Cooking Classes

27.2.10

Making Your Own Candied Ginger and the Winner of my Giveaway

Thank you to everyone who threw their name in the hat for my great Canadian giveaway!  I had not thought about it before but started to wonder about strategy.  Should one reply first, in the middle or at the end of the contest.  Who would have the best chance?  Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that www.random.org would have chosen #1!  Yes, #1 won!  Andrea of The Kitchen Witch, you have won my gift basket!


I have been intrigued by candying fruit for the past few years.  My current foray into this interest of mine is to make my own candied ginger.

This has intimidated me for some reason.  Perhaps it is because ginger is such a woody, tough root.  I cannot visualize the transformation into a chewy, spicy sweet.  That has all changed now!

I made candied ginger yesterday and could not be more pleased with the outcome.  I must add that I
also attempted to make this earlier in the week and that recipe was a dismal failure.

There are many instructions for making this.  The first method that I tried involved using the slow cooker.  The directions told me to make a syrup, add a little glucose and cook on low in the slow cooker for 12 hours.  I woke up to the odour of burnt sugar and ginger.  The little pieces of ginger were charred beyond recognition.  I spent the rest of the day carefully cleaning the porcelain insert of the slow cooker.

Undaunted and with much more care, I tried again.

This is the method that worked for me:

Candied Ginger

1.  Peel and thinly slice fresh gingerroot.
2.  Place the sliced ginger in a heavy saucepan.
3.  Cover with water.
4.  Cook gently until tender, 30-45 minutes
5.  Drain off water.
6.  Weigh the cooked ginger and measure an equal amount of sugar.
7.  Return the ginger to the saucepan.  Add the sugar and 1/4 c water.
8.  Bring to a boil and cook until the sugar has dissolved.
9.  Reduce the heat and cook until the ginger is transparent and liquid has almost evaporated.  This make take up to 2 hours to reach the state of tenderness and transparencey that you desire.  Add more water as necessary.
10. When the ginger has finished cooking, drain on cooling racks.
11.  When cooled and dry, toss with sugar.
12.  Store in airtight container.

12 comments:

  1. I've candied fruit for my Reyes cake/bread. I enjoyed the process and especially the results. I'm sure your candied ginger tastes great, too!

    Congrats to the winner!

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  2. I love the idea of making my own candied ginger!

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  3. Making your own candied ginger sounds like fun.

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  4. I have never tried candied ginger at home... so many recipes call for it and I never have it... great if I can now make it myself anytime... I will be sure to copy this recipe~Thanks Sarah~

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  5. I tried and your sis 100 times nicer:) Great job!

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  6. OMGoodness I won!! YIPPIE!! I need to email you Sarah :) the ginger looks awesome - candied ginger is a big fav here I'll be making this soon! Thank you for the goodie basket, I can't wait to get it :)

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  7. Candied ginger looks great. Congrats to your winner!

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  8. This candied ginger is so soft and fresh and so hot! I'll definitely be making it all the time. Congratulations Andrea! Colorado Springs was one of my pit stops on the trek back to Canada from Tennessee. What a small world.

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  9. Je n'ai jamais fait de gingembre confit.
    je vais essayer ta recette.
    A bientôt.

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  10. I've never tried to make a candied fruit before because whenever I chose to try a recipe, it sounds so complicated and I don't have most of equipments listed in the recipes.
    Your recipe sounds easy and doable, I would love to give a try one day.
    Your candied ginger looks great and Congratulations to the winner.

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  11. I am trying to make this right now but for some reason mine is turning reallly brown. It doesn't look nice and light like yours. Any suggestions? I'm sure it won't affect the taste but it doesn't look as pretty!!!

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