Skip to main content
Drink

Ginger Pop

A fermented ginger beverage made with brown sugar, ginger, lemon, cream of tartar, boiling water, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson." · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 23 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Ginger Pop

Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ginger Pop

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine two pounds brown sugar, one tablespoon of ginger, half a lemon sliced, and one dessert spoon of cream of tartar.

  2. Pour two gallons of boiling water over the mixture.

  3. When the mixture is warm, stir in one pint of brisk yeast.

  4. Make the mixture in the morning and bottle it at night.

  5. It will be ready for use in three days.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

670Calories
15 gProtein
7 gFat
129 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 13 ingredients. The other 5 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Rum1/2 oz (15ml)32
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Waternot in our table0
Cognac Brandynot in our table0
Green Teanot in our table0
Champagnenot in our table0
Macenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson.". Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cognac brandy + rumtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together68 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  3. Rum + champagnetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together137 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  4. Cognac brandy + champagnetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together28 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Ginger + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Brown sugar
Provides sweetness and food for the yeast to ferment into alcohol and carbonation.
Brisk yeast
Ferments the sugar, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide for the drink's fizz.
Cream of tartar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps keep the mixture stable.

The step that matters

Stirring in the yeast when the mixture is warm. Yeast works best at lukewarm temperatures. If the liquid is too hot it can kill the yeast, and if it is cold fermentation starts slowly, so the drink may fail to develop.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cognac brandy, rum, clove, green tea, champagne, ginger):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Pineapplefits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cognac brandy, rum, clove, green tea, champagne, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Orange SyrupOrange Syrup47 recipesLemon WheyLemon Whey33 recipesLemon WineLemon Wine31 recipesOrange Water IceOrange Water Ice28 recipes