Skip to main content
Main

To Preserve Ginger

This recipe preserves ginger root in a clarified sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Leslie · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Ginger and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

To Preserve Ginger

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ginger

  1. Pare the ginger root with a sharp knife.

  2. Throw the paring ginger into a pan of cold water.

  3. Boil the ginger until tender, changing the water three times. Each time, transfer the ginger to cold water to remove excess heat.

  4. When tender, place ginger in cold water again and let it lie for an hour or more to make it crisp.

Make the syrup

  1. Clarify eight pounds of double-refined loaf-sugar for each six pounds of ginger.

  2. Break up the sugar, put it into a preserving kettle, and melt it in spring or pump water, with beaten whites of four eggs and half a pint water per pound of sugar.

  3. Boil the syrup and skim it well.

  4. Let the syrup stand until it is cold.

Soak and boil

  1. Drain the ginger and pour the syrup over it, cover, and do not disturb for two days.

  2. After two days, pour the syrup from the ginger, boil it again.

  3. When the syrup is cold, pour it again over the ginger and let it stand at least three days.

  4. Boil the syrup again and pour it hot over the ginger.

  5. Repeat the last three steps until the syrup has thoroughly penetrated the ginger and becomes very thick and rich.

Jar and finish

  1. Put the preserved ginger and syrup into jars and cover them closely.

  2. Add lemon juice at the close of the last boiling to improve the result.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

129Calories
6 gProtein
5 gFat
14 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Waternot 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 Eliza Leslie. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

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. Ginger + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Ginger + eggtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,337 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

Ginger and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Ginger root
Provides the main body and spicy flavour, becoming crisp and tender through repeated boiling and cooling.
Loaf sugar
Forms the thick, sweet syrup that preserves the ginger and penetrates it over time.
Eggs
Whites are beaten into the syrup so that they collect impurities, which are skimmed off, clarifying it.
Lemon juice (in the method)
Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and balances the rich syrup.

The step that matters

Repeated boiling and resting of the syrup. Syrup must be reboiled and cooled several times so that sugar concentration rises gradually and penetrates the ginger without crystallising or leaving it tough. Rushing this stage leaves the ginger underpreserved and the syrup thin.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Capersfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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.

More preserved ginger recipes

Pudding 6Pears 4 See all 19 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes