Thursday Recipe - Candied Ginger

My son is into making things in the kitchen. Not bad for a 14yo.

I'm out of candied ginger and can't find it at my local grocery store.

Put those together and you have a 14yo making me candied ginger. I use it in a variety of recipes - from cookies to salad dressing to stir fry. It keeps well in the freezer. And it isn't that hard to make.

Candied Ginger

1 large hand of ginger, about 1/2 pound
1 c. sugar
2 1/2 c. water

Scrape the peel off the ginger root. If it's fresh, the peel should be thin and easily scraped away. Chunks of peeled root can be left in cold water to keep them from turning brown.

Once you have the ginger peeled, slice it into very thin slices. (We used my salad shooter, but the strings in the ginger gummed it up.)

Cook the ginger slices in the water until the ginger is tender, about 25 minutes. This should be a slow simmer more than a hard boil, so keep the heat on the low side.

Drain the ginger, but keep about 1/4 c. of the cooking liquid. Put the ginger slices and the 1/4 c. liquid in the pan and add the sugar. Cook over medium heat until the sugar syrup starts to look dry and begins to recrystallize, about 20 minutes. STIR THIS THE WHOLE TIME OR IT WILL BURN.

Spread the ginger on a cooling rack and set in an undisturbed corner for a day until it has dried out. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.