As part of our Six Month Mindful Living Challenge I am going to be sharing recipes that follow that compliment the theme of the month, when possible. This month, with our plastic consumption being the focus, I wanted to share a recipe that is simple to make at home that is not only delicious but can single handedly cut down on your plastic use.
This homemade ginger syrup has a great kick to it from the fresh ginger and it is full of beautiful, bright flavors. Not only is it great for this refreshing and delicious homemade ginger ale, but it would also be great drizzled over homemade ice cream and yogurt or even over your morning oatmeal or other cereal. I sweetened this with local raw honey, since honey provides a variety of amazing benefits, but I also just love the flavor. If you are vegan, play with your favorite sweetener, anything will work. Granulated sugars to liquid, they’ll all work just as easily. For some of the amazing benefits of raw honey, check out this post from Body Unburdened. See the notes at the end of the recipe if you wish to retain the full benefits of the raw honey in this recipe.
Making simple syrups at home to make your own homemade sodas are super simple, great for entertaining and when making your own sodas, it means less plastic bottles brought into your home. Even better, you can make use of glass bottles from other things that you held onto. I love a good glass bottle or jar for drinks. Mason jars are some of my favorite for homemade drinks and cocktails. I have been down to hang on to all kinds of jars and bottles, it drives hubby crazy, but I love them. I use them all over the house. In the bathroom, as little flower vases, for leftovers, etc. OK I can’t be the only one, who else has a serious jar and bottle hoarding problem?
If you don’t wish to purchase soda water or sparkling mineral water because you can’t find it in glass containers, or you just wish to cut down on the waste altogether, you can buy one of these nifty Sodastream Fountain Soda Makers, that allows you to carbonate any drink, including plain ‘ol water. I have had one of these on my wishlist forever, I need to just spend the money and buy one already. You can even carbonate wine! If you want to make that cheap bottle of white into a quick bubbly, go for it. It comes with one BPA-free plastic bottle that you can use over and over, time and again, just think of how many plastic bottles that saves.
How has tracking your plastic last week and trying to be more aware this week, been going for you? I have been trying whenever possible to reuse any plastic containers and bags and I have been actively avoiding bringing excess plastic into our home. The real eye opener for me thus far is just how much plastic we are surrounded by each day and how much of it is tossed into the trash haphazardly.
[print_this]Homemade Ginger Ale – Honey Sweetened – Gluten-free with Vegan option
Makes approx. 1.5 cups of syrup
1 cup coarsely chopped, peeled fresh ginger, organic if you can find it
1 cup local raw honey (to make vegan use maple syrup, raw sugar, coconut sugar, maple sugar, agave, etc)
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 cups water
Soda water or sparkling mineral water
Place ginger, honey, lemon zest, and 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, so the honey (or sugar dissolves). Simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes*. Turn the heat to the lowest it will go (or turn it off completely) and let it reduce and infuse, for about 30 minutes.
Place a fine wire strainer over a large bowl. Pour the ginger mixture into the strainer to separate solids from liquid. If you like, you can save the cooked ginger pieces for other uses, it would be great in a homemade ice cream or popsicle or over yogurt, etc.
All the syrup to cool completely, pour into a glass container, seal tightly, and chill at least 1 hour until cold or up to 1 week.
To make the ginger ale: add about 2 to 3 tablespoons of the ginger syrup to a large glass, jar or bottle, top with ice and pour about 8-10 ounces of soda water over top. Give it a stir and garnish with a lime wedge. Additional ginger syrup can be added, to taste.
*If you wish to retain as many of full benefits of the raw honey as possible, consider boiling the liquid before adding the honey, then only leaving it over the heat long enough for the honey to dissolve. Remove the pan from the heat. Cover it and let it steep/infuse for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The follow the rest of the recipe above. The flavor may not be quite as strong, but you will likely retain more of the benefits of the raw honey this way.
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30 Responses
You’re not the only one with a jar hoarding problem.
I have glass jars + bottles coming out my ears. My husband threatens to send them straight to the recycling bin if I don’t get a better organizing system… hahaha. We’ll see about that!
Awesome recipe – I’ll definitely be trying this soon.
[…] For the full recipe, head over to Tasty Yummies. […]
nice post!
i too am trying to cut out plastic!
i too have a house full of glass jars and plastic containers etc that are ‘too good’ to throw out!
i too made homemade ginger simple syrup!
i too covet a soda stream!
are you me?
thanks for the laugh, and the addition of lemon zest to the ginger syrup- will def try it—cheers
i too, have a massive jar collecting problem…i’m working on it 🙂
i’ve been thinking about getting a soda stream for a while, but keep not doing it…one day you will be mine soda stream, one day!
this ginger ale looks ammmmmazing…will def. be giving it a shot soon!
it’s that easy? i’ll have to try it!
[…] Tasty Yummies shared Homemade Ginger Ale […]
Hi Beth,
I made your Ginger-Ale Recipe today. Never thought I’d get to enjoy Ginger-Ale again.
I use to drink it in my younger years but stopped drinking pop years ago.
The recipe is great. I’ll be drinking and serving it up all summer long.
I’ve tried numerous recipes of yours and I’ve yet to be disappointed so keep up the good work. You sure have a knack for creating great Tasty-Yummy recipes.
Thank you.
This is sooo awesome Suzanne, thanks for the comment. It makes me so happy you liked it so much. I will be making this very often I have a feeling. I am obsessed. Thanks again for the comment. This is wonderful!
Hooray! This looks so refreshing. I too have a sodastream and I was loving it until I was probably consuming waaay to much of the diet syrups and started to seriously have some side effects. My doctor told me to lay off the artificial sugar and so I haven’t touched it since! I can’t wait to try this 🙂
Hi Beth, I just discovered your fantastic blog from a post in VGN. I have to make this tasty ginger ale and share on my social media network. Thanks for the recipe and have a good week!
This looks great! I can’t wait to try it myself. 🙂 The only concern I have is bringing the raw honey and water to a boil and leaving it there so long. That amount of high heat will kill off all the lovely things that are in raw honey in the first place, won’t it?
Thanks for the comment Elizabeth. I actually meant to include an option for just that and you reminded me of that, so I just updated the post. It is possible to pre-boil the liquid before adding the honey, to potentially keep even more of the benefits of the raw honey. It may not be as strong of a flavor, but it should still work. Thanks for the comment, I hope you enjoy this recipe.
I’ve actually managed to RECYCLE glass jars, so there is hope for all of the beautiful glass jar hoarders out there, lol! Take that either/both ways-beautiful hoarders or beautiful jars. 😀
Good for you. I had to tone down my collection a bit when we moved. It just wasn’t worth packaging them all up. I am of course back to keeping as many glass jars as I can 😉
I wish I had room for more bottles. 😀
I also just realized that I failed to remark on the ginger syrup recipe. It sounds wonderful and I’m looking for organic ginger so I can try this. We make a cranberry limeade syrup to add to club soda-really refreshing!
Looks like one to try. I have been making various syrups for my soda stream for a couple of years. Got it 3 years ago and it is perfect, don’t use it that often, mostly the kids. They love it because I won’t let them have normal soda. I have been making mainly lemon syrup, half lemons half sugar, it is very strong you only need a little. You can add berries or other citrus for different flavours. I bottle it hot in glass milk bottles and it lasts a year in the pantry unopened. A few have fermented but we just put brandy in it and called it a cocktail.
My bottle collection has gone multi room 🙂
Thanks for the comment Julia. That lemon syrup sounds amazing. I will have to try it. I bet it is delicious fermented. Probably a really nice flavor. Thanks for sharing.
I love ginger ale, but without the carbonation (yes, I’m one of those who opens the bottle and leaves it on the counter to go flat). I’m definitely going to try this. My husband however, is a Coca Cola addict. He has been eyeing up the soda stream. I told him we’ll spend the money on that when I find a recipe for making the cola syrup at home. Anybody got a good cola recipe?
I’ve been making water kefir for the last two years and love, love, love putting slices of ginger in it. If done properly you can get lots of fizz naturally and have the amazing probiotic, gut flora balancing benefits as well as the soda type satisfaction all in one. I bought my grains but you might find some locally on this share site http://www.torontoadvisors.com/suppliers?page=36
My favorite site for kefir information is http://www.yemoos.com/mainwaterkefir.html
These little beauties just might save you the expense of a soda fountain??? 😉
Can you freeze the syrup to use later?
Yes, I was wondering why you can only keep it for a week. If so an it be frozen?
Try the Ginger ale with a little jalapeno in it for a little more bite
[…] Homemade Ginger Ale from Tasty Yummies ~ gluten free, grain free, dairy free, egg free, refined sugar free, paleo, primal, with vegan option […]
[…] a favourite drink addition from last summer. This lemon verbena recipe from the Kitchn. And lastly, this homemade ginger ale that my friend Beth (who also happened to do a SodaStream review) […]
Great post! I just got a SodaStream a few weeks ago and wishing I switched to this a long time ago. Right now I’m just using squeezed lime or lemon – can’t wait to try making my own ginger ale syrup. This was something I acquired a taste for while living in Istanbul eating out at restaurants. Sparkling mineral water with lemon goes particularly well with Turkish food. When I got back to the US, I tried carbonated water bottles, but the plastic bottles were a hassle and the water was always going flat in the fridge overnight. Now that’s all in the past. I’m saving money and doing something environmentally friendly.
Just tried the recipe and loved it. I’ll be making it again.
Ginger syrup can be utilized for altitude sickness or motion sickness
http://topnaturalremedies.net/home-remedies/ginger-syrup-recipe-benefits/
I am wondering if this will keep in a mason jar in the fridge and for how long?
I have been struggling with getting OFF soda and this looks like a great alternative!
I was curious about the possibility of juicing ginger and adding it to honey without water for ginger ale or whatever. Has anyone tried this?