ginger & chocolate

For a few months now I've been making candied ginger from a recipe I got from here via The Cooking of Joy. Originally I made them for my Dad, who has always loved ginger. But then they proved very (very, very) popular around here too and every time I made a batch to send him it seemed to disappear in a few days.

This candied ginger is so very simple to make, you peel and chop the ginger into small pieces and then simmer it in a syrup that's half water and half sugar. I get slightly different results each time, and I always cook it for longer than the recipe says, they say 20 minutes, I do half an hour minimum. When they're cooked I strain them through a colander and then leave them spread out on baking paper to dry. When they're just slightly tacky I roll them in caster sugar. This last batch I made was from very fresh ginger and they are really spicy!


Something inspired me yesterday to try coating these beautiful morsels in chocolate. I bought some Lindt 85% cocoa chocolate, melted it in an aluminum bowl over a pan of water and then threw in a handful of candied ginger. I fished these out one at a time with tongs and set them to dry on more baking paper. Success! Once they'd cooled down and set these are even yummier than the plain ginger. I've put them in a jar in the kitchen, but I'm seriously thinking of hiding this one!


If you like ginger these are a great and simple thing to make. I've never chocolate coated anything and it was easy. And they make a nice gift. I put some in a little jar and gave it to my mother in law last time she was down, and I've planted out some pieces of ginger in the garden, I'm thinking that some time it would be nice to use my own homegrown, organic, ginger.