Cocktails with Ginger syrup
Ginger syrup is a sweetener of sugar syrup infused with fresh ginger root.
Substitutes for Ginger syrup
Making it takes twenty minutes: hot syrup poured over grated ginger, left to steep, strained. Fresh ginger juice with sugar is livelier and does not keep. Ginger beer brings the heat with gas and sugar, so it lengthens the drink at the same time.
Often confused with
Ginger beer
Carbonated, much less concentrated and often barely gingery: it lengthens a drink; syrup only seasons it.
Ginger cordial
Usually the same thing under a different name, sometimes with added citric acid, which reads sharper, and check the ingredients if the drink is finely balanced.
Storage
Commercial keeps for months sealed and wants the fridge once open. Homemade lasts a couple of weeks refrigerated, and the heat fades before the sweetness does, so an old bottle needs a heavier hand.
