Candied Ginger - How To Make Your Own Candied Ginger - Homemade

Let me disclose one truth - my weakness for candied ginger. I simply relish this. I can finish 200 grams packet of theses in day or two. As I am working in the kitchen I will just pop one of these into my mouth. So I decided to make my own candied ginger so that I can enjoy having it and not ...making a hole in my pocket. This candied ginger is so expensive and with very little effort you can make this at home. It turned out superb.

Ingredients

400 Grams Fresh Ginger- should be tender and less fibrous
2 cups granulated sugar + additional sugar for coating
3 cups water
A pinch of salt

A teaspoon of Lime juice

Method

Soak the ginger in water for 10 minutes then wash it.

Peel ginger with a vegetable peeler( this works well for me).
Slice ginger. Make it as thin as possible. 

  

I used the V slicer to slice it, (but be careful while using the V  slicer as it is very very sharp  it can slice your finger too) do get distracted while using the V slicer  again I would say ...Be careful!

Place the sliced ginger in cold water for 15 minutes.

Place ginger slices in a saucepan, adding enough water
to cover ginger. Bring water to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer 10 minutes. 

Drain water from ginger. 

Then boil again in fresh water, changing the water twice. This will reduce the sharp - pungent taste of the ginger.

After completing this process then again boil water in the sauce pan  add the sugar, salt and  stir it in between  till it comes to a boiling point.  Place  the twice-boiled ginger slices back in the saucepan. Cover the pan with a lid and cook  it over medium heat  for 20 to 30 minutes or until the ginger is cooked.  Do not over over cook it or else it will turn into a paste when it cools. Once cooked remove pan from heat immediately.  Drain the syrup.  Keep the syrup aside.

Options: Ginger Slices in Syrup OR Sugar-Coated Ginger:
I did  both!

For ginger in syrup:

Take the drained ginger syrup back into the pan add the lime juice and let it boil till it thickens slightly ( the lime juice is added so that the syrup does not crystallize when stored )

Allow mixture in saucepan to stand for an hour at room temperature to cool a bit. Spoon mixture with half the  ginger slices  into a glass jar with a tight fitting lid. Store in refrigerator up to 1 year. Do not use for 20 days to  one month.  After a month use it in anything you want to make

The syrup is delicious drizzled over  pancakes, ice cream, or use this preserve to prepare ginger bread or cookies or even in a cocktail!

For sugar-coated ginger slices:

Immediately after removing hot mixture from the heat, drain ginger slices, getting as much of the syrup off the ginger as possible. I used a sieve to do this. Let this drained ginger sit in the sieve till completely cooled and free of any extra syrup or moisture.    

In a separate bowl  pour in enough powdered  sugar to coat the ginger slices. Give them a turn and toss until they are well-coated.  Do this process again twice.

Once slices are completely covered with sugar, give them a shake to get rid of excess sugar.(I used this excess sugar to  make our tea -  to impart a mild ginger flavor).

Place the ginger slices on a plate you’ve covered with foil or butter paper to dry (this may take several hours or even overnight, depending on humidity) It took 2 days to dry completely ( let me disclose this too - by that time more than half the ginger was finished by me).

To store sugar-coated ginger slices, place them in a glass jar and keep tightly sealed at room temperature for up to  a month or 2 or 3 months. That too long for me, it lasted only 2 days.... my weak... ness ...ha... will make it again.

Labels : Ginger, Sugar, Homemade, Blogging Marathon 

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