Crystallized Ginger, Ginger Tea and Ginger-Honey Lollipops

by Michelle on July 19, 2010 · 27 comments

in Dairy Free,Healthy Desserts,Healthy Snacks,Recipes

Crystallized ginger is really yummy and so much better when it’s made with honey (rather than white sugar as it’s often made with). This homemade version also doesn’t contain preservatives.

The process of making crystallized ginger produces three things: first ginger tea, then crystallized ginger and then with the left over honey you can make honey lollipops (if you like).

The ginger tea is really gingery due to the amount of time the ginger simmers for. So if you don’t want to drink it straight away you can pour it into a jug, cool it and drink it later on like ice tea. You can also dilute it with water (if it’s too strong). Other things you can do with the ginger tea: freeze some as ice cubes, add to your fermented drinks such as water kefir or use to make ginger beer or you can freeze the ginger tea in ice cube trays and then crush them to make a granita of sorts.

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Crystallized, Tea and Ginger & Honey Lollipops

Ingredients:

  • fresh ginger
  • water
  • 3-4 T. raw honey
  • toothpicks (or the lollipops)

Directions:

For the tea: Slice the ginger thinly. Place in cold water (1-2 cups), bring to a boil and then simmer in a sauce pan for 10 minutes. Pour this water into your jug to drink later and repeat this process once more and then add the rest of the liquid into the jug.

For the crystallized ginger: With the remaining ginger slices (which should be quite soft now) rinse them and put them back in the saucepan and add the honey. You want the honey to completely cover the ginger so add more or less (than i’ve recommended) to make sure it is covered.
Now turn the heat on very low and simmer for half an hour. You want the honey to start to get foamy and for it to start to ‘crack’.
The honey will start to get really viscous and sticky. This is good because you want the honey to stick to the ginger (and later to stick the toothpicks for the lollipops).
Okay so once the honey is really hot and at the hard crack stage- with a fork (and being very careful not to burn yourself) take each piece of honey-covered ginger out of the sauce pan, tap the ginger on the side of the saucepan to leave excess honey in the pan then place each piece of ginger on a piece of greased baking paper until all the ginger is on the paper and you have a saucepan full of honey. Leave the ginger to dry. (The honey should dry and harden).

For the lollipops: On another greased piece of baking paper, spread out around 6-10 toothpicks (so they have enough room for the honey to spread out). Dollop about a 1-2 t. of the honey mixture onto one end of each toothpick and leave to dry. When they have hardened you’ll be able to peel them off the greased baking paper.

There you go- there are three recipes and three yummy ginger foods! I hope you enjoy these. By the way the ginger would be great as a an easy-to-make alternative to cough lollies.

This was added to simply sugar and gluten free, two for tuesdays, make it yourself monday, pennywise platter 22nd July

Do you like ginger? What foods do you like to make with ginger?

To health and happiness,

Michelle.

Michelle

Health Food Lover is Michelle Robson-Garth. Michelle is a degree-qualified Naturopath (BHSc) and Massage Therapist. She is also a passionate writer, recipe-creator and all-round foodie from Melbourne, Australia. © Copyright: 2009-2012 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com. Read the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.

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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }

Christy July 19, 2010 at 10:57 pm

These would be great when you have morning sickness also. I can’t wait to try this. I love that you use it all.

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Michelle July 20, 2010 at 12:55 am

Thanks Christy. Yeah I thought why waste all the liquid and honey! So it was pretty cool getting three things out of one process. Thanks for stopping by.

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cat July 20, 2010 at 10:44 am

they look very interesting and i haven’t seen something like that before done with ginger, very nice

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Michelle July 20, 2010 at 11:01 am

Thanks Cat.

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Aubree Cherie July 20, 2010 at 2:38 pm

This is SO COOL! I never thought to do this myself. And you’re right, I haven’t been buying ginger products because they’re usually so loaded with sugar! How cool, I hope I can try this :) I do have a question though, would I just buy ginger root from the grocery store to do this? Or is it a special stage of the ginger that you can do this with? Thanks!

~Aubree Cherie

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Michelle July 20, 2010 at 10:58 pm

That’s Aubree. I think in most ones you can buy the sugar probably outweighs the health benefits! As for your question- I used use a normal ginger root, nothing special! I didn’t even peel it (it didn’t seem to taste any different whether or not I peeled it).

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girlichef July 20, 2010 at 2:47 pm

Okay, trying the comment again… This is a seriously awesome idea, Michelle! I don’t like ginger, I LOVE it!! These are my kinda lollies….serious snackin’ delight ;)

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Michelle July 20, 2010 at 10:59 pm

I’m glad love you ginger!!! These are really gingery- I feel I should almost put up a disclaimer for the amount of gingery-ness one may consume with these! Especially the tea- so gingery. But hey I like it! Thanks for stopping by Heather!

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Bonnie July 20, 2010 at 4:12 pm

I love candied ginger. Never thought to try this myself.

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Anjanette Barr July 20, 2010 at 8:33 pm

Yum!! Thanks for linking up!

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Michelle July 20, 2010 at 10:55 pm

Thanks for hosting Anjanette!

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Bethany July 20, 2010 at 8:49 pm

These all sound so good! I love the idea of getting more recipes out of the process too. These would definitely be great for morning sickness – I wish I’d seen this post when I was pregnant with my son! I’ll definitely keep it in mind with the next pregnancy. Thanks for bringing these great recipes to Two for Tuesday this week! I always love the recipes you contribute! Keep it up! :)

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Michelle July 20, 2010 at 10:54 pm

Thanks Beth. Yeah ginger is great for morning sickness (so I’ve learned) and nausea and a few other digestive issues. Thanks for stopping by Beth :)

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Butterpoweredbike July 20, 2010 at 11:14 pm

Ginger and honey go so well together. I might make lollipops for car rides.

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Michelle July 20, 2010 at 11:25 pm

Thanks Butter! Tell you something cool you could do- if you made some maybe you could add some of that cattail pollen into the mix? or dip the lollipops into the pollen before drying them.

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alex@amoderatelife July 22, 2010 at 3:55 am

Michelle, as the daughter of a man who grew up in china, crystal ginger is a part of my psychic memory! I would SO love to make some for my dad and will try your recipe ASAP! thanks for hosting and posting on the two for tuesday recipe blog hop! :) alex

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Michelle July 22, 2010 at 10:03 am

Alex, that’s so cool that your dad grew up in china! Did you grow up drinking lots of teas/did he ever talk a bit about TCM? Ginger is such a great ingredient- I love it! Oh please let me know how you like it! Thanks for the opportunity to host and post at Two for Tuesdays!

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Amy Best July 22, 2010 at 9:32 pm

great post! About how much ginger do you use?

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Michelle July 22, 2010 at 10:25 pm

Thanks Amy.

Well I use about 9cm of ginger, which I think is around 2 T. of ginger. I’m not sure what they equivalent weight is sorry.

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Erika Hulings August 17, 2010 at 6:20 pm

I am not seeing the recipes….

I see the text go from taking about freezing the tea and using it to make granitas…to saying “there you go, there are three recipes”

I am really intrigued and would like to know what is missing so I can try it out!! Thanks!

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Michelle August 17, 2010 at 9:34 pm

Thanks for letting me know Erika! Can you see them now?

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Erika August 18, 2010 at 2:17 am

Yes I can!!! Thank you so much!

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Michelle August 18, 2010 at 2:28 am

That’s okay. I hope you enjoy these recipes :)

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Kristy February 10, 2014 at 2:07 am

So happy to trip into your site! Trying to figure out how to make Valentine’s Day lollipops for my kids with extensive allergies. Most of the recipes I found had sugar &/or vinegar, neither of which we can use. And this looks to easy to be true!

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