# Candied Ginger- What did I do wrong?



## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

What did I do wrong? 

I sliced up a good amount of ginger, packed it in sugar, dehydrated right at 12 hours. 

Although the smaller pieces are hard I have plans for them, but the larger pieces are almost unbearably hot. 

Did I need to do some sort of pre-treatment? 

I guess what I'm looking for it a way to tame the heat so to speak.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I have attempted to candy ginger in the past, I sliced it fairly thin, covered it in sugar and let it sit until the sugar was moist then simmered it at a very low heat for about half an hour. Drained it then put it on the dehydrator. Didn't come out anything like the stuff you get in the store.

I packed into a half gallon jar and use it to make cups of ginger tea(great for upset stomach). Pitch a few pieces in a cup, add boiling water and let it sit until cool. 

Comes out as a nice cup of "not too sweet" ginger tea. I canned the left over syrup and use it as a sweetener for anything that tastes good with ginger.

What ever you do, dont toss any of it, it is always good for something or another.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I make a syrup of sugar and water (2cups to one water) simmer it till it makes a heavy syrup and then put the sliced ginger in and simmer it for about 20 minutes on low and then let it cool and I let them drain on a rack (I collect the drips too by putting the rack over a pan) then I roll them in sugar(large or small granular type) and then dry them in the dehydrator. I'm sure the simmering makes the difference on how hot the ginger tastes..
Plus a really good fresh ginger will be more potent than an older root. 
And the ginger syrup is great in tea or sparkling water.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

Soak it in a pint of everclear and let about half of it evaporate.makes a nice cough remedy.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Magus said:


> Soak it in a pint of everclear and let about half of it evaporate.makes a nice cough remedy.


I'm gonna try this recipe!


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

I've already started making tea with them. I'm going to use the ginger sugar in things. I think it will be pretty good.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Austin said:


> I've already started making tea with them. I'm going to use the ginger sugar in things. I think it will be pretty good.


did you simmer your ginger or just roll it in sugar? I just reread your OP.


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

I did not simmer. Is that were I went wrong?


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Austin said:


> I did not simmer. Is that were I went wrong?


I think so.. will make it hot... I also googled different ways to candy ginger and some recipes call for using plain water for 20 minutes and then add the sugar and simmer some more... I just picked some up to do some more myself..


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## Toffee (Mar 13, 2012)

I don't remember if he simmered it, but my husband (a Le Cordon Bleu grad), kept his ginger in sugar for several weeks. The sugar draws out the moisture, no dehydrator necessary.


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

How long did it take? How did he keep it while it was sitting in the sugar?


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Okay folks.. after reading up on other ways to candy ginger I did it a bit different.. 
I had one pound of ginger that I peeled and sliced into bite sized pieces.
I put them in a sauce pan with two cups water and simmered them for 20 minutes in just the water. Then I added my two cups sugar.. it looked thin(I think that not as much water simmered out) so I added another cup sugar.. simmered another 20 minutes and then I turned it off to cool.. 
Well due to circumstances beyond my control(aka.. my daughter called and said. I picked up a double shift hubby will be bringing the kids back at 3:30) the ginger sat in the syrup overnight! 
Well this was a happy surprise this morning.. the heat in the ginger is a bit milder than when I did it before and the syrup flavor is much stronger(which I really like). so I drained it and have the syrup in one of my flip top bottles. and I rolled the ginger in a mix of regular fine sugar and some of my big crystal sugar that I use in cookie and cake decorating. it has a nice crunch.. here in a bit I will get the dehydrator out and dry it a bit as it is very soft right now.
so for $2.25 worth of ginger and about .75cents worth of sugar and a bit of time and effort I ended up with over a pound of candied ginger and almost a pint and a half of ginger syrup. Candied ginger right now at the store my mother gets it is $4.99lb. so this is a win-win and very tasty.
after drying I am going to take any sugar that falls off the ginger and put it in a small jar and have ginger sugar like my vanilla sugar. Might be great on grapefruit.

So there is the update. I think I like this better than the making the syrup first and simmering the ginger that way..


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

I'll try it. 

I need to find a way to cut the heat out or it's going to continue to be inedible as candy.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Austin said:


> I'll try it.
> 
> I need to find a way to cut the heat out or it's going to continue to be inedible as candy.


It will still have a bit of heat as that is the nature of ginger.. very warming..


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

The stuff I made is so hot it's unbearable. 

I like hot. This is crazy hot.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Austin said:


> The stuff I made is so hot it's unbearable.
> 
> I like hot. This is crazy hot.


If you can just take what you have and simmer it in about a cup of water with the sugar you have in it already.. or you can even add a bit more sugar.. raw ginger burns the mouth(at least I think so).

and once you simmer it, drain it (keep the syrup) let it dry a bit and then toss it in some sugar and dry it a bit more and it should be more edible.. :2thumb:
I didn't weigh mine but I ended up with three of the little 8oz jelly jars stuffed full of the ginger bits and one jelly jar almost full of the sugar that was left on the fruit leather tray to sprinkle on things as it has a nice light ginger taste. would be great on a cookie or sprinkled on top of muffins or even grapefruit. My mother tasted it and said that she thinks it is the best batch yet and far better than the stuff she bought in Florida when she ran out of what I had sent her with.


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## westbrook (Oct 28, 2008)

keep the syrup add kero syrup boil to hard crack stage and make hard candy.

double duty

use wax paper pieces and twist like tootise rolls


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## Toffee (Mar 13, 2012)

Austin said:


> How long did it take? How did he keep it while it was sitting in the sugar?


Well, I think he started it in November '10 and I know we used it by January or February and it was already sitting in a ziplock bag by then. When he gets home from work, I'll ask him.


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## westbrook (Oct 28, 2008)

What I do

candied ginger

peel and slice ginger about 1/4" thick

in a sauce pan bring 1 cup of water to a boil and add 2 cups of sugar... stir and stir and stir until sugar is dissolved. You are making a 'simple syrup'

add the ginger slices and bring back to a boil remembering to keep stirring for a moment... reduce heat and simmer.

you will simmer until the ginger is translucent. Over an hour.. I usually do 2 hours or there about.

Using a slotted spoon, drain as much of the syrup and place on wax paper. Give it about an hour to drain then move it to a clean piece of wax paper to continue draining. I place the wax paper on a cookie sheet and into my oven to get it out of the way.

Once the ginger is drained from any excess syrup, it will still be a bit wet, pour sugar (I like raw sugar) into a bag and then put some ginger in and shake. Remove coated ginger to a clean piece of wax paper, coat all of the ginger. Tomorrow you can put powdered sugar into a bag along with the sugar coated ginger and shake. Remove ginger and it is ready to use. 

After I have removed the ginger from the syrup, I have a bottle of kero syrup. I recommend a candy thermometer but if you don't have one or don't want to buy one the old fashioned method was to do a plate test (used in making preserves too)

I sort of wing the amount.. but, use 1 cup of kero syrup and pour into ginger syrup (the water and flavoring is already there), bring to a boil and keep stirring!!! always keep stirring! When it reaches 280 degrees, pour into a buttered dish. IF you don't have a thermometer, using your spoon, put a wee amount on a class dish. Tilt the dish to watch the drop run... when it pretty much doesn't run, gets hard or so thick it starts to run but stops... it is about 280 degrees.

Before the candy hardens, score it into what ever size you want. This is also going to work like candied ginger but is a bit more palatable for children. So make it a size a child can put in their mouth. When hard, break apart. I use cut up squares of wax paper, roll each piece in wax paper and twist the ends.

I want to note.. I live in a very dry climate, no to little humidity so everything dries how quickly here. You may find that your ginger takes a day or two, things like do you have a pilot light in your oven will also help the drying process.


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## Possumfam (Apr 19, 2011)

Argh! I didn't think I liked ginger, but I LOVE hot stuff...and candied? Hmmmm... Before I try to do anything like this, where exactly do you buy candied ginger? I'd like my family to try it BEFORE any effort is expended.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Possumfam said:


> Argh! I didn't think I liked ginger, but I LOVE hot stuff...and candied? Hmmmm... Before I try to do anything like this, where exactly do you buy candied ginger? I'd like my family to try it BEFORE any effort is expended.


Most grocery stores carry it in some form.. but the bottle of it in the spices aisle at meijer was almost $8! But if you sometimes look in the world market aisles you can find it cheaper. If you have any type of bulk food stores you may be able to just buy a bit.
Or do this.. buy just a little knuckle of ginger at the grocery and use only about 1/4 the recipe and make just a tiny bit.


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

Toffee said:


> Well, I think he started it in November '10 and I know we used it by January or February and it was already sitting in a ziplock bag by then. When he gets home from work, I'll ask him.


Please do.

I'm going to simmer the stuff I have dried and then re-dry it and see it that helps.

I got into last night and after a couple of pieces I quit.


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## Toffee (Mar 13, 2012)

Hey, I talked to my husband. He said I was mistaken in what I saw and that it was salted lemon. But I did ask him how he would do ginger. He says you can boil it in a simple syrup if you want to cook it. He would just pack it in a salt/sugar mix though.

The salt dehydrates it and the sugar candies it. If you put it in a small jar, then just leave it until you want to use it.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Toffee said:


> Hey, I talked to my husband. He said I was mistaken in what I saw and that it was salted lemon. But I did ask him how he would do ginger. He says you can boil it in a simple syrup if you want to cook it. He would just pack it in a salt/sugar mix though.
> 
> The salt dehydrates it and the sugar candies it. If you put it in a small jar, then just leave it until you want to use it.


Have your hubby do preserved key lime sometime... I just quarter and seed and cover with good sea salt.. it is to die for on fish and chicken and I sometimes sneak it into my steak with chilis for fajitas.


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## SouthernComfort (Mar 14, 2012)

Tell me more about this preserved lemon and lime using salt. How long will it keep and must it be refrigerated? Thanks!


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

SouthernComfort said:


> Tell me more about this preserved lemon and lime using salt. How long will it keep and must it be refrigerated? Thanks!


I'll start a new thread.


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

Toffee said:


> Hey, I talked to my husband. He said I was mistaken in what I saw and that it was salted lemon. But I did ask him how he would do ginger. He says you can boil it in a simple syrup if you want to cook it. He would just pack it in a salt/sugar mix though.
> 
> The salt dehydrates it and the sugar candies it. If you put it in a small jar, then just leave it until you want to use it.


That seems interesting too.


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