Ginger Beer Of interest to all treacle Miners - it was Willie Wizzle, of the Sabden Treacle Mines in Lancashire, who first discovered ginger seams on the top of the treacle seams and his friend Ike Newton who was the first to cap a wild sarsaparilla spring and build a ginger beer pumping station at the Sabden Mine. He piped the ginger beer into Nellie Newchurch’s “Parkin Cake Parlour”, where Brendan, an Irish Leprechaun, bottled the ginger beer and drank most of it. Such was the fame of the Sabden Ginger Beer as a by-product of treacle, that all parties were obliged to supply more ginger beer than any other drink. With such a large demand, stocks soon ran out. But, when Nellie Newton came to the rescue by giving out her recipe for “Making Ginger Beer”   You need a large jar! PUT IN a) 6 level tspns of dried (granulated) yeast. b) 6 level tspns. of sugar. c) 1 level teasp. of ground ginger d) Large breakfast cup of warm water. STIR WELL In about 20 minutes this will be a terrific foaming mass, that’s when you really have to get down to work. 1. When the froth has died down, cover the jar with a cloth - a square cotton cloth held in place with a rubber band. 2. Every day, for seven days, add one spoonful of sugar and one spoonful of ginger; stir well and cover up jar again. 3. On the eighth day stir in the juice of two large lemons. 4. Strain into a big clean bowl or bucket. 5. Add eight pints of cold water and half a pound of sugar and the thin grated rind of the two lemons; stir well and cover up and leave. 6. The SLUDGE left after the mixture is strained is very fascinating. a) Divide it in two. b) Put half into each of two jars. c) Add a spoonful of sugar and ginger and a large cup of warm water. THE WHOLE PROCESS STARTS ALL OVER AGAIN In seven more days you can start four new plants, and so on. It’s a good idea to give some away or open up your own Ginger Beer Factory! (otherwise throw away what you don’t need) Otherwise your kitchen will be full of ginger beer plants. It’s called a plant because the yeast is a living, growing organism like a plant. 7. After two days get a bucket of the liquid and pour a) it into bottles b) Cork them. DON’T use a screw top bottle. The cork acts as a safety valve. 8. Drink after about two days and not more than two weeks after it was bottled. N.B. The basic mixture made from the above recipe MUST be diluted as described in paragraph 5. The initial process in this recipe produces alcohol through fermentation. Dilution as recommended is essential to ensure that the alcohol content of the ginger beer in minimal. From "Treacle Alice's Cookbook" Back to menu

[Treacle Tales] [ Treacle Quotes] [Treacle News] [Treacle World] [Treacle Comment] [Treaclemaster]