Homemade ginger pop
{Our first batch of Ginger Pop. }
In my copy of Urban Pantry
The recipe sounded so easy that we couldn’t resist giving it a try. Aside from needing to wait about three weeks for the final product, there’s not much else you need aside from patience. Making ginger pop is a two-part process: first, you make a natural ginger starter (much like a sourdough starter) using grated ginger, sugar and water. Every couple of days you feed the started until it gets foamy – this is the natural yeast forming. Once your ginger starter is ready and frothy (after about 6-8 days), you can move on to step two – making the pop liquid.
{Frothy ginger starter. }
Once you have mixed the starter and pop liquid, you bottle it up and store it for another 10-14 days to let it naturally carbonate. The instructions advise to do this in a cupboard away from other food or breakables as the bottles can explode. Ack! We put our jars in the milk cupboard for safe keeping. Once your pop is ready, it’s important to put it in the fridge to stop the carbonation process.
{The result: 14 jars of pop. }
We sampled the liquid as we bottled it and it was very zingy. I think it’s going to be a stellar batch of pop. I’ve already got the starter going for batch #2 of “Gladstone Ginger Poppe”. This would be great to serve at a party – you could even “go full Martha” and buy some special bottles and labels at the wine/beer supply store.
:: Ginger Pop :: (Adapted from Urban Pantry)
Ingredients – Ginger Starter:
- 1 cup water
- 2 tsp grated ginger
- 2 tsp sugar
Starter how-to:
In a jar mix the water, ginger and sugar together. Every second day, add another 2tsp of ginger and 2tsp of sugar. After about 6-8 days, this should be frothy. Once it is frothing, make the pop liquid.
Ingredients – Pop
- 8 cups water
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- zest from 1.5 lemons
- juice from 1.5 lemons
- 2 inch piece of ginger – grated
- more water
Pop how-to:
Bring the water, sugar, zest and ginger to a boil. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Let cool. Strain this mixture. At the same time, strain the starter mixture. (You can keep the ginger pulp from your starter for the next batch.)
Mix the starter liquid and pop liquid together. Add more water until you have 3.75 litres of liquid (or 16 cups – Americans this is 1 gallon).
Bottle your pop using mason jars or plastic sealable pop containers. Store in a cool location for 10-14 days. Once ready, store the pop in the fridge to stop the carbonation process.
6 comments
That is sooo cool!
and what is a milk cupboard?…cause I know you don't have a cow or milk in the cupboard…:) I must have missed the post on this piece of furniture…
The milk cupboard is a little cupboard where your milkman would deliver your bottles of milk. It is tucked into an outside wall so it would keep the bottles cool. In fact, it's so cold in the winter that things will freeze. We should probably stuff it with insulation, but it's so cute!
Ok, your after photos (and a giant chunk of ginger on my counter) have inspired me to try this too. Expect a progress report!
That's awesome! I'm just about to start batch #2 here. The little 250ml mason jars work like a charm! When the top pops up and is hard, it's a sign that your pop is fizzy and can go in the fridge.
Hi there, I came across your blog with this recipe and my husband and I tried it but we haven't tasted it yet. I'm wondering if you also ended up with large cloudy bits floating in your pop? Either we didn't strain it properly (we only have a small sieve so we sieved out the ginger chunks instead of pouring the liquid through the sieve) or there is some microorganism in there that we may not want to ingest? Any tips would be welcome! Thanks!
Hi Rachelle – we too had some cloudy bits that settled at the bottom. I figured we didn't strain it enough. I can say, that we drank it and survived. I think it's likely the natural yeast from the starter.
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