I love how libraries often have a “new books” shelf where they showcase newer items. Back in 2012, I picked up Make the Bread, Buy the Butter…. What You Should and Shouldn’t Cook from Scratch –Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foods by Jennifer Reese Author of tipsybaker.com . Seeing as I’m primarily a ‘from scratch’ kitchen geek, I thought I’d see what she had to say. There were some interesting tidbits that I’d peruse for general knowledge rather than anything practical for me. This is merely because, as a vegan, I already know looking at a book with eggs and butter on the cover, I’ll be changing things up a bit! One recipe that my family really loved is her recipe for ginger ale, so much so that I had bookmarked the page with a Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum label I had peeled off of a bottle. I guess I left that in the book, as well as a yarn label wrapper on the BBQ page. I found this exact book in the friends of the library book store many years later, still marking the pages for ginger ale.
Reese’s recipe calls for sugar, lemon juice and raw ginger, tap water and instant yeast. At the time, I was a pure active dry yeast kinda gal, so I subbed that and other wise followed her recipe. It was surprising how easy it was to make really tasty ginger ale. I later experimented with the recipe, trying different fruit juice, less sugar & larger ginger pieces (because they were easier to remove before pouring into glasses.)
I’m currently making a batch with 1/3 cup of sugar, 1/4 tsp instant yeast, juice of maybe 3 navel oranges that had been discarded in the fridge after their rinds had been peeled to make many an old fashioned cocktail. It should be ready tomorrow.
