How to Make a 2-Ingredient Ginger Syrup

Ginger is one of the most intriguing ingredients to pair with different flavors and spirits in cocktails, from a fan-favorite Icy Lemon-Ginger Vodka Cocktail to a refreshing Moscow Mule. The easiest way to add pure ginger flavor to a drink is with ginger syrup. Made by simply infusing fresh ginger root into a solution of sugar and water, much like simple syrup, ginger syrup adds sweet and spicy notes to boozy and nonalcoholic drinks alike.

The part we eat is the rhizome of the flowering ginger plant, or it's root system. It's been cultivated for thousands of years for both medicinal and culinary purposes, renowned for its flavor and purported benefits in digestion.

Why this Ginger Syrup works

Ginger is a very pungent ingredient, offering significant aromatics and spice. The spice in ginger comes from a phenolic compound present in the root called gingerol, which is chemically related to capsaicin and piperine, the compounds that also give chilis and peppercorn berries their heat.

Sugar works to counteract the bite of spice, even if it doesn't negate its effects as strongly as certain acidic ingredients often used to balance spicy ingredients (citrus or vinegar, for instance). Worth noting, fresh ginger is very reactive to warm temperatures, and will lose some of its spice when subjected to heat for longer periods. This it due to the gingerol molecules converting to another compound called zingerone when cooked. Zingerone offers sweeter flavors with less pungency, which means you can tailor this syrup to your desired profile by dialing up or down the amount of time during which you allow it to simmer.

Starting with fresh ginger is key. Because peeling ginger is one of the most tedious kitchen tasks, this recipe calls for ginger sliced into matchsticks with the peel left on. The matchsticks expose enough of the ginger to fully flavor the syrup, and any bits of ginger skin get strained out at the end. Add every bit of ginger, including the scraps, for a versatile no-waste ingredient.