Make your own ginger ale! Why? The ginger ale you get in the store contains no real ginger and making it yourself gives you more control over the amount of sugar used. My mother was sick this week and I wanted to giver her something to settle her stomach.
From Safe Party Planning: Beverages, edited by Barbara Gibbs Ostmann and Jane Baker. ISBN: 0911479031, pg. 38
For Syrup:
Makes 1 1/4 cups syrup; enough for 6 (1 cup) servings
4 oz (about 1/2 cup) fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
Peel of 1/2 lemon
To Complete Drink:
Ice Cubes
1 cup club soda per serving
In a saucepan, combine ginger, lemon, and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 5 minutes. Let cool. In the book it says to refrigerate overnight. However, I don't think this is necessary. Line a sieve with cheesecloth; strain ginger mixture. Discard ginger. Return liquid to saucepan. Stir in sugar (or leave out if you want to sweeten when serving). Heat to boiling. Boil 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool. Refrigerate. To freeze, pour 1 1/2 tablespoons of syrup into each cube of an ice cube tray. Remove after freezing and seal in plastic bag and return to freezer.
For serving: spoon 3 tablespoons liquid syrup (or 2 defrosted cubes) in a cup. If you left out the sugar you can sweeten the drink now with sugar, honey, ect. now. Fill glass with 1 cup club soda. Add in ice cubes if desired. Stir and serve immediately.
You can also make the cubes without sugar and use them to flavor broth and stir-fries for quick flavor without the fleshy fibers that come with fresh ginger. Or you could mix it into tea or save them for baking.