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so I have been experimenting in ginger ale brewing lately and I have been following a method which involves fermenting the ale as always (ginger, water, sugar) and then discard the ginger before bottling.

But as a good ginger lover, I found it to be a pity to discard that much ginger for every batch I make. So, is there any usage for those leftovers? Maybe some kind of candy?

Thanks

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7

I have used excess ginger by candying it- I boil it for about twenty minutes in a simple syrup, when I take the ginger out of the syrup I place it on a cooling grate and let it cool completely. I then roll each individual piece in turbinado sugar(I have used white sugar too.) To store I place it in a plastic bag with a little extra sugar to prevent the pieces from sticking to each other. I also keep the syrup tightly sealed in the freezer, the syrup is great for cocktails, or as a remedy for an upset stomach. I have also peeled leftover ginger and stored it in a tightly sealed container inside my freezer. This is convienent because when you need ginger, you can easily grate the frozen ginger for your recipe. Generally you can store it frozen for at least a good three months. Hope this helps.

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I make ginger ale as well. In my process I finely slice the ginger and steep it to extract flavor. When this is done I rinse it well to leave nothing but fiber behind. My suggestion would be to do something similar to extract as much flavor from the ginger into your soda so that the leftovers don't have any use.

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  • in your recipe, do you bring the syrup with ginger to a boil? for how long? I usually dice it into 0.5cm pieces and let them simmer gently for like 3 minutes, but for me it seems that they still hold something in them hehe
    – arvere
    Sep 22 '17 at 22:28
  • I mix my sugar and ginger with water and steep at 180 degrees F for 20 minutes. Then I strain and rinse the ginger with more 180 degree water. This makes a concentrate that is 20% of the total volume. Finally I mix with cold water and carbonate.
    – Kevin Nowaczyk
    Sep 23 '17 at 0:24
  • hmm I'm going to try slicing thinner and boiling for 20 minutes or so and let's see how it turns out!
    – arvere
    Sep 23 '17 at 11:45
  • well, like you said, they become a bit useless (for me at least) if you cut thinly and boil thoroughly. but since Navajo gave some actual usage for it, I'm going to give him the right answer as it may help people that enjoy ginger candy
    – arvere
    Dec 7 '17 at 14:08
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Spread the leftover slices out on parchment paper and put them in the oven at low heat until they're as dry as you would like them. You can toss them with sugar before drying if you'd like.

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I've had a similar problem. So far, my only solution has been to keep it in a sealed container in the fridge, and occasionally grab a spoonful or two for a snack. Just be careful about eating too much, because that's a lot of fiber. I had one day where I had to spend my time close to a bathroom after eating an entire mash from making my ginger beer.

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