Why This Recipe Works

After one sip of this ginger ale, kids will never ask for the store-bought stuff again! Our recipe starts with a homemade ginger syrup that combines sliced fresh ginger, water, sugar, honey, and freshly squeezed lime juice. After cooling and straining the syrup, just stir some of it into seltzer water, and you have your very own homemade ginger ale. This soda gets most of its flavor from fresh ginger. As the syrup cools, have kids cut an extra ginger slice and nibble on it, avoiding the skin. Ask them to describe its flavor. Then, have them look in the pantry for ground ginger, smell it, and taste a bit of it. How does its flavor compare to the fresh ginger? They might notice that the ground ginger is more pungent than the fresh ginger. Why? To make ground ginger, fresh ginger is peeled and dried. This drying process produces new spicier compounds.

Before You Begin

Because this recipe skips peeling the ginger, make sure to wash and dry it well before slicing.

Instructions

For the ginger syrup: Slice ginger crosswise ¼ inch thick (see photo, “Step-by-Step: How to Slice Ginger”). You should have about 1 cup sliced ginger.

In medium saucepan, combine sliced ginger, water, sugar, honey, and salt. Bring to simmer over medium heat (small bubbles should break often across surface of mixture).

Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally with wooden spoon, for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and slide saucepan to cool burner.

Stir in lime juice. Let mixture cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Line fine-mesh strainer with triple layer of cheesecloth. Place strainer over medium bowl. Pour cooled ginger mixture through strainer into bowl, pressing gently on ginger pieces to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard cheesecloth and ginger pieces. Pour strained ginger syrup into jar with tight-fitting lid. (Ginger syrup can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.)

To make 1 ginger ale: Stir or shake ginger syrup to recombine. Place ice in glass. Pour cold seltzer into glass over ice. Add ¼ cup ginger syrup to seltzer. Use spoon to stir gently to combine. Serve.