I want to share my latest cooky kitchen experiments: Homemade Spruce and Jamaican Ginger Beers. These 2 unique beverages are perfect for toasting a quirky store’s 10th birthday.
Don’t let the word beer throw you off, these are non-alcoholic but fizzy soft drinks. The idea for the Spruce beer was a light bulb moment after my Mastic Ice Cream post when I compared Mastic’s flavor to Spruce Beer…which apparently not a lot of people were familiar with. Yep I found an online recipe on the Daring Kitchens forum by Audax Artifex.
And yes I made my own extract. I went to my park and identified a Spruce. See I took a pic from my balcony to show you the conifer in question! How do you know you have a Spruce conifer? If the twig carries its needles singly and the actual needle has four sides and, thus, rolls easily between your fingers, it’s a Spruce. Pine needles cluster and Firs have 2 sided flat needles. This beer is not as overpowering as the fake flavored one you by in stores.
Ξ Spruce Beer Ξ
Ingredients
- 1 cup of sugar
- ¼ teaspoon of baker’s yeast, in powder form
- 40 grams of outer twigs of spruce fir
- 1 tablespoon of hops
- a 2-litre soda bottle with a screw cap, thoroughly cleaned and completely dry inside
Directions
- Using a funnel, pour the sugar into the bottle and then pour in the yeast. The yeast must be ground for best result, I whizzed mine in a coffee grinder. If you skip this step your soft drink will be less bubbly. Shake bottle well to mix.
- Make you extract by bringing to a boil your spruce fir twigs and hops in 500ml of water and simmer to reduce until you have 1 tablespoon of extract remaining, if it is very sticky even better.
- Again with funnel, pour in beer extract and then fill bottle half full with water from tap.
- Remove funnel and swirl contents in bottle until the sugar has dissolved.
- Fill bottle with water until there is approximately a one inch gap at the top and screw cover on tightly.
- Let bottle sit at room temperature for 12 to 48 hours or until the bottle feels hard. The gas has expanded.
- Store in refrigerator and chill thoroughly. Loosen cap VERY VERY SLOWLY allow gas to escape and avoid liquid fizzing over.
Normal Ginger Ale makes me nauseous. I hate the stuff. Not sure if it is the taste or an associated memory of my mom giving me flat ginger ale when I was in bed for a week with a major flu. But one day I bought a can of Jamaican Ginger Beer, there was a rooster on the can. The very spicy and intense ginger taste totally caught me off guard, I was hooked. I found this recipe on The personal blog of Giles Paterson. It is fabulous, strain the ginger out if you like before serving but I like having a little bit in there to chew.
Ξ Jamaican Ginger Beer Ξ
Ingredients
- 1 cup of sugar
- ¼ teaspoon of baker’s yeast, in powder form
- 1½ to 2 tablespoons of grated ginger
- 1 lemon
- a 2-litre soda bottle with a screw cap, thoroughly cleaned and completely dry inside
Directions
- Using a funnel, pour the sugar into the bottle and then pour in the yeast. The yeast must be ground for best result, I whizzed mine in a coffee grinder. If you skip this step your soft drink will be less bubbly. Shake bottle well to mix.
- Extract the juice from one lemon. Mix the grated ginger and lemon juice together in a cup.
- Again with funnel, pour in ginger/lemon mixture and then fill bottle half full with water from tap.
- Remove funnel and swirl contents in bottle until the sugar has dissolved.
- Fill bottle with water until there is approximately a one inch gap at the top and screw cover on tightly.
- Let bottle sit at room temperature for 12 to 48 hours or until the bottle feels hard. The gas has expanded.
- Store in refrigerator and chill thoroughly. Loosen cap VERY VERY SLOWLY allow gas to escape and avoid liquid fizzing over.
A few important notes for both recipes: a) if the pressure builds too much your bottle could explode. Place the bottle in the fridge overnight as this halts the yeast and stops the bottle exploding; b) you will notice that the basic procedures for making the sodas are identical so go ahead and experiment with flavors; c) no the ginger beer is neither radioactive nor does it glow in the dark as the pictures lead to believe; d) yes is will be carbonated almost like a soft drink…the natural way; e) until you really get the hang of opening it without making a huge mess….open your bottles outside. Trust me on this one !!!!!
Yea, We all have different tastes when it comes to beer. But thoe adventurours brewers must have big ideas and you made an awesome post!
i didn’t know that marigolds are edible
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I never heard how to tell if I have a spruce conifer
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Dogs are man’s best friend, n the owners of Montimer Snodgrass have gone ahead to prove that & beside that is the name of a baseball player, our addictions take over. 🙂
I love that beer n u made it at home n extracted spruce extract from a plant. Wow ….
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I dont like normal ginger ale either
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I followed Mortimer Snodgrass on twitter.
I liked you on facebook.
I followed on facebook.
Isn’t it fun to shop for others. I love kitchen gadgets. You’re brave to make your own beer, but I would like it alcoholic I think. Sounds like you have such a fun time doing your thing.
I had never heard of the Spruce beer, it was great to learn about it 🙂 and the jamaican ginger beer did catch my attention!
What an awesome giveaway! I think I could spend a whole day in that store exploring the gadgets 🙂
Following facebook. Thanks for the giveaway! I hope I can win! 🙂
And following twitter for Mortimer Snodgrass.
And twitter!
Following you Facebook (sorry I didn’t notice before that I wasn’t following yet).
I have friends (a couple) who are serious about making their own beer and they’ve been doing really great job so far. I’m going to share this post with them. They will be excited!! What a cute collection of kitchen gadgets you selected!
Yes Trix they all counts 🙂
Hania, come on over and move in!
Can I live with you?
Okay so I liked Mortimer Snodgrass’s facebook page and *gasp*, I liked yours too, I can’t believe it took me so long! Shame on me.
I wanna try making spruce beer. I’ve never tested that stuff. I’m eating ginger chicken. 🙂
Ps I thought I followed Cheap Ethnic Eatz on Twitter and now I actually am (lol) and also I am following Mortimer Snodgrass on Twitter.
Ps I follow you on twitter and facebook already! Does that count?
I want I want I want. That is so cool you got to pick out the gift basket items yourself!! Sitting here with a wrapped arm from burning myself on a 500 degree oven at work, I am wishing I had that oven mitt on then … And as for your ginger and spruce beer – what could be better than a Dark and Stormy with homemade ginger beer and Gosling’s dark rum??? Color me inspired!!!
I LOVE that can opener!! How cute!
Spruce Beer…of wow! Such intriguing flavors they both are for soft drinks! And a very fun giveaway…cool kitchen toys 🙂
You and I would be fighting over the same things, as I share your love for quirky things; you got me with your beer experiments and to think that you actually scavenged the fir from your neighborhood trees is too funny! Looks like a nice area too with all these trees. Thanks for the botanical lesson. I may follow your guidelines soon and make some geranium flower soda perhaps! 🙂
I think I’ve been to that store before, but I just didn’t know what it was called because I’m pretty sure I would have remembered that name!
Thanks for sharing that ginger beer recipe! Sounds yummy!
P.S. Those oven mitts look fantastic (I happened to have burned holes into a couple of mine….).
I love ginger beer, the recipe looks so simple. I should try this
It’s 5 am..and I’m sleepless in a Boston hotel room, but I suddenly crave a tall glass of Jamaican Ginger beer. They both look great, but my tummy is upset (Yankees eliminated from post season last night), so ginger would be ideal 🙂 I’ve always been facsinated with homemade ales and sodas – maybe one day I’ll try. Great Giveaway! Already following you on Twitter and friends on FB (Even though I don’t use FB lol)
Spruce beers was one of my favorite drink when I was young. I dont think I could drink it anymore, as I dont really drink softdrinks, but I must admit that homemade must have been really different from factory made products.
As for the jamaican lemonade, I tasted that a few years ago as a spritzer sold in health food stores and its very refreshing and one person (ohhhh, let’s say like me for example) who loves to try cocktails recipes would love to take a crack at this one.
Got to look for the ipad apps now!
Stef
And I just followed Cheap Ethnic Eatz on Twitter. 🙂
Very interesting idea! I really want to try the spruce gin now, and I posted a link to this page in a facebook group I’m a member of. 🙂
I’m a fan of Mortimer Snodgrass on FB~
I’m following Mortimer Snodgrass of Twitter~
I can’t believe I wasn’t a FB fan till now~
I’m following you on Twitter now~
I tweeted your giveaway~
I had to laugh at all your tips so your bottle won’t explode 🙂 The ginger beers sounds yummy. And what a cool giveaway…what fun products~
That spruce beer is inspired (LOVE Audax!) and somehow I’m dying to make that ginger beer at home now! As for your giveaways, I must say your picks are fantastic and quirky, as is the shop. I can spent hours in a place like that, looking through everything. And I swear, if I ever have another baby, I’ll name him/her Mortimer Snodgrass! LOL, nobody will ever forget that name.
tweeted
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Downloaded the Cheap Ethnic Eatz Mobile App
Follow Cheap Ethnic Eatz on Twitter, @erunuevo
Follow Mortimer Snodgrass on Twitter, @erunuevo
Follow Cheap Ethnic Eatz on Facebook, erin neu
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I am really glad you described how to ID a spruce, I would never have been able to! I have wanted to make ginger beer for the longest, just never got around to it. Your way is much easier then others I have read
this kitchen whale is adorable. i want him!
What a fun store! And how nice of them to celebrate their decade in business with you and us all.
Thanks for the great post. I wonder if the blue spruce in my front yard would work for this recipe. The “blue” part of the blue spruce died but the tree is still the tallest on the block. Where do you find hops?
I did all the Facebook and Twitter links except for the mobile app because I don’t have a cell phone.
Did not know how to differentiate a spruce from a fir, very interesting! So cool that you can make your own spruce and ginger beer – and show us your source! The whale can opener is the cutest! I could spend hours in that store – thanks for sharing it with us.