Home Made Ginger Ale

I used to only drink ginger ale when I was sick and so did my son, but I found this recipe and now I love to keep a fresh batch around! To make it, all you do is stir a simple homemade ginger syrup stirred into plain sparkling water. What you can do is freeze the ginger syrup in ice cube trays, that way it is easy to make a large batch of ginger syrup and thaw a cube – exactly one serving – into sparkling water whenever you want. GENIUS! I’ll definitely be sipping this over the weekend as I pull out summer recipes and start strategizing on beating the heat in the kitchen this year. Now this recipe does take about an hour to make but it's fun, delicious, and makes you craze more!

Homemade Ginger Ale makes about ¾ cup syrup (makes 3 cups Ginger Ale immediately) AND enough to fill a 12-piece ice cube tray


Ingredients

• 2 cups ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
• 4 cups water
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 quart sparkling water

Instructions

1. Place the ginger root, water, and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
2. Simmer until the sugar is dissolved and the liquid is reduced by half, about 40 minutes.
3. Carefully strain the hot liquid into a heatproof bowl or vessel (I use my 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup), removing the pieces of ginger root, and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
4. Pour the liquid into an ice cube tray and freeze.
5. To serve, dissolve 1 ice cube (or use ¼ cup of the liquid), into 1 cup of sparkling water. Serve!