The bottles arrived today, and not a day too soon if you ask me. They're rather lovely too, perhaps a little expensive, but at least they can be re-used. Above is a picture of the straining of the ginger beer plant. I'm still not allowed to sampled the goods for another two weeks, but I'm sure it will be worth it. My only concern is that the ginger won't be 'hot' enough like the Luscombe's Ginger Beer. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get around this?
Well, I'm pretty sure that my ginger beer plant is now ready for me to finish off and bottle up. Which is precisely the problem - I have no suitable bottles! They are ordered, so it's just a case of convincing the plant to hang on in there until they arrive. I've ordered some like this from Lakeland. It's worth getting some with stoppers on, as I've heard it's pretty ferocious. This has even been confirmed by my Grandma, who was more than happy to recount the tale of the day the ginger beer exploded in their living room!
Anyhow, this is the recipe I have been following, if anyone fancies a go?
In case you are wondering what is in the bottle next the ginger beer plant, this is some chutney vinegar, which I have stewing for the next month or so. I've heard that the best results for a spiced vinegar come from leaving the spices to seep for a month or two, rather than boiling all up on the day. We shall see, although not for a little while. If you want to do this add your spices to a bottle with either white wine or cider vinegar, and then leave alone, giving it a shake once in a while.
I also made some more blackcurrant jam this weekend. I love the sharper jams such as raspberry and blackcurrant, and luckily I now have more than enough to see me well into the next decade!
I have a confession to make - I went away for the weekend, and left the ginger beer plant at home to fend for itself. My recipe (and I am a stickler for following such instructions) says that the plant needs to be 'fed' each day for the next 10. Woops!
Still, on the positive side it doesn't appear to have suffered this neglect, and it's only been set back a couple of days. Now I just need to get my hand on some well-stoppered bottles to put it in over the weekend. I've heard it can be as exciteable as a bottle of champagne. Any suggestions?
Today I set up my first ginger beer plant; it might look gross, but I'm so excited!
I tried Luscombe's Organic Hot Ginger Beer this lunch time - if you've not had it before it's delicious! Intrigued, I decided to look them up on the Internet. This, on their 'ethos' page made me laugh
'LUSCOMBE drinks are made with purely the finest quality fresh ingredients, without... big, harsh, rasping bubbles the size of toads` eyes.'
Big rasping bubbles the size of toads eyes? I'd love to have been there when that bit of copy was approved! Anyway, expect adventures in ginger beer to appear here very soon, I've tracked down a recipe already.
*apologies for rubbish pic, had to use my phone
