Overnight Ginger Beer
A quick, refreshing drink from simple pantry ingredientsBeing prepared isn’t only about having meals tucked away for difficult days. A useful emergency pantry should also contain a few ingredients that can turn ordinary supplies into something a little special.
This Overnight Ginger Beer is a good example.
Traditional ginger beer usually starts with a ginger beer plant that needs feeding and time to ferment. That's lovely when you're organised, but sometimes you want ginger beer tomorrow, not next week.
This version uses ordinary dried yeast and pantry staples. Mix it before bed, leave it overnight, bottle it in the morning and chill it well. By dinner time you'll have a cold, lightly fermented ginger drink ready to enjoy.
It's particularly handy during hot weather when you want something different to drink without making a trip to the supermarket.
Overnight Ginger Beer
Makes: approximately 1.25 litres
Preparation: about 10 minutes
Standing time: overnight
Pantry friendly: Yes
Ingredients
5 cups boiling water, cooled slightly
¾ cup sugar
50ml fresh lemon juice, approximately 1 large lemon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon dried yeast
1 lemon, thinly sliced, optional for serving
Method
Pour the slightly cooled boiled water into a large bowl or jug.
Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
Stir in the lemon juice and ground ginger.
Add the dried yeast and stir gently to combine.
Cover the bowl loosely with a clean tea towel and leave at room temperature overnight.
The next morning, skim away any foam or residue that has collected on the surface.
Using a funnel, carefully pour the ginger beer into a clean 2-litre plastic bottle, leaving plenty of space at the top.
Secure the lid and place the bottle immediately into the refrigerator.
Chill thoroughly before serving.
Important: This ginger beer continues to ferment and can build pressure. Use a plastic bottle rather than glass, keep it refrigerated and don't leave the sealed bottle sitting at room temperature.
This Overnight Ginger Beer is a good example.
Traditional ginger beer usually starts with a ginger beer plant that needs feeding and time to ferment. That's lovely when you're organised, but sometimes you want ginger beer tomorrow, not next week.
This version uses ordinary dried yeast and pantry staples. Mix it before bed, leave it overnight, bottle it in the morning and chill it well. By dinner time you'll have a cold, lightly fermented ginger drink ready to enjoy.
It's particularly handy during hot weather when you want something different to drink without making a trip to the supermarket.
Overnight Ginger Beer
Makes: approximately 1.25 litres
Preparation: about 10 minutes
Standing time: overnight
Pantry friendly: Yes
Ingredients
5 cups boiling water, cooled slightly
¾ cup sugar
50ml fresh lemon juice, approximately 1 large lemon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon dried yeast
1 lemon, thinly sliced, optional for serving
Method
Pour the slightly cooled boiled water into a large bowl or jug.
Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
Stir in the lemon juice and ground ginger.
Add the dried yeast and stir gently to combine.
Cover the bowl loosely with a clean tea towel and leave at room temperature overnight.
The next morning, skim away any foam or residue that has collected on the surface.
Using a funnel, carefully pour the ginger beer into a clean 2-litre plastic bottle, leaving plenty of space at the top.
Secure the lid and place the bottle immediately into the refrigerator.
Chill thoroughly before serving.
Important: This ginger beer continues to ferment and can build pressure. Use a plastic bottle rather than glass, keep it refrigerated and don't leave the sealed bottle sitting at room temperature.
Make It an Emergency Pantry Recipe
Fresh lemon is lovely, but if the aim is to make this recipe entirely from your pantry, keep bottled lemon juice with your other supplies.
Your pantry version then needs only:
- sugar
- ground ginger
- dried yeast
- bottled lemon juice
- water
Emergency Pantry Notes
Keep dried yeast in reserve.
Yeast is useful for far more than bread. Keep an unopened packet or container in your pantry and rotate it as you use it.
Store ground ginger with your everyday spices.
It's inexpensive, lasts well when stored correctly and can be used for baking, cooking, drinks and simple ginger tea.
Keep bottled lemon juice on hand.
Fresh lemons aren't always available, but bottled juice gives you a dependable backup for cooking, baking and drinks.
Remember the sugar.
Sugar isn't just for cakes and biscuits. It is useful for preserving, baking, drinks and fermentation, so it's worth including when you're calculating your pantry requirements.
Prepared Doesn't Have to Mean Miserable
Emergency pantry food doesn't need to be dull.
Having the ingredients to make bread, biscuits, desserts, drinks and little treats can make a surprisingly big difference when you're relying heavily on what you already have at home.
A cold glass of homemade ginger beer isn't an essential survival item.
But being able to make something refreshing and enjoyable without going to the shops is another small example of what a well-planned pantry can do.
And that's the purpose of the Emergency Pantry Series: building a pantry that doesn't just keep us fed, but helps us continue to live well with what we have.
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