1/2 oz yeast
SUGAR TO FEED THE PLANT
7 tsp ground ginger
SUGAR TO FLAVOUR
1 1/2 lb sugar
1 juice of 2 lemons
Directions
Mix starter ingredients with 3/4 pint of warm water in a glass jar.
Stir, cover and leave in a warm place for 24 hours. This is your
starter "plant".
Feed the "plant" with 1 teaspoon each of ground ginger and sugar each
day.
After 7 days strain through a fine sieve. Dissolve the sugar in 2
pints of water. Add the lemon juice and the liquid from the "plant".
Dilute with 5 pints of water, mix well and store in corked bottles
for at least 7 days.
Use strong bottles as pressure may build up which will cause thin
bottles to explode. For the same reason use corked bottles rather
than those with a more secure closure that will not 'give' under
pressure.
Ross requested a recipe for ginger beer. This is a recipe that I have
often used and it produces a really old-fashioned drink. It is quite
a long process but well worth the effort. The amount of sugar in the
final stage can be varied according to taste. Please excuse the use
of Imperial measures - I am only a poor ignorant pom.
Recipe By : ianrice@theridge.demon.co.uk (Ian Rice)
Servings: 1 servings
Old-Fashioned Ginger Beer Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Alcohol; Beer; Beverages
The History of Recipes
We are able to follow the history of written recipes far back into distant history, certainly as far back into recorded history as ancient Egypt, and maybe further still. Having said that, generally, these old cook books were just primitive pictorial instructions for preparing meals.
The truth of the matter is, the most ancient recipe discovered so far, according to experts are a few stone tablets in the Sumerian language which show the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making drinkers feel exhilarated. As we move on, there were a couple of books which date from the fourteenth century : a recipe book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary called `Curye on Inglish`. Surprisingly, these are unconnected to the indian food that is familiar to us all today, but instead accounts of the types of food on the menus of the rich and powerful of that time. Later, in the fifteenth century, people returning from the crusades brought us many new spices and herbs from middle-east cuisine, including spices like coriander, parsley, basil and rosemary. These new foods and spices prompted an eruption in publications on food, most of which are now in private cookery archives. During the next few centuries, the rich and powerful families of the West strove to lay on the most exotic meals, and because of this the best chefs and their collection of recipes became highly prized. Nevertheless, it wasn`t until the 19th century that fine cookery and recipe books rose to prominence. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, devoted their lives to collating, verifying, and publishing recipes to help cooks of their time. By the advent of the 20th century, cookery books are starting to become popular mostly due to higher levels of literacy, people having increased spare time and disposable income. The revolution that is television gave us celebrity TV chefs and the recipe books that accompanied them. Which brings us neatly up to date and the invention of the internet, permitting us all to access thousands of recipes like the ones you can find on the site you are now reading. |
We hope you enjoy this Old Fashioned Ginger Beer recipe.
