Gemmer
6
Easy
10 minutes, plus 2 days’ fermentation time“Talking to a friend, I realised that gemmer isn’t really sold on the street in most cities and is often reserved for special
occasions. Where I’m from, though, women bottle and sell ice-cold 500 ml bottles of fizzy, home-made ginger beer to commuters at taxi ranks and terminuses. Normally, gemmer is grabbed with a packet of hot amagwinya to be eaten on the taxi or taken home. Every family has their secret recipe and this is my mother’s, the best in the world.” – Khanya Mzongwana
Ingredients
Method
- 2 T ground ginger
- 400 g brown sugar
- 15 g instant dry yeast
- cream of tartar a pinch
- 1 T cayenne pepper
- 3 litres water, at room temperature
Method
Ingredients
1. Place all the ingredients into a saucepan and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Cover and set aside at room temperature overnight. The mixture should bubble and begin to ferment.
2. Pour the ginger beer through a muslin cloth or a clean, slightly damp tea towel. The dampness of the tea towel will make the liquid pass through it more easily. Bottle the ginger beer in plastic bottles, taking care not to fill the bottles too much to allow room for air to escape during the fermentation process.
3. Seal and store at room temperature overnight. Every few hours, slowly and carefully open the bottles to allow air to escape and release some pressure so the bottles don’t explode! Chill the ginger beer and drink it once it’s ice cold.
Cook’s note: Do not freeze the ginger beer as it will lose its fizz.
Find more beverage recipes here
Photographs: Toby Murphy And Jan Ras
Production: Khanya Mzongwana
Food Assistant: Emma Nkunzana
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