ecobites.com

Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

There must be one thing that is nicer than growing your own food, and that would have to be -- cooking and preparing it. From soil to mouth. From the vegetable garden a stirfry or salad dressing to dress up the salad plate and they need one essential ingredient - - ginger. It adds zest and zing and brings the dishes to life. Ginger is used in drinks, juices, smoothies, ginger beer and cordial. In cooking, for biscuits,cakes, dressings, treats....

To become self sufficient in this wonderful spice. Buy from the organic whole food store approx. 20 organic knobs. Whilst at it grow some turmeric and cardamom is hard to kill, together with some galangal. All four plants are in the same botanical family – zingiberaceae.

After a year the plants are ready for propagation and that’s how simple, easy and cheap it is to grow your own spices.

Ginger is easy to lift. It's a herbaceous perennial so when the leaves die down in autumn just remove them. Big clumps need to be broken up into smaller clumps because they become congested. That’s okay for an ornamental but as a productive plant you lose vigour, and so every year you should lift them in spring, split them and then replant. Ideal soil has lots of organic matter, is moist and free draining, and all they need in summer is watering weekly.

Ginger Beer

Pound a 4 inch piece of ginger in a deep bowl and pour on 2 litres of boiling water.
Leave overnight and half the next day.
Strain, sweeten to taste, bottle with one raisin or two grains of brown rice in each bottle. Have well-secured lids.
Stand bottles in the sun for one day before chilling to use.

Ginger Cordial

Slice 1/2 lb of ginger and boil in 3 pints of water until water is very strongly flavoured.
Strain and add 1 lb of organic sugar to each pint.
Boil again until thick, cool and bottle. This can be used in the occasional celebration dessert / puddings, biscuits, etc, or drink mixed with chilled water or sparkling mineral water.

Enjoy!