Candied Ginger

andied ginger is one of those things that I routinely put on my breakfast "whatever". It has a nice zing that goes well with spices and cinnamon, it's easy to make, and ginger is full of good things that are supposedly useful in prevening colds and illness.

Here's the list of ingredients:

• Several large pieces of ginger
• A quarter cup to a half cup of unprocessed sugar (refined sugar is often not vegan)

The first step is the most tedious. Peeling the ginger might take you ten minutes. I use a speed peeler for vegetables and will cut the ginger into chunks to make getting into nooks and crannies more manageble. In any case, just grit your teeth and go for it. When it's finally peeled, cut into bite sized pieces.

When you're happy with your job, put it into a pot and cover it with water. Bring this to a boil and let it simmer for 20-30 minutes. You want to cook it until a fork almost pierces the ginger pieces easily.

Drain off half of the liquid and bring it back to a boil. Add your sugar (how much depends on how sugary you want the ginger, and how much ginger you started with), and let it boil until almost completely dry. Keep stirring the entire time because you want to coat the ginger pieces with the sugar syrup. Do not leave it alone. When it gets close to being done, you'll see sugar crystals form on the side of the pot, and brownish bubbles on the bottom. This is the sugar caramellizing. When the liquid is almost completely gone, take it off the stove, spread it out on a cookie sheet or a bowl and let cool to room temperature. You're done.

Thanks for reading. Tasty.

Valid: XHTML, CSS