Due to the pandemic of 2020, my favorite low-calorie soda, Coke Life in 8-oz glass bottles, is no longer available unless I’m willing to pay $2+ each 8-oz bottle via Amazon. I’m not. I started drinking Mexican cokes and Dr Pepper with cane sugar, both in larger bottles, and then I was putting on weight. (It wasn’t only the colas but they exacerbated the problem!) I got a new soda-making/CO2 carbonator machine, DrinkMate, and have been looking for good soda syrups and syrup recipes so I can get my soda fix and possibly do it with fewer calories. Ginger syrup seemed like a good idea – it is – so I did some research (aka googling).
I found a few threads on Hip Pressure a few weeks ago that have apparently now been removed, in the forum where people discussed how to convert ginger syrup/candied ginger recipes to Instant Pot recipes. The consensus was around using 1/2 the amount of water and the time ranged from 20 – 30 minutes. Well, I think it was 20-22 minutes on Hip Pressure, but the other recipe I found (now lost again?) said 30 minutes.
I did the 22 minutes one for my first try. Then I followed the directions to let the ginger dry some short period of time then roll in sugar for the candied ginger part. The problem was, it really needs to dry for hours – like, overnight – to really dry enough not to melt the sugar. Or maybe just in the summer when it’s humid. I ended up with a mess of sticky sweet goo that I let dry overnight and rolled in sugar a second time.
The syrup was really good. For the DrinkMate, which can be used to carbonate anything that isn’t pulpy (SodaStream should only be used to carbonate water), I ended up just carbonating the water in one of their half-liter bottles, in which the maximum liquid is 450 ml, then adding the balance (I guess 50 ml more) in ginger syrup and drinking it that way.
Candied Ginger and Ginger Syrup for Soda
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading...Ingredients
- 16 oz whole ginger root, unpeeled
- 4 cups water
- 4 c sugar
Instructions
Cut the ginger into small (candy-sized) pieces - I sliced into medallions maybe 1/8-1/4 inch thick, which I cut into 3 if large enough, or 2 if smaller.
Put the ginger, water and sugar in the Instant Pot.
High pressure 30 minutes, NPR (ie, allow the IP to release the pressure, don't manually release).
Separate the ginger pieces from the syrup by pouring over a strainer with a bowl under it to catch the syrup.
Leave the ginger pieces in a strainer for 30+ minutes, longer is better.
Pour the syrup in a bottle/jar and store in the fridge.
Dry the ginger pieces several hours - overnight+. I used a splatter-catcher thing over a sheet pan because sitting on parchment in its own juice didn't work.
Roll the ginger pieces in sugar and let them dry a little bit longer.
Store the candied ginger in airtight container.
To make ginger ale, put about 50 ml of the syrup in 450 ml of carbonated water. This is entirely to taste though. See notes.
Notes
Other recipes suggest pouring some amount of syrup in a glass of ice and adding carbonated water or club soda to the glass, then stirring. Rather than carbonate the water and pour it over ice, losing carbonation, I just add the syrup to a carbonated DrinkMate 1/2 liter bottle. I prefer cold soda out of the bottle.
This syrup isn't that thick - you could add more sugar or perhaps after the release, turn on the Sauté function and boil it down even more.
I did use a stevia/sugar mix for 1 cup equivalent this time - it was all I had of the stevia/sugar mix. It would bring down the sugar/calorie count.
The first time I made this, I mostly peeled all the ginger with a spoon, which is messy and time consuming. Post-peeling and cutting off dry parts, I lost about 2 ounces of ginger. The second time, I decided to leave it unpeeled since that’s a thing. The recommendation is that if you’re going to candy the ginger, peel it. So I’ll see if unpeeled ginger is ok to me as candy. It might be that the sugar won’t stick to the peel, since it will probably be drier.
When I buy candied ginger, it’s usually diced, but it seems I would lose a lot of ginger trying to make square pieces out of round ginger roots, so I cut them in medallions and then cut the medallions into 2 or 3 to make fat matchsticks of ginger. I tried to use the mandolin side of a box grater but it wasn’t sharp enough for the fibrous ginger and just made a mess. A sharp knife made quicker work of it after all.
Some recipes have you cook the ginger in water alone, and either reserve or pour out the first boil and add more water and sugar. I think that’s to reduce the sharp fiery bite, which I like, so I don’t do that.
Mind you, the ginger syrup with all sugar is not any less sugar than Mexican coke or Dr Pepper unless I use less of it or make the recipe work with all stevia/sugar mix. I might also try boiling the ginger in water and adding liquid stevia – it’s won’t be thick sugar syrup. My other cola “syrup” is concentrated black tea sweetened with liquid stevia and flavored with things like cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla (see my Instant Pot iced tea; I just use 4 cups of water and 2 quart-sized tea bags). And I bought some liquid caffeine to add to it as well. It seems to slake my thirst for sodas – in fact, now Mexican cokes and Dr Pepper seem too sweet and too flat. But it’s early days – as of September 12, 2020, I have only managed to go 1 day without a non-DrinkMate soda (10 sodas in 20 days).
I do have one other cola flavoring – I carbonate the water and add stevia and sometimes vanilla extract. Cream soda and Vanilla Cream soda. It’s good and satisfies the cola urge.
No Comments