Candied Ginger {Tutorial}

I love living in a city.  City life is the best kept secret - at least it was for this suburban-rooted gal.  My most-recent favorite thing about city life is deliveries.  One can get just about anything and everything delivered in a big city.  That said, I don't live in just any big city.  I live in the big city just north of Silicon Valley which means we have just about the perfect set up - I'm talking about things like beta testing for Google Shopping Express.  Never heard of it?  Free delivery of anything from all sort of places - Costco, Babies R Us, Whole Foods - the list goes on and on.  Same Day.  Free delivery.

Need I say more.  

I don't know how people had kids in the city before these delivery services existed.  Let alone had kids plus full time jobs.  In fact, scratch the "in the city" part of that statement.  How do people live life anywhere without these services??  (Love me a little dramatics here.)

Well, needless to say I haven't been grocery shopping in well over a year.  In one of my recent grocery delivery orders I ordered some fresh ginger.  I've had it on my list to try making Indian food from scratch for a while now, which calls for ginger.  Well, as I was checking through my order before the delivery man left, I noticed the supply of ginger they brought me was waaaaaay too much.  I mentioned as such to the delivery man.  He responded that since they'd made the mistake, I could keep the extra ginger free of charge.  (Another perk of delivery service.)  Well, great news!  Who doesn't love a little free ginger.  

Until one realizes it'd take a whole lot of tikka masala to use up 2 pounds of fresh ginger.

Lucky for me I'd run across a recipe for candied ginger in a magazine earlier in the month.  I'd never heard of such a thing but thought it was too pretty to pass up so I'd saved the page.  The stars aligned and I found my chance to make it.  I'm including the recipe for you below.  Overall, I'd say it was time-consuming to make but beautiful enough that it'd worth it.  I hear it's pretty expensive to buy.  I'm also including a few recipes to actually use it in, but I think my preferred use for it is in a pretty jar as a gift or decoration.  

Candied Ginger 

Recipe adapted from: Better Home and Gardens Magazine

1 large gingerroot, sliced very thin (about 8 oz.)

2 cups water

3 cups sugar (divided use)

pinch of salt

In a saucepan, cook water, 2 cups of the sugar, and a pinch of salt over medium heat until just boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar.  Add ginger.  Simmer gently, uncovered, 30 to 40 minutes or until syrupy.  

Remove from heat; let stand 1 hour.  

Strain (reserve syrup for another use, if desired).  Arrange ginger slices on a wire rack set over a shallow baking pan.  Dry overnight (ginger will still be sticky).  

Add remaining1 cup sugar to a large bowl, and toss ginger in sugar to coat.  Divide into four 4-oz. jars.  Refrigerate up to 1 month.  

Uses for candied ginger:

Garnish for teriyaki chicken, mix-in for banana bread or scones, treatment for upset stomach, palette cleanser.  

I made these tags for my mom for her jam jars (spoiler alert if any of you are receiving a gift from her this Christmas).  They fit a small mason jar lid perfectly.  The ornament is not glued, but rather tied with the baker's twine, which makes it the perfect tag to write you "to/froms" on the back.  See the shop if you want some for your own canned gifts this season!