How to make ginger cordial

Pungency and aroma come out separately

The heat in fresh ginger comes largely from gingerol. The fragrance comes from a group of volatile terpenes. The first is comparatively stable and extracts steadily with time and heat; the second escapes with the steam.

So a ginger cordial simmered for five minutes is aromatic and gently warm; the same ginger simmered for half an hour is much hotter and considerably less fragrant.

The way round it is to do both: simmer some of the ginger hard for heat, then add a second batch of freshly grated ginger off the heat and let it steep as the liquid cools. That gives depth and freshness together.

The method

Two additions of ginger. FoodHQ does not publish keeping times or preservative quantities for home-made cordials. Those are safety numbers rather than matters of taste, and in the UK the Food Standards Agency is the authority — follow its guidance on sterilising bottles and on storing, refrigerating and freezing what you make.

1. Scrub the ginger — there is no need to peel it if it is fresh and clean, and a good deal of flavour sits just under the skin.
2. Slice or coarsely grate about two thirds of it and put it in a pan with water and sugar.
3. Bring to a simmer and cook for fifteen to twenty minutes for a fierce cordial, or five to eight for a gentle one.
4. Take the pan off the heat. Finely grate the remaining third of the ginger and stir it in, along with lemon zest and juice.
5. Cover and leave to cool completely, steeping as it goes. An hour or more.
6. Strain through muslin, pressing to get everything out of the ginger.
7. Taste and adjust for sugar and lemon, then bottle into sterilised bottles or freeze in portions.

What to do with it

• With sparkling water and ice, which is a home-made ginger ale.
• Hot, with lemon, in winter.
• In a dark and stormy or a moscow mule, with rum or vodka and lime.
• Switchel — ginger, cider vinegar, a little honey and water. An old harvest drink and genuinely refreshing.
• Over rhubarb, ice cream or a poached pear.
• In a marinade or a stir-fry sauce, where it replaces both fresh ginger and sugar.
• In a dressing with soy and rice vinegar.

Notes

Young ginger

Pale, thin-skinned, less fibrous and milder. Excellent and seasonal.

Old ginger

Fibrous and much hotter. Grate rather than slice, and expect more heat for the same weight.

Peeling

Unnecessary for fresh clean ginger, and a spoon scrapes the skin off more neatly than a peeler if you want to.

Ginger beer

A fermented drink rather than a cordial. A different process, and any fermentation at home raises food-safety questions the Food Standards Agency is the authority on.

Strength

Home-made ginger cordial is usually much stronger than shop cordial. Dilute further than you expect.

Common questions