Spicy Ginger Syrup
A bold, spicy ginger syrup made with ginger juice instead of water. Palm sugar is my favorite: its rich flavor plays beautifully with the ginger heat. Cane sugar or another sugar works too.
Ingredients
- Ginger juice — start with 1 cup and weigh it
- Palm sugar — the same weight as the ginger juice; cane sugar or another sugar may be used instead
Directions
Make the syrup
Get your ginger juice first. Buying pure ginger juice by the jug, including organic options, is the easiest way I make this syrup, and it comes out great.
Weigh the ginger juice and measure an equal weight of palm sugar, cane sugar, or your preferred sugar. Stir the sugar into the juice until dissolved. The main recipe is 1:1 by weight; there is no added water.
Fresh ginger option
For homemade juice, I like the large ginger pieces available at Asian markets. Peel the ginger, then run it through a centrifugal juicer. Stop the juicer and clear accumulated pulp as needed while processing the ginger.
Freshly juiced ginger can give a fresher, spicier result. For me, though, the difference from good bottled ginger juice is usually not enough to justify the extra hour of prep and cleanup.
Variations & alternatives
One-cup alternative
You can also use 1 cup ginger juice to 1 cup sugar by volume. Both methods work, but equal cups and equal weights give different sugar concentrations. Weighing is more consistent, especially when palm sugar comes in chunks or blocks.
Buying ready-made syrup
A high-quality ready-made spicy ginger syrup is another option. Look for one made with ginger juice as the base, rather than water with a little ginger flavoring. Good versions often cost more, but should have a clear ginger bite; weaker syrups can taste mostly like sugar water.