I was told recently, at the store where I usually buy stem ginger in syrup (from Australia), that this is no longer available because Australia won't export any more. Is this true? I used to make the most heavenly cake with stem ginger. Has Canada done or said something unforgivable to Australia that you will no longer send us any of this wonderful stuff? If we have, on behalf of all of Canada, except possibly our appalling prime minister, I apologise! And I do promise, once we have our camera sometime in September or October, that I will post some pictures of my bread. Thanks to you and your helpful tips here, I make sourdough every week!
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What is stem ginger? I am on the east coast of NY and we have ginger root here. Is that the same thing? I store my ginger in dry sherry, in pieces, in the refrigerator. I suppose i could put it in a simple syrup and can it..would that be the same thing?
clydiemor (Janie R)
Hi Paddy:
I found this:
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070224074605AAwl6LA
There are three recipes on the page.
Hope this helps.
However, I did find a place in Connecticut which sells Australian stem Ginger on-line. But at $14.45 plus postage for a 290g jar it is a gourmet item and you'd be better off making it yourself. Besides making it is so much more satisfying and fun. Love to see some of your SD bread. So don't forget to post some pics when you get the camera working...
I've visited the Buderim factory in Queensland before and seen how they make these yummy ginger in syrup. I vaguely remember that the ginger goes through quite a number of times of being boiled in syrup of various strength. I took a look at the recipe link above. If you like the ginger to retain more oomph, you might want to reduce the number of blanches. Let us know how you get on.
TP
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Yes please. :)
And, you're very welcome
Drenched Ginger and Lemon Cake
preheat oven to 180C./350F./Gas 4
Butter a 15-18cm/6-7in. cake tin and line the base with a circle of buttered greaseproof paper.
175g/6oz unsalted butter
175g/6oz light muscovado sugar
2 large eggs
grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
1 tsp. baking powder
a pinch of salt
175g/6oz. self-raising flour, (She used 1/2 Shipton Mill's wholemeal, 1/2 Dove' Farm organic plain white.) I just used plain self-raising flour.
3-5 tbsp. milk
4 pieces of ginger from a jar of stem ginger in syrup
35g/1-1/2 oz. demerara sugar
2 tbsp. ginger syrup
Cream the butter and muscovado sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Grate the lemon zest into the mixture, then sift over the baking powder, salt, and flour, and fold them in lightly with a metal spoon. Stir in enough milk to give a dropping consistency, then add the finely chopped ginger and fold in lightly. Plop into the tin, smooth the top, and bake in the centre of the oven for about 40 to 50 minutes, until springy to the touch in the centre.
Remove from the oven, and leave for 15 minutes before turning out onto a rack. When still warm, place on a plate, and with a long skewer, pierce holes all over the cake from the top through to the bottom. Put the demerara sugar, lemon juice, and ginger syrup in a pan, stir as it heats to dissolve the sugar, then bubble it up fiercely for a minute or so. Pour it as slowly as you can over the top of the cake, allowing it to seep down the holes. Serve warm or cold with creme fraiche.
We love this cake with a good pouring custard, or creme anglaise.
Stem ginger originally comes from China and used to come in wonderful storage pots that we then used as small vases or pots for plants when we had finished eating it. For some reason it is no longer available in Australia but I believe it can be bought in the UK at Waitrose as a house brand.
It is truly delicious and can be eaten as confectionary (I ate it like that) or served with cread for dessert. I'm not sure that boiling it up and adding sugar is going to be very successful as it needs to fully absorb all of the sugar so the ginger fruit is fully saturated and then floats in the ginger. Boy, wouldn't I give my I teeth to get this again. Postage from other countries is prohibitive.
Kerry