Ingredients

Method

• 150 g fresh ginger, unpeeled
• 600 g light-brown sugar
• 1 litre warm water
• 12.5 g instant yeast
• 5 ml cream of tartar
• 3.5 litres water, at room temperature

Method

Ingredients

Chop the unpeeled fresh ginger very finely (use a food processor to do this) and place in a 5-litre container with a lid. (If you are using a metal container, it has to be made of stainless steel or enamel.)
Add the sugar and warm water and stir until the sugar has dissolved.

Add the yeast, cream of tartar and raisins, then stir again and add the rest of the water.
Place the lid on the container and leave to ferment for 24 hours, then pour the liquid through a sieve and discard the ginger pulp and raisins (but rinse and keep a few raisins to add to the bottled ginger beer).

Strain the ginger beer using paper filters placed inside a funnel or strain it through a fine cloth and pour into sterilised bottles.
Add two rinsed raisins to each bottle, close the lids tightly and refrigerate.

Leave for at least 5 hours, preferably overnight, until you see bubbles rising. When opening, do so very carefully.
Mariana Esterhuizen is the owner/chef of Marianas Home Deli and Bistro in Stanford. You can call her on (028) 341-0272 if you have any queries about this recipe.