Crystallized Ginger

This is great stuff. It is a great way to preserve fresh ginger. Far more fun than dousing it with sugared vodka, and the resulting syrup begs you to make waffles.

This is the flavoring for my niece Jenna's namesake chocolate truffle. She eats it out of hand as a candy, likes it chopped over ice cream, in fruit cake, and as a substitute or an addition to her beloved, indulgent uncle's homemade cinnamon raisin bread. (damn every time I ramble before cutting to the chase I end up with another recipe to post)

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 pounds fresh, peeled ginger, cut into medallions (should be about a quart by volume)
3 cups sugar
1 lemon, sliced thin and seeded
1 cup light Karo® syrup (usually when I use a brand name it is because I've tried another label and not have had good results. Go ahead and use an off brand if you want, but there's something about the Karo® that works in this one)
large granule sugar for dusting

In a large, heavy stainless steel pot put the ginger along with enough water to completely cover with a few inches to spare. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer covered for about twenty minutes unhtil the ginger is to a place where a fork will enter but not skewer. A piece picked up should be pliable but not limp.

Stir in 1 cup of the sugar, bring to a boil, then remove from heat and store covered overnight.

Day 2 - Uncover and bring liquid to a boil again. Add the Karo® and the lemon slices. Reduce heat to simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and store at room temperature, covered, overnight.

Day 3 - Uncover and bring to a boil again. Stirring often, add in 1 cup sugar and reduce heat to a simmer and stirring often, simmer 30 minutes. Bring heat back to a boil slowly, add in the last cup of sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Remove from heat, store covered at room temperature overnight.

Day 4 - Uncover, and bring slowly up to a simmer, stirring intermittently until the ginger is mostly translucent, this should take about 45 minutes to an hour. Slower is better here. The syrup should be reduced to a point where it almost balls on the side of the spoon. I look for when it begins to make one big drop on the side rather than dripping.

Take the ginger slices out of the syrup and place them on a rack (hose this down with cooking spray!) over wax paper to catch the drips. Dry over night. Run the syrup through a sieve to remove all the lemon slices and any chunky things, store tightly covered.

Shake the dried slices in a bag with large crystal sugar (Sugar In The Raw® works great for this) and store in a large, airtight jar.

This ginger has far, far more bite than anything you might buy from a store. The syrup can also be used 2 tablespoons to a large tumbler of club soda and a lemon slice, for awesome ginger ale. Over buckwheat pancakes it has to be tasted to be believed.

UPDATE

I forgot to add that this recipe can be made completely using a crock pot or other slow cooker. Alternate between the settings. When the instructions call for increasing the temperature slowly it is pretty damned close to perfect.


3B's