Making Ouma Marietjie's Ginger Beer

In the previous blog on making Ginger Beer, I told you that both my grandmothers used to make it. I shared my paternal grandmother's recipe with you, but today I want to share my namesake's recipe with you. This grandmother did not wait for Christmas or special occasions, but you could almost guarantee that there would be homemade ginger beer on the farm when you went to visit. I'll show you how to make Ouma Marietjie's Ginger Beer in today's blog. And with this blog being published on the last day of 2015, I'll raise a glass of ice cold ginger beer and wish you all the best for the year ahead!

The recipe has been used over and over again and has become quite faded with time, but I managed to take this photo of the recipe in her own handwriting.

I will be doubling up on the recipe to use 10 litres of water, instead of the prescribed 5. I therefore wash and fill 5 2 L bottles with water. I also wash another 1,5 L bottle, as I know that the quantity will increase with the addition of the other ingredients.

Empty the water into a bucket. Add 6 cups of sugar (1,5 litres).

Add 2 sachets (20 grams) of instant yeast (or any other yeast will do. Adjust accordingly).

Add 2 heaped tablespoons of ground ginger.

Add a whole bottle (20 ml) of Jamaica Ginger.

Stir until all the sugar is dissolved.

Pour the mixture into the bottles. It filled the 11,5 litres beautifully. Allow some space at the top of the bottle for the fermentation process.

Add a couple of raisins (about 5-10) to each bottle.

Screw the lids on lightly and set aside for the fermentation to take place overnight.

I came back two hours later and you could already see the instant yeast at work. The raisins had already lifted to the surface. Once they start racing up and down the bottle, you know that it is well fermented. This process will continue until consumption.

Refrigerate after 24 hours and enjoy it ice cold. Allowing the fermentation to develop for another week will improve the sparkle in the ginger beer.

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