I have been meaning to share this family recipe for some time and I thought with holidays fast approaching it would be a great time to get this magical ‘bug’ underway.

You need to allow a good few weeks to get the ginger beer ready for drinking.  Perfect timing for Christmas.

Makes 5 litres

Ingredients

Sugar

Ground and fresh ginger

Water 

Raisins

2 lemons, juice

Method

To get the ginger beer flavour and carbonation underway you need to start by making a ‘bug’ . You need to take care of this and feed it every day for 7 days.  This is great to do with your children.

Day 1 - in a clean large (1 litre) glass jar.  Add 2 cups water and 2 tsp sugar, plop in 2 raisins (these will float to the top when activating) , stir and cover with muslin.  Leave in a warm place overnight.

Day 2 - add 2 tsp sugar and 2 tsp ground ginger, return to leave overnight in a warm place.

Day 3 - add 2 tsp sugar

Day 4 - add 2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger

Day 5 - repeat steps 2 &3 until you reach day 7

On day 8 you will notice the bug will have become cloudy, fragrant and it should have a thick layer of sediment on the bottom of the jar.  The raisins should have risen to the top of the jar, this is an indication that the bug is alive and well!

To make the ginger beer 

Add 2 cups sugar to a clean large bowl, add 2 cups boiling water and stir to dissolve.

Add 12 cups cold water, strained juice of 2 lemons and stir.

Add the liquid from the bug. Stir once again.

Pour into sterilised bottles, add a raisin in each and seal with a lid.

Place in a warm area, out of direct sunlight for at least a week or maybe 2, until you can see that the raisin has risen to the top and you will also notice little carbonated bubbles.

Best enjoyed chilled.