Ginger Syrup with Chilies & Cardamom
The perfect sweet element for making drinks at home
Goes great with gin, whiskey, rum, or even vodka
This Ginger Syrup recipe was created over 5 years when fabulous products like Canton Ginger Liqueur and the myriad bold tasting ginger beers were not available.  Miss Flighty sought real ginger flavor with a lingering heat to add to cocktails with gin or whiskey. Through trial and error she arrived at this recipe with a 1:1 ratio sugar to water, and a whole pound of peeled sliced ginger, achieved sophisticated favor she was looking for. It soon became a bar favorite, customers always asked for a dash or two to be added to their drink concoctions n matter what was already in them. People making drinks at home loved this recipe and often reported back describing tasty drinks they had made for themselves and friends.
There is a multitudes of fine recipes on the web now, more than 7 years later, but the combination of cardamom, allspice, and chilies added in makes for a unique and compelling ginger syrup that will add pizzazz to any drink.
After many years making this syrup, always too much when mixed up at home, Miss Flight has developed a new way to prepare and store so that you will always have some in the freezer reading for mixing–see the following suggestions!
New method for prepping ginger for maximum flavor
Many years of beverage Research&Development (drinking) have passed since filming this episode, and I know swear by this new method of preparing the ginger before adding to the mixture. Its a bit time consuming but well worth the effort; your get more ginger flavor in less time–sounds good, right?  Wash ginger peel away yucky brown skin. Slice into palm sized portions and use the peeler to shave off wafer thin strips–being careful not to get fingers into harm’s way–until you have desired amount. Carefully wrap and store unused portion to prevent drying out.
New Storage ideas for long lasting usability
Homemade syrups do not use preservatives and will start to mold in the refrigerator after 2-3 weeks. Store surplus in the freezer, the high concentration of sugar prevents it from freezing solid and its easy to scoop out and use as necessary for home cocktail making.
For recipes using Miss Flighty’s Ginger Cardamom Syrup, check out the MaryAnn with Ginger, the Pimm’s Cup, the Pear Necessity, the Mac Daddy and the Georgia Julep!
