A while back I had some candied ginger from Trader Joe’s and since then I have been obsessed. We do not have a Trader Joe’s in Traverse City so I thought why not just make my own? I looked up recipes and honestly I was a little intimidated. It did not seem intuitive or even as simple as I had hoped. To be honest I actually burnt the first batch I made. So I will say this is a little bit more intense than I expected. BUT once you get it right the spicy and sweet taste is awesome and it is a great snack when your stomach is not feeling well or you need something sweet without killing your diet.
The recipe I found was adapted from Alton Brown’s version here. I liked his the best, but I did a couple things differently. Here is what you will need:
1 pound fresh ginger
5 cups water
about 1 pound of sugar
First you will want to prep a cooling rack with parchment paper and spray it with some non-stick cooking spray. This will be where the ginger cools. Next peel the outer skin off of the ginger. Then you will have to slice the ginger in to 1/8 inch slices. You can do it by hand or with a mandolin. I kind of messed up on this the first time and they were too thick and WHOA spicy so don’t get loose about this part.
Next bring the 5 cups of water to a boil in a medium sauce pan, place the ginger slices in to let boil for 30 minutes. Watch it closely because this is how my first batch got burnt.
Once the ginger is translucent and tender, drain and reserve 1/4 cup of the liquid for the next step. Place the ginger back in the pot and add the liquid and the sugar. Bring up to a boil and stir continually till the sugar has dissolved. Continue cooking until the syrup becomes dry. Remove from heat (before it burns).
Then I took my ginger pieces and tossed it in some sugar to add a little extra sweetness and more texture. Then spread the ginger on the cooling rack and let it sit overnight.
The next morning place in an airtight container and it will keep up to 3 weeks.
