Granny Trude – The Sustainability Column

Granny Trude  Without plastic, with fresh ingredients

Granny Trude makes ginger ale herself Illustration: © Celine Buldun

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Granny Trude's first tip for a better life: Make your own ginger ale. It's easy - and a great drink for spring!

Granny Trude
My dears, today I' m presenting my first tip for a better and more sustainable life. Come along with me into my small, but excellent kitchen! I'll show you what you can do with an unprepossessing tuber. You know what I’m thinking of? Right: ginger!

I’m very fond of this root because it's spicy, aromatic and extremely healthy. Every evening I enjoy a fresh-brewed ginger tea and when I cook exotic dishes I season my Chinese vegetables with it!

FRESH INGREDIENTS AND NO PLASTIC BOTTLES

I've heard that ginger is very in with young people right now! They mix their drinks with it when they go out in the evening. They call such a mixture “dark and stormy”, or something or other having to do with Moscow. My grandson Micha explained to me that there’s even ginger beer – curious, isn't it?

But today I want to show you a recipe for ginger soda – or as you young people call it: ginger ale – for which you only have to mix a few fresh ingredients and don't have to use plastic bottles. Also, the recipe is completely alcohol-free and really delicious, especially in the warmer months, which are coming soon.

You'll surely find everything you need for it in your favourite health food store:

 

  • One fresh ginger bulb
  • 170 grams of white sugar (or raw cane sugar)
  • The juice and grated peel of a lime (organic, of course!)
  • One quarter teaspoon dry yeast
First grate the ginger it until it's very fine. Then mix the two tablespoons of grated ginger with the lime juice.
Take a kitchen funnel and pour the sugar and yeast into a bottle – how about a pretty glass bottle that you can label? A perfect gift for a friend!

Add the mixture of ginger and lime to the sugar and yeast in the bottle. Then fill half of the container with water – preferably from the tap, which is environmentally friendly and inexpensive!

HOMEMADE LEMONADE

Then shake it! Shake the bottle vigorously and add more water – but only up to a few centimetres under the cap. This is very important as there has to be room for the gases that form during fermentation. Now you have to wait a little longer! Close the bottle and leave it for 24 hours, preferably where it's nice and warm. During this time the sugar and yeast will ferment. This creates carbon dioxide and pressure in the bottle. But now get it out of the heat quickly and put it in the fridge, otherwise your delicious soda will pop open or even burst! Be patient ‘til the next day: Then you can serve your homemade drink – in summer with ice cubes – and enjoy it together with your friends!
 
A little suggestion: Before serving, pour the ginger ale through a sieve into the glasses so you don't have all those loose bits and pieces in your drink.

March 2019