Honey-Ginger Syrup

Miniature bottle by Toasted Glass

This delicious syrup is a must for creating the Penicillin Cocktail, but don't just stop there. You can use the syrup in cocktails, drizzled on baked apples and mixed with a little soy sauce as delicious salmon marinade. It makes a fantastically warming drink, mixed with lemon juice and hot water and adds spice to a glass of sparkling water.

The recipe below will yield about 350 - 400ml of syrup which is quite a lot, but I really love the stuff. If you feel this is too much for you, then just scale down the quantities - you will only need 25ml for one Penicillin Cocktail. It should keep well in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Honey-Ginger Syrup

Ingredients

200ml runny honey
250g piece of fresh ginger
65ml water
6 tbsp sugar

Start by peeling the ginger root. If you have a juicer then this will really be a doddle - just juice the ginger root and set the juice aside. Otherwise, grate the root into a bowl and then carefully tip the juice into a jug, through a mini sieve/tea strainer. Then, it is vital that you extract as much juice as possible by pressing the pulp in the strainer with back of a spoon. Alternatively you can squeeze it out through a muslin cloth, but this involves more mess and washing.

Add the sugar to the ginger juice and stir it in until completely dissolved

Add the water to the honey, in a bowl and stir until completely mixed

Add the sweetened ginger juice and watered down honey together. Stir until mixed and store in an airtight container in the fridge.

As well as the ideas outlined above, you could use the syrup to make this delicious and refreshing drink. for added bite, sneak in a shot or two of either vodka, tequila or whisky.

Ginger Cooler

Ingredients

3/4oz honey-ginger syrup
3/4oz lemon juice
Sparkling water

Mix the syrup and juice in the bottom of a glass
Add ice and top up with sparkling water and stir

Tumbler by Toasted Glass