I always have at lease one bottle of this in the fridge because it’s great to use in marinades or as a flavorful sweetener for tea and coffee. I especially like mixing this with mint tea brewed from fresh mint leaves and a squeeze of lemon juice. Added to lemonade, the acid turns the ginger slightly pink, adding a spicy zing to the classic. I’ve even been drizzling this on homemade yogurt with some toasted oats for a delicious breakfast treat. Of course the most obvious use Lemongrass Ginger Syrup is to make ginger ale by mixing the ginger syrup with lemon juice and seltzer water. It still has sugar, and can’t be considered healthy, but it’s certainly a better alternative than the commercial brands that are loaded with high fructose corn syrup. It’s also nice because you can control the amount of sugar in each glass by reducing the amount of syrup you add. You’d be surprised at how little you can use and still have a great tasting soda. You could also add some poached aloe for a little extra fun. Aloe is very popular in beverages across Asia, and its neutral flavor will blend well with the spicy syrup. For making lemongrass ginger syrup, be sure your ginger is fresh, and preferably young. As ginger rhizomes mature, they become drier and more fibrous making it difficult to extract the juice. Both types of ginger in the photo above are fresh ginger, but the one on the left is more mature than the one on the right. In the photo below you can see what a cross section of each looks like. The more mature ginger on the left is visibly more fibrous and the skin has gone from a yellowish pink to a brown color. What you want to avoid, is ginger with beige papery skin as this means the rhizome has fully matured, making it nearly impossible to juice. Unfortunately, much of the ginger I’ve seen in US supermarkets is of this variety. Take a trip to your nearest Chinatown though, and you should be able to find crates of fresh young ginger for a few bucks a pound. You can pick up the lemongrass there as well. Then you’ll be all set to make lemongrass ginger syrup, and probably a bunch of my other recipes if you shop like I do!
📖 Recipe
