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Drink

Essence of Ginger

A liquid infusion of fresh ginger steeped in high‑proof alcohol.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Essence of Ginger

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Grind the ginger in a mortar until fine.

  2. Place the ginger in a jar.

  3. Pour the alcohol over the ginger.

Steep and bottle

  1. Allow the mixture to stand for three weeks.

  2. Strain the mixture and bottle it.

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.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Fresh ginger
Supplies the aromatic oils and pungent flavour that the alcohol draws out.
High-proof alcohol
Acts as the solvent that extracts ginger's flavour compounds over the steeping period.

The step that matters

Grinding the ginger finely. Finer pieces expose more surface area, so the alcohol can extract flavour more fully and evenly during the three-week steep.

“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.

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