Ginger beer is a tasty carbonated beverage that is flavored primarily with ginger and sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners. Most ginger beer produced commercially is a manufactured soft drink. The original version, rarely produced commercially since the mid-twentieth century but often home brewed, is a brewed alcoholic beverage.
Brewed ginger beer originated in England in the mid-1700s and became popular in Britain, the United States, and Canada, reaching a peak of popularity in the early 1900s.
Today ginger beer is almost always produced as a soft drink. Ginger beer and ginger ale as soft drinks have been moderately popular in many parts of the world since they were introduced.
Ginger beer is generally available in both fermented and non-fermented versions. Most versions of ginger beer will have a darker color than is found with most soft-drink style ginger ale, as well as a more pronounced taste and scent of ginger root in the concoction. While some fans of ginger beer prefer to enjoy the beverage at room temperature, it is not uncommon for ginger beer to be chilled and served in a tall frosty glass or mug.
How to make Ginger Beer
Ingredients :
- Yeast
- ground ginger
- sugar
- water
Plant:
- 1/2 teaspoon dried yeast
- 1 rounded teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 rounded teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup lukewarm water
Procedures:
- Mix all together in a jar, cover with a piece of muslin and secure with a rubber band.
- Each day for the next week, add 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 teaspoon ground ginger.
The plant
Divide the plant left in the muslin into two halves. Place one of these in a glass jar with a cup of warm water. Then next day start feeding as before, that is, one teaspoon of ginger and one of sugar each day. The other half of the plant can be discarded, or you can have two plants ‘on the go’.
To make up the Ginger Beer, for the syrup, mix together:
- 4 cups of sugar
- 24 cups of warm water
- 1/2 cup strained lemon juice
then:
- Strain the ginger beer plant through two layers of muslin.
- Pour the resulting liquid into the syrup and mix well.
- Bottle and seal. The ginger beer should be ready to drink by the end of a week.
Source: www.abc.net.au and Wikipedia.org; Photos: venuscandles.com and blog.bedsupperclub.com