Candied Ginger. Its exotic, right? Candied Ginger is the sort of thing that you find in fancy candy shops, possibly covered in chocolate. In fact, the first time I had this candy, it was embedded in a giant chunk of chocolate. Yum!

Ginger is one of my favorite spices. In small doses, it does so well with sweet things. It is addictive! But a piece of ginger is pretty hot and spicy. Some of that heat survives the candying process; candied ginger is not just sweet, it also has a bit of heat!

Candied Ginger Recipe

Candied ginger also happens to be very easy to make. All you need is. . .
Ginger Root
Sugar
Water
About an hour

To start, peel your ginger root, and cut it into thin pieces. I tried to use a potato peeler, and that worked to an extent. Ginger is very woody, however, so I also needed to cut it with a knife. Thinner pieces of ginger are better. You want the sugar to really penetrate and cover your candy!

Put your ginger slices in a medium sized pot, and fill it with water. The water needs to completely cover the ginger, because its going to be cooking for a while! Cook on the stove at medium heat until the ginger is tender. This will take 30-40 minutes.

Drain the ginger, and keep a bit of the ginger water – about a fourth of a cup.

Put your drained ginger back on the stove, along with an equal amount of granulated sugar and your fourth cup of ginger water. Cook on medium heat, stirring regularly, until the water has evaporated. You know that your candy is ready when the water is gone and the sugar starts to re-crystalize.

Take your ginger off the heat immediately, and spread the candy out on a cooling rack. If you don’t have a cooling rack, I found that aluminum foil worked decently well. Separate the individual pieces of ginger candy.

The best part of this recipe? Candied ginger cools really quickly. Within a few minutes you will be able to enjoy your new candy!