Homemade Ginger Ale

Ginger is a wonder spice.  I am particularly in love with it, not only for its flavor which is at once sweet and spicy but more so for its medicinal properties.  I was not blessed with a particularly great stomach, in fact I have had a love-hate relationship with it my entire life from lactose-intolerance to colitis.  But ginger is one of the few natural remedies that I find soothing, digestible and tasty all at once.  I am a big fan of ginger ale because its fizzy and gingerific.  Soda, however, is in that big no-no category.  The corn syrup and calories are shunned in every nutritional and dietary circle.  Also, the all natural stuff is quite expensive.  So how do I get my ginger fix without the unnecessaries?  Answer: Candle 79's homemade ginger ale.  

A year or two ago I went with my husband to visit my brother in-law (who got married this weekend!! YAY J & E!!).  He was very sweet and sensitive to my dietary restrictions and took us to a delightful vegan restaurant called Candle 79.  The food was so delicious, even my husband couldn't remember recently if he'd had a steak there (I had to tell him its an entirely vegan restaurant and he was remembering a seitan* dish he'd ordered! While I was there I ordered their homemade ginger ale and was blown away, as was the hubby.  It was strong but delicious.  I had to order the Candle Cafe (a less expensive and less formal version of Candle 79 also in New York) Cookbook** at once. But to my chagrin no ginger ale recipe!  


I am not devoid of chutzpah, however, and emailed Candle 79 expressing my deep love and appreciation for the recipe and wondered if they might share it with me.  Well it paid off.  They wrote me a very sweet email and, drum roll, the RECIPE!!  So dear readers, here it is, the recipe: (They noted that they don't have a precise recipe, but that they could give me approximate amounts)

Ingredients:

Fresh ginger juice (you need to juice fresh ginger root- leftovers are great for cooking or to jazz up other juices)

Fresh Lemon or lime juice

Agave nectar

Sparkling water

Fresh mint leaves

 

Below is a starting point- please adjust ingredient proportions to taste. We make ours fairly strong but experiment a little!

 

Start with 2 tablespoons of ginger juice, 2 tablespoons of agave nectar, 1 tablespoon of lemon or lime juice, and 3 or 4 torn mint leaves over ice in a shaker glass. Top with a small splash of sparkling water and shake mixture vigorously. Pour into a tall highball or iced tea glass, add more ice, and fill the rest of the way with sparkling water. Garnish with a fresh mint leaf and wedge of lime.

Okay, so, if you're like me you probably have no idea how to juice ginger, or if you do you know how work intensive it is.  But I found an excellent solution to this problem.  You can buy ginger juice.  I had to order it online but it was definitely worth it.  Go to:  http://www.gingerpeople.com/ to order it (you can also get it at amazon.com.  


*For those of you who are unaware, Seitan is a meat substitute made of wheat gluten and a great protien alternative to soy.  Besides Gardein, I've found it is the most meat-like meat substitute out there. 


**The Candle Cafe Cookbook is an excellent Vegan cookbook that I highly recommend, even if you aren't vegan or even vegetarian.  My favorite recipe so far has been their Seitan Piccata.