved stem ginger in syrup,
• Pickled in vinegar or brine – generally available as Japanese pickled (or sushi) ginger,
• Juiced or as a wine, and
• Ginger oil – a neutral oil flavoured with ginger essence, used for commercial soda manufacturing.

Fresh root ginger tends to be fragrant, pungent and hot. Depending on freshness, the flavour profile can have a mildly lemony element. On the other hand, dried ginger powder is much less fragrant and is significantly reduced in heat, but consistently has an earthy, woody and dark flavour about it.

The age of fresh ginger root plays an important role in it’s  flavour profile: young, freshly harvested ginger having a milder, toned down flavour profile as opposed to ginger harvested for drying and grinding, which tend to be much earthier, harsh and pungent.

All of the above needs to be considered when designing a ginger beer that is not excessively harsh nor boringly one dimensional. Therefore I prefer to use three kinds of ginger (remember, Ol’ Ginger has to work hard!):

• Fresh, grated ginger: for it’s bright fragrance and pungency,
• dried ginger powder: to deepen the flavour profile, and
• preserved stem ginger in syrup: for it’s pervasive caramel flavour that adds a little ‘bulk’ to the general taste.

A dash of cinnamon and a touch of clove round out the final flavour profile and add a tad of finesse – that indefinable quality that perks up everyone’s attention. Both these spices are quite aromatic and independent in their own respective rights. Ol’ Ginger will not simply bully them into meek submission. Candied orange peel (or orange peel powder) adds an element of mystery and Ol’ Ginger – bruiser that he is – plays along quite nicely.

For those with a serious sadomasochistic streak who prefer their heat up at the stratospheric, Vesuvian level: add ½ ml – 1ml of ground cayenne pepper (not chilli or peri-peri spices) to the spice mix for a loving, slow burner after effect in the back of the throat. God help your tonsils.

South African recipes tend to use cream of tartar (or even tartaric acid) as a ginger beer acidifier. Across the Atlantic, I notice that Americans tend to use lemon or lime juice as a substitute to achieve the same effect. A little acidity helps to mellow the astringency and bitter undertone of both fresh and (particularly) dried ginger, yet too much and the orchestra’s entire percussion division noisily falls off the back of the stage...

Raisins and or sultanas are off course de rigueur. I prefer the big Thompson’s seedless raisins for their mild, yet fruity sweetness. And they tend to swell up in the filtered ginger beer to at least twice their size, resulting in an aromatic, grape squared taste explosion that acts as brief, effective counterpoints to the relentless molto con brio percussion of the ginger beer itself.

Two or three caveats to keep in mind about the ginger beer of this post:

1. This recipe uses live yeast to achieve the initial fermentation to obtain what is – after all – an alcoholic beer. The alcohol level is probably less than 2% initially, but it will rise on storing in the refrigerator. The cold will not kill the yeast, but will slow it down considerably. It WILL go on fermenting in the fridge as long as sugar is available, generating alcohol and, more importantly, carbon dioxide. Some CO₂ will dissolve in the beer, but the rest will inexorably cause the internal pressure to rise – thus the requirement for sturdy storage containers.

2. On extended storage, the fermentation process will stop when the sugar runs out or the alcohol level reaches approximately 7% and the yeast dies – victims of their own greed. By then, the beer will be bitter from loss of sugar and it will have an unpleasant bitterness due to the other waste products generated by the yeast during fermentation.

3. Home brewed ginger beer has a finite storage life span for optimal flavour and taste. It cannot be kept almost indefinitely as most commercially manufactured, non-alcoholic ginger beers. These products avoid the fermentation step and rely on CO₂ injection (a.k.a. carbonation) into the flavoured, spiced preparation to achieve their fizziness and ‘soda pop’ effect. The optimal use window for this recipe is approximately one week after bottling before the overall quality starts to decline due to the afore mentioned reasons.

Recipe yields: 3 Liter / 8 Large glasses

Preparation time: ± 15 minutes

Fermentation period: 2 – 3 days

Difficulty level: Very easy!

Special Equipment Required:

3 x 1L Used, clean carbonated soda clear plastic bottles

1 x Sieve and a clean tea towel or muslin cloth

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients:	3 Liters	5 Liters
White sugar	300g	500g
Fresh ginger, peeled & finely grated	15g	30g
Fine ginger powder	15g	25g
Cream of tartar	5ml	7.5ml
Ground cinnamon	1.2ml	2.5ml
Salt	1.2ml	2.5ml
Ground cloves	±0.5ml	±1ml
Hot water	1.5L	2.5L
Cool water, room temperature	1.5L	2.5L
Instant yeast granules	5g	7.5g
Thompson’s seedless raisins, large	10 / Liter	10 / Liter
Optional:
Preserved stem  ginger in syrup, finely diced	30ml	45ml
Candied orange peel strips	3 / liter	3 / liter

Method:

1. Weigh and measure all the dry ingredients, except the yeast and raisins, into a large, nonreactive container with a tight fitting lid.
2. Add the hot water and stir thoroughly to dissolve all the soluble ingredients. Add the cool water first and then the yeast granules. Stir thoroughly.
3. Put the lid on the container and make sure it seals properly. Put a heavy weight, ± 3Kg, on top of the lid if using a bucket or other non-screw top container. Use dinner plates or a bag of sugar or flour. Place the weighed down container in a suitable sized oven pan or tray to catch any incidental spillage.
4. Set aside in a cool place to ferment undisturbed for 24 hours only. Stir through every 3 – 4 hours. The contents will start smelling distinctly yeasty and gingery after about 4 hours. A layer of yeast foam may form on top of the fermenting liquid. This is normal. Stir it back into the fermenting liquid at each mixing occasion.
5. Fold the dishcloth in half, length wise. Place a medium large sieve over the mouth of a large measuring jug or suitable container. Place one end of the folded dish cloth in the sieve and make sure the material covers the entire inside surface of the sieve ‘bowl’.
6. When ready, remove the weight from the container with ginger beer and place it carefully on the work counter so as not to disturb the sediment on the bottom. Remove the lid and DO NOT STIR the contents before filtration.
7. Start filtering the ginger beer by pouring the beer through the dishcloth. Initially, the filtration rate will be high, but it will slow down relatively fast as fine particulates start clogging the pores of the dish cloth. ‘Draw’ a clean section of cloth into the sieve bowl when the filtration rate becomes unacceptably low. Roll the wet, used cloth carefully up and balance it on the side of the sieve.
8. Be careful not to disturb the settled particulates on the bottom of the fermentation container as unfiltered ginger beer is removed from it to be filtered. Inevitably, the last volume of unfiltered ginger beer will stir the sediment up and it will need to be filtered through a clean section of dish cloth.
9. When done, carefully collect the dish cloth corners and slowly wring out the last of the ginger beer into the filtered beer.
10. Bottle the ginger beer and add 10 raisins per liter of beer. Divide the diced, candied ginger (if used) evenly between the containers with beer.
11. Seal the lids tightly and transfer to a refrigerator to mature. Adjust the refrigerator internal temperature to 4°C – 6°C. Do not disturb the cooling bottles. The ginger beer should be ready within 24 – 48 hours. Most particulates will settle out during this phase and the raisins will swell and become plump, floating to the top in a demure stream of bubbles once the ginger beer is fully matured and the container is opened.
12. Serve ice cold as is, or diluted by one third with Sprite or Mountain Dew for those wary of Ol’ Ginger’s shenanigans.

Comments:

• Optimal maturation will be within 3 – 4 days after bottling, depending on internal refrigerator temperature.
• Use sturdy bottles as the yeast does not stop working in refrigerator, it is merely slowed down. Thin walled bottles will literally bloat and fall over, possibly upsetting other items in the fridge.
• The fermented beer can be filtered a second time through coffee percolator filter papers before bottling. Make sure the liquid stood undisturbed for at least 6 hours to allow as much as possible fine particulates to settle. The resulting colour and taste will be milder than the once filtered beer.
• Be careful of adding too much cream of tartar as it will add a harsh, chemical dimension to the final taste. Rather boost the acidity with lemon juice if desired.

Ol’ Ginger

Similar to maize, ginger no longer occurs naturally in the wild. Over the millennia it has become inextricably bound to humans and our vagaries. It is an ancient spice in India and the East. It was used as medicine and food flavouring in China by 500BCE and was imported into the West as early as 100BCE. Even the origin of the name possibly pre-dates the Sanskrit language. The Romans valued it highly and this preference was carried through into the Dark Middle Ages after the fall of the Empire. Even in Renaissance era England, the first published cookbooks abounded with demands for ginger in various guises.

Men fought and died extensively over ginger (as part of the bigger, historical spice trade) and empires rose and fell partially on it’s back due to the demand for it in Medieval Europe. Witness the Western world’s – particularly Spain, Portugal, Holland and England – initial search for new trading routes to the fabulous wealth of the East’s Spice Islands and the often despicable history that flowed forth from the subsequent behavior of ‘civilized’ men.

The ginger ‘root’ is actually a rhizome and is propagated by dividing the rhizomes and replanting. The harvested ‘root’ is known in the trade as a “hand” or “race” – quite descriptive in my opinion. In all its forms, ginger has a vast range of applications commensurate with it’s long association with humans. These applications include medicinal (mainly home remedies), cookery, confectionary, soft drink and even certain beauty product applications. It is even mentioned in the Kama Sutra...

Ginger is biochemically ‘active’. It stimulates the production of saliva, making swallowing easier, and introduces an internal warming effect when taken as a tea, tisane or extract. Anecdotal evidence suggests ginger tea (or as an extract briefly boiled in brandy) ‘settles the stomach’ for those with mild gastric irregularities or upset stomachs. It is claimed to prevent diarrhea and alleviate chemotherapy-induced nausea and or vomiting, although empirical evidence for the latter is inconclusive. On the down side, ginger interferes with the action of the anticoagulant drug Warfarin.

Brewed Ginger Beer as a distinct, commercially produced product originated in Yorkshire, England during the mid 18^th century. From there the die was cast and it became popular throughout most of the Empire’s Colonies – eventually the Commonwealth – and the United States. There is even a Greek version known as tsitsibíra that is still popular on Corfu.

In Britain, there was until fairly recently even a ‘ginger beer plant’ available. This was a reusable, gelatinous, symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, Lactobacillus hilgardii and Saccharomyces florentinus respectively. Locally, I know of several, non-related ginger beer ‘plants’ that were informally used during the period 1920 – 1940. These were based on a continuously fermenting, liquid mixture of baker’s or brewer’s yeast, sugar and ginger that was regularly ‘fed’ with sugar to keep the culture alive. Portions were periodically removed to produce a fresh batch of ginger beer.

In South Africa, ginger beer reached peak popularity during the early to middle 20^th century with recipes abounding in variety as far as the East is removed from the West. Even the iconic local cookbook, Mrs SJA de Villiers’ Kook En Geniet, carries two recipes for ginger beer with it’s often quaint, usually Spartan instructions and their beloved, stilted language style. My late Mom’s 1966, 25^th reprint edition still calls for glazed earthen ware storage jars, cork stoppers and Jamaica ginger – high quality preserved stem ginger in syrup.

Jamaica ginger was mild in flavour and was produced and exported from – surprise, surprise – Jamaica. Locally, it was very highly regarded from the day Jan van Riebeeck set foot on land at the Cape in 1652. It was used extensively in medicinal home preparations, baked goods and confectionary. Sadly we don’t see it around any more. How times, tastes and morals have changed.

The Ginger Square cocktail is particularly suited to cooler weather due to the warming effects of both ginger liqueur and ginger ale. A common use for ginger beer is the Steelworks cocktail: a refreshing, non-alcoholic mixture that is probably more accurately known in modern terminology as a ‘momtail’.

Typical Steelworks recipes suggest:

• ±15ml Cola Tonic
• 4 drops Bitters
• Ginger Beer
• Soda Water

Fill a glass up to 3/4 with ice cubes. Add the soda water to the level of the ice cubes, then add the cola tonic. Fill to the top with ginger beer and add the bitters. Stir and enjoy.

Adding a shot of neutral flavoured Vodka or cane spirit twists the Steelworks into a serious, potentially lethal affair. Be warned! Other lethal ginger beer and alcohol concoctions include the vicious Moscow Mule and the sultry Dark’N’Stormy. As usual, dear Uncle Google has many, many more suggestions.

A particularly cruel and disgusting use of fresh ginger was for the now universally banned practice of ‘gingering’. Peeled ginger was inserted into the anus or rectum of show and race horses to force the show horse to carry it’s tail high or to ‘gee-up’ a lazy race horse. Along similar vein it also found frequent use as a horse suppository by pre-World War I mounted regiments to ‘make lively’ their steeds prior to battle. As a species we humans can often be pretty disappointing.

© RS Young, 2018

Sources:

1. Ginger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger; Retrieved on 04/09/2017.

2. Ginger Beer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger_beer; Retrieved on 29/01/2018.

3.BASIC FLAVOURINGS: GINGER; Gordon-Smith, Clare; Courage Books (Imprint of Running Press Book Publishers); Philadelphia & London; 1998.

4. COOKING WITH SPICES; Heal, Carolyn & Allsop, Micheal; Panther Books (Granada Publishing Ltd); London; 1985.

5. THE FLAVOUR THESAURUS; Segint, Niki; Bloomsbury Publishing; London; 2010.

6. Gingering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gingering; Retrieved on 04/09/2017.

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