Cocktails with Ginger syrup
Ginger syrup is a sweetener of sugar syrup infused with fresh ginger root.
How it's used
It brings sweetness and ginger heat in one pour, with no separate spice step. Topped with soda, it does the job of ginger beer and lets you set the heat yourself. Heat depends on how it was made: fresh-made syrup burns hotter than a bought one. A cooked syrup also bites differently from one built on raw ginger juice.
Substitutes for Ginger syrup
Homemade ginger syrup
Juice unpeeled ginger, or grate it and squeeze through cloth. Stir in an equal weight of sugar over very low heat until dissolved. Use it in the same amount.
Ginger cordial
Works one for one. It is made with lemon juice, so it adds a little acid, and it is a quarter to a third less sweet.
Only for long drinks, in place of soda. It has far less ginger and sugar, so it lengthens a drink rather than seasoning it.
Storage
Commercial syrup keeps for months sealed and wants the fridge once open. Homemade syrup made on raw ginger juice keeps 2 days in the fridge; other homemade versions last a couple of weeks. The heat fades before the sweetness does, so an old bottle needs a heavier hand.
