Food Friday: Ginger Limeade

When I was visiting family last month I was shopping for some kale which was not a staple in that kitchen.  I happened onto a ice-chipped display of lovely square 16-ounce bottles of limeade:  Raspberry Limeade, Peach Limeade, Mango Limeade, just plain Limeade and several others.  I went for the raspberry and loved it.  It, of course, helped that the temperature was in the 90's that day...

When I came home I found another square bottle, though this company was a cheapskate because there was only 11 ounces in their bottle. The price was the same $1.69 a bottle.... This one was ginger limeade.  Because I believe ginger to have many healthy qualities, I looked around for a ginger limeade recipe.  Finally I found one which I used for a base, but it was a base only.  I am pretty sure I found the original recipe on the Yankee Magazine website.

Fun handled canning jar with 8 ounces ginger limeade over ice.  Refreshing!

This is what I did:

2 cups sugar
2 cups water plus 6 more cups water later on
4 fat green limes
2 inches plump ginger root
4 Tablespoons lime juice

1.  Wash your limes and scrub your ginger root.  If there are any dry or unsightly spots on the ginger root, cut them off, making sure you will have at least 2-3 Tablespoons of ginger pulp.

2.  Using a fine grater or microplane, zest the limes into a small bowl and set aside.

3.  Cut the limes into quarters and the ginger root int small chunks and put in a food processor.  Pulse several times to start the chopping process, then process continually for 1-2 minutes until a very slushy mix results. 

4. Put the sugar and the 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan over medium heat and stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is simmering.  You really do want the sugar syrup to simmer, not just dissolve the sugar.  Remove pan from heat and let cool 5 minutes or so.

5.  Remove the lime/ginger slush from the food processor and the reserved lime zest and place in the pan of sugar syrup.  Use a rubber scraper to remove every bit of flavorful bits from food processor bowl.  Stir well then let steep for 10 minutes.

Ginger Lime Sludge in a sieve after being pushed through the fine mesh.  Ready for compost pile...

6.  Using a fine sieve pour the mixture into a large pitcher.  I used a one-gallon plastic container since I was unsure of the amount of ginger limeade I was going to obtain.  Use the rubber scraper to smush the ginger lime slush through the sieve until it is a more or less dry sludge then remove sieve and set aside for the compost pile.

7.  Add remaining 6 cups water and stir well.  Serve over ice.  This made a little more than one-half gallon.  It has a tiny bitter note which was quite interesting.  I love it.